Car Talk...

There's one thing about Americans - we love our vehicles. From a very young age, the idea of turning 16 and having the freedom to go out for a drive was one of the greatest experiences of a teenager's life. It didn't matter if it was alone or with friends, music blasting, rolling down the highway became a rite of passage for us.

There's a song called Radar Love by Golden Earring that just epitomizes driving:

I've been drivin' all night, my hands wet on the wheel

There's a voice in my head that drives my heel

It's my baby callin', sayin', "I need you here"

And it's a half past four and I'm shiftin' gear

When she is lonely and the longing gets too much

She sends a cable, coming in from above

Don't need no phone at all

We've got a thing that's called radar love

We've got a wave in the air

Radar love

The radio's playin' some forgotten song

Brenda Lee's "Coming On Strong"

The road has got me hypnotized

And I'm speedin' into a nude sunrise

When I get lonely and I'm sure I've had enough

She sends her comfort coming in from above

We don't need no letter at all

We've got a thing that's called a radar love

We've got a line in the sky

Radar love

No more speed, I'm almost there

Gotta keep cool, now gotta take care

Last car to pass, here I go

And the line of cars go down real slow, woah

And the radio played that forgotten song

Brenda Lee's "Coming On Strong"

And the newsman sang his same song

Oh, one more radar lover gone

When I get lonely and I'm sure I've had enough

She sends her comfort coming in from above

We don't need no letter at all

We've got a thing that's called radar love

We've got a line in the sky

We've got a thing that's called radar love

We've got a thing that's called

Radar love

Sure, it's about love but it's one of those songs you've GOT to crank up and drive fast to. I've always thought that if I got pulled over for speeding, I'd just tell the judge I was listening to "Radar Love" and the judge would say, "I understand completely...case dismissed!"

When we were kids, we watched a futuristic cartoon called the Jetsons. At the introduction to each show, George Jetson and his family started their day in their flying car. After dropping the kids off at school and his wife at the shopping center, George would fly to work where his car converted into a briefcase that he carried into the office.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uPnZpENoypo&t=75s

From the Warner Archive Collection

While we still don't have flying cars, we seem to have advanced pretty far from the very first car (Benz Patent-Motorwagen, created by Karl Benz in 1885 and patented in 1886.) to where we are today.

Case in point. Early in the week, our friends Steve and Ingrid stopped by in their gorgeous 1971 Chevy Chevelle SS. It's Steve's pride and joy with a 350 engine and a four-speed manual transmission. I've told him repeatedly how nice it would look in MY garage but so far, he hasn't added it in his will to me.

Steve and Ingrid's 1971 Chevy Chevelle SS

Then on Saturday, my brother and sister-in-law stopped by with their 2021 Tesla Model Y. As we stood in the driveway, Tag kept pressing buttons on his smart phone making the car start up, drive toward us, flash the lights, play music, windows and doors up and down, make farting sounds and turn on the air conditioning on. The car has FSD (Full Self Driving), which is somewhat of a misnomer because while it's semi-autonomous, it still requires minimal driver assistance.

Tesla

The Tesla came out 50 years after the Chevelle SS and there's something to be said for modern technology. While I'm not sold on EVs yet, I do love the fact that every time Telsa comes out with a software upgrade to a particular model, it's like getting a new car again with some enhancements and fancy new features.

Tag and I went through our share of cars growing up. My first car was a 1953 Volkswagen Beetle that someone gave me because they bought a plot of land and the bug was abandoned there. I painted it with 8 spray cans of Rust-Oleum and tack welded an old stop sign behind the passenger seat because where the battery sat rusted through the frame. It has a top speed of 66 MPH due to its 24.5 bhp engine and 4 speed manual transmission. The bug had a split rear window with a lever that sat on the floorboard to switch to an auxiliary gas tank when you ran out of gas (Didn't have a gas gauge). If you were able to get five people in it at once, it literally could not move.

During my life, I've had about 25 cars and Tag about 19 or 20. While he was primarily a MOPAR man, he's now sold on EVs with two in his garage and vows never to go gas powered again.

I've always been more eclectic (not electric) in my choice of cars:

• Volkswagen Bug 1

• Volkswagen Bug 2

• Plymouth Duster - (1973 - my absolute favorite muscle car...loved this to death)

• Chrysler Newport convertible (Inherited from my mother who cried when I painted the hood flat black)

• Jeep Commander (My dad painted numbers on the side of it to make it look military)

• Ford Ranger

• Saab 900 (My snobby years - heavy and slow - shouldn't have bought it)

• Ford F150 (For our farm)

• Chevy Nova (1972 - biggest piece of crap I've ever owned - constant electrical problems and a trunk that leaked)

• Mazda 323

• Toyota Celica (pretty fancy at the time)

• Toyota Tercel

• Ford Mustang (1968 - cool car - couldn't hold six people in it though)

• Mustang II - (Second biggest piece of crap I've ever owned - carburetor problems)

• Honda Accord (Ugly gold color but it was a dealer leftover so a great deal)

• Volkswagen Jetta

• Chevy Van (cool party vehicle and my entree into S.E.P.T.A - Southeastern Pennsylvania Truckers Association - think biker gang for people with vans)

• Toyota pickup truck

• Mercury Villager (First week I had it, took it to a car wash and the attendant forgot to close the sliding side door after vacuuming it and ran it through the wash with the door open...not a happy camper).

• Ford Focus

• Dodge Challenger (2019 - my Sunday car - it doesn't come out in rain, snow, sleet or darkness of night)

• Jeep Wrangler - (2 door manual transmission - rode rough and wouldn't fit a guitar sideways in the back seat)

• Jeep Wrangler - (4 door - loved this one Red)

• Jeep Wrangler - (4 door Sahara Grey - love this one two)

• Jeep Cherokee

Both Tag and my next-door neighbor John are more mechanical than I am - I did work on my share of cars when they were more mechanical than electronic but now, I leave the maintenance to the experts with the computer degrees. John has a gorgeous 1995 Chevrolet Corvette coupe that you could eat off the hood, and we've toyed around with the idea of racing my Challenger against his Vette but neither one of us wants to run the risk of stone chips getting on the paint.

We just call her "Red"

John's Vette

For years, I would replace my primary vehicle every 4-5 years depending on mileage, but I'm not as enthusiastic about buying new cars as I used to. I've been a "Jeep guy" for the last several 10-15 years but am wary about buying new. Jeep doesn't have a great reputation for their electronics, so I'll probably stick with my 2018 Sahara for a while.

I know several of you are car fanatics and would love to hear about your vehicles in the reply post below.

Zoom Zoom.