Intl. Notebook | Jun 11 2013 |
You know what’s so fascinating about the American dream car designs of the 1950s? They imagined a completely different future than the one that actually came. Our present is one of potholes, car alarms, finger print recognition, panic buttons, failing bridges, and roads built with public money being sold by corrupt politicians to private cabals of carpetbaggers. Their future is one of smooth sailing, bright horizons, and flat tarmac upon which purring dreamboats carry everyone into an opportunity-filled, non-AGW-constrained future.
Consider the bubble-topped floral delivery car above. You think the driver is worried about break-ins? Probably not. That design was conceived in a world without mindless vandalism, or guys who wash your windshield at red lights just to survive, or cops that stop you for traffic violations and eyeball your interior for probable cause. And it was certainly designed before we acknowledged the prevalence of drunken rollover accidents. Yes, reality bites. But even if we have to live in reality, we can imagine the perfect world of these cars designed by Ford, Cadillac, and other companies.
Some of these images came the great forum jalopyjournal.com, and you can see more if you click over there.