Fuel-Efficient, and Timeless, Trends

I find it unconscionable that you devoted so much of your Spring Fashion Issue (Feb. 24) to L.A. motorists who find it fashionable to tool around in gas-guzzling monstrosities. This is not a trend that Angelenos should extol. When I was 24, I drove a ’73 Datsun 1200 that got 44 miles per gallon. At the time, auto manufacturers focused primarily on fuel economy--a “fashion trend” that garnered Los Angeles the best air quality it had had in years. Now I sit in traffic in my ’88 Honda Civic, shoulder to shoulder with a growing sea of SUVs and oversized sedans, watching the acrid pall of smoke over our city grow denser and wondering what happened to greater fuel-economy vehicles.

Jackie Oster

San Pedro

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A few weeks ago I tossed my Prada bag into my car, removed the Miu Miu heels from my feet, fired up my fully restored 1967 Camaro and thought to myself, “What the hell is a 36-year-old woman doing in a car like this?” The question plagued me for a few days, and I began to wonder if I was having a midlife crisis. Despite having owned my car for years, I began to examine why I was holding onto it. When your fashion issue arrived, I realized that I am doing what a Los Angeles native needs to do. I am being who I am: a mom who knows how to gap her own spark plugs, adjust the carb, change the oil and diagnose any mechanical problem. Clearly, L.A. is the only place for women like me. Thank you for reminding me of that.

Candace J. Eritano

Montrose