Car Crazy and Crossed Over
Have you noticed all the things crossing over these days? Not just freeways. We’ve got country singers crossing over to pop, wrestling stars crossing over to movies, stand-up comedians crossing over to stand-up sitcoms. We’ve got cell phones crossed with messaging machines and e-mailers. We’ve got an ex-president who wants a TV talk show and a tennis star doing calendars because she’s prettier on paper than she plays on court. We’ve even got sneakers that crossed over to tennis shoes long ago but now must become cross-trainers because everything needs a nifty name.
So it shouldn’t be surprising that auto makers, who used to dictate what outrageous chrome concoctions we’d drive next year, have now divined that Americans want crossover motor vehicles. These are--do you have a pen and pad ready?--cars that hold people and cargo like trucks but handle and ride comfortably like nice cars. They don’t have the clunkiness and not-so-nice gas mileage of trucks, but they do possess a rugged feel that could do without pavement, though few ever do.
The result in coming weeks will be a packed onramp of new-style vehicles resembling a station wagon on steroids or a minivan on a diet. In other words, Americans want everything still, again, even during an alleged war.
Time was, automobiles were novelties for weekend rides; few sane people propose Sunday drives now, after two each day Monday through Friday.
Automobiles helped American urbanites cross over to become suburbanites. After World War II, tank plants changed over to assembly lines for tank-like station wagons to ferry new couples and babies to and from new homes in new suburbs.
Because we consumed cars so eagerly, automobiles and Americans became closely identified. We vacationed in them before they were entertainment centers and moving living rooms. We ate and did other things in cars, which led to the invention of drive-thrus and drive-ins.
Some say Americans’ car culture defines who we are. More truthfully, Americans’ modern auto affair says more about who we want to be--comfortable, sleek, new, prosperous-looking, physically and socially mobile with more options than we’ll ever use, including off-road capability.
In Japan, you cannot purchase a new car without certifying off-street parking to police. Here, parking is your own problem. In true democratic fashion, any American with a license can drive any vehicle any time, at least while making payments. But God help the president who gets between our wheeled symbols of mobility and the gas pump.
So covered wagons evolved to station wagons, which evolved to crossover vehicles, as sandals led to sneakers and cross-trainers. The unanswered question remains: What were sneakers sneaking up on anyway?
