Cars

I've always liked cars. Too much at times I think. I can remember a trip I took with my parents in our family car, a Model A Ford, way back in 1937. We drove from our farm near Harper, KS to a Ford dealer in Anthony, KS to see about getting another car. While my parents were talking to a salesman I was looking at a brand new 1937 Ford sitting in the showroom. Wow, I thought, would it ever be neat to have this car! And as it turned out, we drove that brand new car back home.

I also have the notorious reputation of having traded cars twice when my wife was in the hospital after giving birth to one of our children. I've been chided about that many times. And I'm not exactly proud about having done that. As a matter of fact I traded cars quite a bit it seems. One trade I made stands out as being quite a deal. I had ordered a new 1967 Ford station wagon from the Ford dealer in Roanoke, IL, but when I finally got it I wasn't happy with it all - it was a dog, no pep and no power steering (I guess I forgot to order that). Anyway I went back to the dealer and made a trade with the "new" car for a 1964 Ford sedan, and a 1965 Ford sedan. Not a bad deal, huh? Both of those cars were in good shape and lasted us for some time.

As I stated above, I traded cars quite often since my first one, a 1940 Ford sedan. But now my car trading days seem to be over. In spite of the fact that all of the above mentioned cars are Fords and the one I'm now driving is a Ford, I've never really liked Ford that much. My favorite was the GM line of cars, Olds, Buick, Chevy, etc. But now its Ford again, even though I said before this one I would never drive a Ford again. From all appearances this may be our last car.

All of this is prompted by the current news that the attempts to "bail out" the American car manufacturers has all but fallen by the wayside. What will happen now is anyone's guess. I can't quite imagine not having Ford, GM and Chrysler not producing vehicles anymore. Some in my family have driven foreign cars a lot, and I even drove a Subaru, which by the way was a pretty good car. Many of my friends, now and previously, drive foreign cars. So I suppose we will somehow survive if the U.S. car makers go under, but then maybe no one will be able to buy a car for awhile.

We live in a mobile society and are very dependent on our cars. What the future will bring in the car industry will be quite interesting. I'll not be around for much of that as I'm on my way to a place where cars will no longer be needed. With that I've said enough about cars, and I simply remain

Pilgrim on the way