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I LOVE CARS — The Greatest Invention of Mankind: Julius Caesar never had anything this good.
The American Spectator's Ben Stein's Diary ^ | October 1, 2014 | Ben Stein

Posted on 10/03/2014 11:01:07 PM PDT by 2ndDivisionVet

Tuesday

So… It is a beautiful, spectacular day here in Los Angeles. I am sitting at my desk and looking out at the swimming pool and I am thinking a DEEP THOUGHT:

I LOVE CARS.

I don’t just like cars. I don’t just think it’s good to have a car. I LOVE CARS. And I include trucks there, too, of course. I LOVE CARS!!!!

The car is the greatest invention of mankind. The car is what makes all of the difference in life.

Before the car, man was pretty much just an insect. He burrowed and crept along the ground. He moved very slowly. He was subject to the cold and the heat and the rain and the snow and the sleet. He was pitiful. Even once he had the horse, he was still outside. He was still going to get pneumonia and die if he rode around in the winter. He was going to get soaked if he rode in the rain.

Even if he or she were an Emperor or an Empress like Napoleon or the Tsar or Queen Victoria, he was going to have a miserable bumpy ride in a carriage, lurching back and forth, getting miserable and nauseated and still sweltering in the heat and freezing in the cold.

Man has existed in roughly current form for 50,000 years — which is how long it seems to take to get any help from your cable company. But for all but the last roughly 115 years of that time, man was a pitiful, vulnerable creature, not much different in 1860 from what he or she was in 50,000 BC.

What changed it? Well, air conditioning is bliss. The Internet is nice. I happen to love TV and movies. I love vaccines....

(Excerpt) Read more at spectator.org ...


TOPICS: Business/Economy; History; Society; Travel
KEYWORDS: automobiles; automotive; transport; transportation
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Comments?
1 posted on 10/03/2014 11:01:07 PM PDT by 2ndDivisionVet
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To: 2ndDivisionVet

Not hard to love cars.


2 posted on 10/03/2014 11:04:02 PM PDT by luvbach1 (We are finished. It will just take a while before everyone realizes it.)
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To: 2ndDivisionVet

I couldn’t agree more. I just made a 400 mile round trip in a day to see a doctor that would have taken over two weeks of rough travel in 1860. Even four days by train in 1890.


3 posted on 10/03/2014 11:07:39 PM PDT by Inyo-Mono (NRA)
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To: 2ndDivisionVet

As long as I have a car, I’m fine.

To me a car is like a moving home, or a camper, I love just driving cross country through the heartland living out of an ice chest with my camping stove and sleeping bag.

Cars are great shelter, windproof and truly waterproof, it is a ball to park in some remote mountain pass during the winter and sleep in the car.

I despise what the left has done to the car and our freedom in and of the car.


4 posted on 10/03/2014 11:10:54 PM PDT by ansel12
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To: Inyo-Mono

Breezing through Yuma Arizona at 70 mph after having lunch in San Diego, when it is 110f outside and you don’t have to water the horses, and you’ll be in El Paso before bedtime, is quite a thing.


5 posted on 10/03/2014 11:18:04 PM PDT by ansel12
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To: 2ndDivisionVet

“I’m in Love With My Car”, sung in 1979 by Roger Taylor ( Queen), back when it was OK to love your car-—

http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=i_NeqJlrINc

Rock on!


6 posted on 10/03/2014 11:25:06 PM PDT by nvskibum
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To: ansel12

You bet. In my younger days I rode horses all over these parts, and though one can cover a lot more ground than walking nothing compares to driving a car over 100 miles though a Winter blizzard, while staying warm and dry, and making it home safely.


7 posted on 10/03/2014 11:28:46 PM PDT by Inyo-Mono (NRA)
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To: Inyo-Mono

My dad was doing cowboying in Arizona/New Mexico, before he went into the Navy in the 1930s, although he was not born in the area.

He herded horses and lived the life, he knew so much about that region, although none of us knew it until he moved from Houston to New Mexico in the 1970s, which totally mystified us until we learned about his past and how much family we had there.


8 posted on 10/03/2014 11:39:05 PM PDT by ansel12
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To: 2ndDivisionVet

Selena - La Carcacha/a>

9 posted on 10/03/2014 11:45:36 PM PDT by Liberty Valance (Keep a simple manner for a happy life :o)
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To: 2ndDivisionVet

besides firearms, cars are one of the greatest extensions of personal freedom.


10 posted on 10/03/2014 11:50:05 PM PDT by Secret Agent Man ( Gone Galt; Not averse to Going Bronson.)
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To: Liberty Valance

I had a 1970 GTO. I loved that car!


11 posted on 10/04/2014 2:51:12 AM PDT by Dr. Ursus
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To: nvskibum

“Told my girl i had to forget her”
“’rather buy me a new carburetter”
“so she made tracks saying this is the end now”
“cars don’t talk back, they’re just 4 wheel friends now”

Love it.

CC


12 posted on 10/04/2014 2:53:47 AM PDT by Celtic Conservative (tease not the dragon for thou art crunchy when roasted and taste good with ketchup)
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To: Celtic Conservative

BTW, it came out in 1975. It was the “B” side to “bohemian rhapsody”.

CC


13 posted on 10/04/2014 2:59:00 AM PDT by Celtic Conservative (tease not the dragon for thou art crunchy when roasted and taste good with ketchup)
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To: 2ndDivisionVet

14 posted on 10/04/2014 3:08:05 AM PDT by Brother Cracker (You are more likely to find krugerrands in a Cracker Jack box than 22 ammo at Wal-Mart)
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To: 2ndDivisionVet

Grew up with ‘60s muscle cars and fell in love with raw power and speed. These days, the technology has made it so a ‘sedate 6-cylinder sedan” can perform like the muscle cars of yore and with higher reliability - like to have some spare ponies under the hood, tires that grip like a Democrat holding an EBT card, and handling dynamics that allow some severe movements with control. Old enough to not want to use all of the above, but still enjoy knowing they are on tap.


15 posted on 10/04/2014 3:47:14 AM PDT by trebb (Where in the the hell has my country gone?)
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To: 2ndDivisionVet

Best car song ever...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RvV3nn_de2k


16 posted on 10/04/2014 3:51:50 AM PDT by Fresh Wind (The last remnants of the Old Republic have been swept away.)
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To: trebb
technology has made it so a ‘sedate 6-cylinder sedan” can perform like the muscle cars of yore and with higher reliability

Many times I've been yakking cars with fellow boomers and we end up confessing to being amazed at how quick some of the new "daily drivers" are. To a man, we'd love to be able to turn on the time machine and take our long-gone muscle cars for a drive, but none of us would want to use them as daily drivers these days!

Mr. niteowl77

17 posted on 10/04/2014 4:26:30 AM PDT by niteowl77 (The five stages of Progressive persuasion: lecture, nudge, shove, arrest, liquidate.)
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To: niteowl77
Many times I've been yakking cars with fellow boomers and we end up confessing to being amazed at how quick some of the new "daily drivers" are. To a man, we'd love to be able to turn on the time machine and take our long-gone muscle cars for a drive, but none of us would want to use them as daily drivers these days!

For sure. My 2010 Camry Sport with the V-6 is not a sport/muscle car by any stretch, yet I have hit 60 in 5.8secs (it does 60-120 faster than my Jeep Liberty did 0-60), it has brakes that they used to brag about in premium high-priced sports cars, handles well (can literally throw it across lanes and end up centered in the lane of choice - don't make a habit of it, but I always check the abilities when i get a new car so i know how it will handle in emergencies), it's comfortable and when driven at 65 mph it has gotten 34.8 mpg even though rated at 28 mpg for highway.

The old classics bring back fond memories, but they are all hard edges on the inside and feel like dinosaurs in comparison to the average car of today.

18 posted on 10/04/2014 4:38:22 AM PDT by trebb (Where in the the hell has my country gone?)
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To: niteowl77
To a man, we'd love to be able to turn on the time machine and take our long-gone muscle cars for a drive, but none of us would want to use them as daily drivers these days!

Speak for yourself. As recently as 2003 I had a '65 Chrysler 300 (2 door hard top coupe, base model, 383 w/4 barrel carb, 330 HP). Because of Illinois road salt and lack of money to do the car justice, I sold it to a friend who drives it in summer.

These cars have ROOM. These cars have TORQUE. These cars are COMPREHENSIBLE. For safety, upgrade the brakes, by all means. But low, wide and long is THE way to go, and a trunk that can host a beach party.
I only wish it had bench seats. NOBODY makes front bench seats anymore. How does a fellow's honey cozy up to him these days?
19 posted on 10/04/2014 4:39:43 AM PDT by Dr. Sivana ("If you're litigating against nuns, you've probably done something wrong."-Ted Cruz)
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To: 2ndDivisionVet

It is not just cars he’s talking about. It’s modernity which comes from:

1. Overthrowing crony capitalists aka socialist/monarchists/etc.

2. Letting the free market thrive.


20 posted on 10/04/2014 4:49:51 AM PDT by 1010RD (First, Do No Harm)
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