True American Pride - Real Things to Celebrate About This Nation (#24)
AMERICANS AND THEIR AUTOMOBILES
“Everything in life is somewhere else, and you get there in a car.” – E.B. White
1965 Ford Mustang
Day 24 of True American Pride month for me. I could not end this series without honoring this true piece of Americana: the automobile.
Americans may not have actually invented the gasoline-powered car (Karl Benz, a German, is commonly credited with doing so in 1886), but it is the United States that made cars the central part of our economy, society, and culture for the last century or so. Americans build more cars, drive more cars, drive further in cars, depend on cars, and worship cars more than any other culture in the world.
1908 Ford Model T
The following excerpt succinctly describes the significance of the car in U.S. culture: "The car is so much more than a machine that moves people from point A to point B. It is a symbol of freedom, an emblem of America’s pioneering spirit, a status symbol, a rite of passage, a mark of one’s wealth, and sometimes, a sad substitute for a home or a temporary place to lay one’s head."
1941 Willy's Jeep
Here’s some interesting trivia about cars in America today..
Car culture
The United States has the most cars per capita in the world, with 908 motor vehicles per 1,000 people. 7 countries have the lowest rate of car ownership in the world; six are African: Burundi, The Central African Republic, Ethiopia, Rwanda and Tanzania all have a rate of 1 car per 1,000 population, according to the current figures (2005 or later). Bangladesh is the seventh country in this list
In 2022, the average American drove over 13,000 miles. The average price for regular gas in 1958 (when I was born) was 30 cents/gallon. Today it is $3.56/gallon.
Traffic
The average US driver spends 42 hours per year stuck in traffic, and Washington D.C. has the worst traffic congestion in the country.
Driving habits
Only 18% of American drivers know how to drive a manual transmission, and 96% of Americans drive automatics. Only 1% of the cars currently on the road in the U.S. are electric vehicles (EVs).
Car colors
White is the most popular car color. Yellow, maroon and pink are the least popular in the U.S.
Here for your enjoyment are pictures of some of the classic automobiles from American history into today. (PS: Small tidbit. The 1st car my wife Deborah ever owned was WAY COOLER than the 1st car I owned....which is true in so many other ways in our life too. She's way cooler!). Cheers to the next road trip and hitting the open road! (If you like this post, feel free to share it!)
1953 Cadillac Eldorado
2023 Dodge Ram Bighorn pickup
1966 Chevy Camaro
1963 Chevrolet Corvette Stingray
And to end, a little bit of American driving “wisdom” from the legendary comedian George Carlin (this always makes me laugh at its truth!)
“Have you ever noticed that anybody driving slower than you is an idiot, and anyone going faster than you is a maniac?” – George Carlin