August 14, 2012 — August 14, 2012 – Well, here we are at the tail end of summer, school is just around the corner and you know what is after that. It is time once again to celebrate the Woodward Dream Cruise and think back to the good ole days when you could fill up your car and drive for a week on $2 of gas!
I graduated from high school in 1970 and one of my friends drove a brand new, bright orange, 1970 GTO Judge. That was a great looking car and he was the envy of all of us. I bet there will be a few of those driving up and down Woodward this weekend. When we look at those cars, we tend to think back to the good times they represent to us, but there are lots of things that we don’t remember about the good old days.
For example, those wonderful cars didn’t have many of the safety features we have now:
- No seat belts;
- No air bags;
- No anti lock brakes; and
- They used leaded gas.
Cars back then didn’t get anywhere close to the gas mileage we get now either. True, we didn’t drive as many miles, but you sure didn’t go around touting how many mpg your car got either.
So, I hope you take advantage of this weekend and take a little time out and go see these wonderful old cars. Appreciate their beauty. But at the same time, give thanks for the wonderful cars we drive now – they are so much safer and more efficient. Who knows, in 40 years or so, the cars we will be driving today might be in the Dream Cruise. Wonder what we will be driving – or flying - then?
If you want to know what about anything related to transportation in Southeast Michigan, don’t miss Carmine Palombo's blog. Carmine has more than 30 years of experience in various phases of transportation planning at SEMCOG. He is responsible for administering SEMCOG’s transportation planning program, which includes the region’s long-range transportation plan and short-term transportation plan.
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