I miss it and I want it now
especially in the season called Fall. Hmnnn to be able to take the top off,
slide it in the back, feel the gentle breeze surround it and put the heat on.
Yessss I am talking about the
convertible car. Most people if they can, like to drive one in the summer but I
like the Fall better. It is just too hot in summer. With a nice sweater on and
the heat on your legs you get the benefit of fresh air all around you, great
views but still warm and toasty legs. Not to mention the sex appeal of a
convertible.
I remember that old movie with
the handsome Cary Grant and Grace Kelly driving in a cool 2 seat convertible
along the winding mountain roads of the Riviera in the movie To Catch A Thief. Now
we can try to perhaps relive the experience by driving a Mustang convertible but
where? Most of our romantic roadways have been turned into super highways where
people can drive 80 miles per hour with no problem. You don’t want to drive
that fast in a convertible. Not good for your ears, hair or skin. You would
need the masks and goggles they wore in the turn of the century .
Back then the convertible car was
less glamorous. In fact they would charge you more money to put a hard roof on
the car. The earliest cars were all convertibles. The Model T by Ford was
mostly driven with the top off. It had
to be fun though since you couldn’t go any faster than 40 miles per hour on any
roads then. Matt Anderson is the Curator of Transportation at the Henry Ford Museum in Dearborn, Michigan
and he says that everything turned around in car history. In the beginning you
couldn’t afford to pay for a top on the car. As there was upward mobility and
people could afford it, more cars had tops on them. Now you have to be rich to
be able to afford a topless car.
By 1936 the open top car
accounted for less than 1% per cent of automobile sales. There are still wealthy
drivers who could afford the large six seat convertible luxury car. They were
big cars with 8 or 12 cylinder engines. The
convertible was still useful for politicians like FDR who toured around in a
Lincoln Convertible. We all know what happened
to John F. Kennedy in his convertible. By the end of World War II we start
seeing more fun cars and by 1950 every
American car maker had a convertible. There were 33 models in all to chose from.
From 1962 to 1966 the convertible
accounted for 6% of all car sales But by the 1970’s convertibles were out of
style. Matt Anderson said it was for three reasons, safety, security and the
faster pace of life. At 70 miles per hour on the highway it became a hurricane on
your head. Now only a small number of convertibles are sold each year. I don’t think the open top car will ever
really die because there will always be someone who likes to drive for fun. I
admit it , I am a man going through a mid-life crisis. Give me that topless fun
machine.
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