Car recognition in American literature

[Sparrow]

Just reading 'Rabbit Run' by John Updike and came across 'He gets out of his car, a '58 olive Buick four-door...'

It reminds me that (seemingly) all my life I've been puzzled how Americans can spontaneously identify the year of manufacture of their automobiles?

It's like the way they nonchalantly know if they're walking north, or south, or south-south-east - I generally don't have a clue what direction I'm heading in.

How do they do it?

[vivaldirules]

Couldn't care less. I just wanna go!

[DixieGal]

Originally Posted by vivaldirules

Couldn't care less. I just wanna go!

AMEN! (As she putters around in a wonderful hybrid)

Hey Sparrow! In the US when driving, interstates that end in odd numbers go north/south. Do the math for the other direction (answer: even numbers). If walking, look up. In the morning, the sun will be to your east. In the evening, the sun will be in the west. After dark, make camp and relax until your guide in the sky rises again.

If the sun rises from the same place it went down, then you have read enough scifi to know that you are not on the same planet where you laid your head last night.

As for knowing the car makes and models, there are actually people who know their car types so well that they can tell what it is by the sound. I can always pick out a Pontiac by sound, but nothing else.

[pshrynk]

For the first 3/4 of the 20th century, car manufacturers made a big deal out of cosmetic changes on their cars every year. A 58 Buick would have, say, longer fins, or something than a 57 Buick. Every now and again, they's come out with a radical re-design, such as the Corvette going to the "Shark" styling. (I'm not much of a car buff, so I can't give you specific dates and models.) Since the late 70's and early 80's though, most cars all look the same no matter who builds them, so the distinctions come down to esoterica tlike where the name badge is glued, etc. Now, they mostly talk in terms of model configurations, such as the 99 Miata looking different than the 98. (I know, it's a Japanese car, but it's the same principle.)

[Taylor514ce]

It's simple. America is big. You can't go anywhere without a car. The first true independence for most teenagers is getting a car. We love our cars. We name them. We envy our friends' cars. We park them in dark places and makeout with our girlfriends (or boyfriends, as the case may be), with earrings and Trojan wrappers working their way back to the surface of the upholstery weeks later like stones in a field...

The sight of an old car with the same make/model as something we had or a friend had or even a friend's dad had, brings back memories as easily as the smell of mom's apple pie.

The Great American Adventure is a road trip... hopping in a car and just driving for days and days, seeing the sights, eating at diners, sleeping in sleeping bags or cheap motels.

That's it. I'm getting in my old '89 Jeep Wagoneer, throwing in some sleeping bags and a cooler of Cokes, a worn copy of Kerouac (and now my Sony Reader) and heading out to Utah or Colorado or Arizona. Yippee!!

P.S. Forget it. Gas prices are too high. Thus dies Americana.

[DixieGal]

Originally Posted by Taylor514ce

That's it. I'm getting in my old '89 Jeep Wagoneer, throwing in some sleeping bags and a cooler of Cokes, a worn copy of Kerouac (and now my Sony Reader) and heading out to Utah or Colorado or Arizona. Yippee!!

P.S. Forget it. Gas prices are too high. Thus dies Americana.

Sounds like heaven! I love the Prius, but it is too quiet. For a road trip, you need to hear a growl under the hood!

[Sparrow]

Originally Posted by DixieGal

.....In the morning, the sun will be to your east. In the evening, the sun will be in the west. ...

It took this guy 15 minutes, a stick, and two rocks to figure out east/west.

http://www.krampf.com/experiments/Sc...periment9.html

[Taylor514ce]

So... back to "cars in American literature", describing a car's year, make and model is a very efficient way to set a certain scene and/or era. It's a shortcut into the psyche. Saying he climbed out of a '58 Buick olive green 4-day evokes a considerably different feel than "he got out of his car", or even more so, "the gull-wings of his DeLorean slowly rose...".

[pilotbob]

Originally Posted by Taylor514ce

"the gull-wings of his DeLorean slowly rose...".

...he wondered if the time circuits had failed him again. Or, was this actually 2008? A time when men were men and cars were Korean.

[DixieGal]

Originally Posted by pilotbob

...he wondered if the time circuits had failed him again. Or, was this actually 2008? A time when men were men and cars were Korean.

... But it wasn't his 2008. In this strange new string (theory) he found himself in, gas only costed $0.25 per gallon, and a clean tidy teenager pumped the fuel and cleaned his windshield. Somehow, his car had transformed to an olive 58 Buick, which surged with power and potential. Roaring out of the gas station parking lot, he .....

[zelda_pinwheel]

...suddenly realized he didn't know how to drive, having always lived in a city with an efficient public transportation system. how did he end up here anyway ?? and was he so sure this *was* an olive 58 Buick ? all cars looked alike to him, and that sounded like something he would have read in an Updike novel. peering through the windscreen, he realized that the car was actually closer to blue than olive, and on the steering wheel was a lion. wasn't a lion the Peugeot logo ? or was it Citroën ? He was just wondering how in the name of all things holy he was going to be able to bring the hurtling projectile to a stop (and forget parallel parking), when...

[vivaldirules]

Originally Posted by zelda_pinwheel

...suddenly realized he didn't know how to drive, having always lived in a city with an efficient public transportation system. how did he end up here anyway ?? and was he so sure this *was* an olive 58 Buick ? all cars looked alike to him, and that sounded like something he would have read in an Updike novel. peering through the windscreen, he realized that the car was actually closer to blue than olive, and on the steering wheel was a lion. wasn't a lion the Peugeot logo ? or was it Citroën ? He was just wondering how in the name of all things holy he was going to be able to bring the hurtling projectile to a stop (and forget parallel parking), when...

Yes, go on....

[DixieGal]

Viv: Your turn!!

[DixieGal]

Originally Posted by zelda_pinwheel

...suddenly realized he didn't know how to drive, having always lived in a city with an efficient public transportation system. how did he end up here anyway ?? and was he so sure this *was* an olive 58 Buick ? all cars looked alike to him, and that sounded like something he would have read in an Updike novel. peering through the windscreen, he realized that the car was actually closer to blue than olive, and on the steering wheel was a lion. wasn't a lion the Peugeot logo ? or was it Citroën ? He was just wondering how in the name of all things holy he was going to be able to bring the hurtling projectile to a stop (and forget parallel parking), when...

... a lamp post lept into his path and solved his stopping dilemna. After having ascertained that he was bruised but not broken, he classically walked away and nobody was hurt. At a coffee shop near the scene of the accident, he decided to have a strong coffee with an extra shot of espresso, to settle his nerves.

Jitteringly, he quaffed and wondered why this string he was visiting seemed to mix 1950's and 2000's cultures? The gas station was a throwback to simpler times, but no one could ever accuse a 2008 coffee shop of being simple. So many decisions.

Just then, into the coffee shop walked a dame.

"Who art thou?" she sniffed at him.

"I can see she is a royally dubbed dame, not just a gal," he thought.

"Your regalness, I'm a visitor to your modern American city," he answered....

[pshrynk]

quickly shoving the passed out hooker in the seat next to him into the back seat. This will take finnesse. It will take squirrels and automatic weaponry. But most of all it will take...