I must admit, I am a car freak. I love sexy looking cars. I do recall as a teenager, sitting down and making a list of my dream cars that I wanted to buy when I grew up. On top of the list were the Chevrolet Corvette and Lincoln Continental as they were awesome looking vehicles.
Almost 30 years later, in 2004 I took three of my students to a conference in Austin, Texas where we were offered a rental car upgrade at no additional cost. We had the privilege of driving a Lincoln Town Car. We were in awe! My students were so excited to drive this Lincoln. As we got in the car, the new car smell was refreshing. One of my students sitting in the back seat told me, “Wow, this is a nice car doc.” As he pulled the back door to shut it, we were shocked as the door did not move and then snap, door panel actually came off! At that moment my childhood dreams were crushed and I thought, “You ruined it for me Lincoln.” At that time, the parent company Ford had this slogan, “Have You Driven a Ford Lately?” Yes we did and it was terrible.
Naturally, like many other people, I drove German, Japanese and even British cars (yes, sorry my Brit friends, those unreliable British Cars) but never bought an American car. Buying an American car became a taboo associated with being old, boring and unreliable.
In 2009, at the peak of the sluggish US economy, I told my wife, “We really need to re-evaluate the way we live. Look at us. Our cars are German, our shoes are Italian, our TV and most of our electronics Japanese, furniture and clothes are mostly Chinese. And we claim we are proud Americans?”
In 2010, I saw a great looking car on the highway. As I approached the car on the road, I realized it was the redesigned Ford Taurus. I loved the way it looked. After doing some research, I quickly found out that the redesigned Ford Taurus was scoring very high with critics. I was itchy to get new car and after a short test drive, I decided to buy it. Oh man, what a nice car! It is roomy, safe with good fuel economy and reliability and yes, very sexy looking. My Taurus has more than 20 thousand miles and the performance is exceeding my expectations.
Six months ago, I was passing a Ford dealership and I saw a hot, red, sexy looking car in the showroom. So clearly I had to stop by to see the car. The dealer told me this is the “2011 Ford Mustang Shelby Cobra GT500.” I asked the sales rep why it had such a long name. He told me because this car is an American icon! At that moment I was sold and I bought the car. It was such a tempting looking car that I could not resist. The excitement does not end by looking at this car. When you get into the car, you are thrilled by the 550 horsepower, supercharged aluminum block engine, six-speed dual clutch transmission, high performance brakes and Goodyear super race tires.
However, I did not know that driving this car was going to be a social attraction. Everybody seems to love this car. One day at an intersection, a cute teenage girl rolled down her window and told me, “I want to kiss your car!” It told her first you need to kiss me. Pooh. She was gone! Another day, in a parking lot, a 70ish-year-old lady stopped me and asked, “Is this a Shelby?” I proudly replied “yes.” She said, “My husband who passed away used to have one. This is a great looking car. God bless you to keep this American icon alive.” I was moved.
Let’s admit it. We are obsessed with imports to a point where we’ve become ignorant of our local economy. I really feel everyone should buy American cars or at least test drive them again before ruling them out. Their quality is leaps and bounds better than a decade ago, not to mention that they are as hot and sexy as they were in their prime. “Have You Driven a Ford Lately?” You should.
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