Saturday, January 12, 2008

Transportation for the Masses-- Minus the DVD


One of my coworkers this week showed off his brand new Jeep Commander. I'll admit it was an impressive vehicle---with Blue tooth technology that incorporates your phone with your sound system somehow, DVD player, automatic starter from his keychain, hell, and it's off road rated, whatever that means. I don't suppose, with his car seat in back and baby in tow, he's going off roading but you never know.
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American's want a lot out of their automobiles, and the automakers would put an expresso machine in them if they thought they'd sell more.
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But I can remember a simpler time, when all I wanted was transportation. Something to take me further than my bike. Something I could afford as a starving college student. No frills,
just get me where I want to go. My first car, my dear little 1984 Toyota Tercel, wasn't much bigger than the TATA Nano, above. It was standard shift, no air-conditioning, wind-up windows, and no power steering.
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But I was in love.
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The Tata above, with no radio, and no frills, is a cool $2500 bucks. It's being marketed in India. I hope it brings as much joy to some poor Indian family as my little Toyota brought to me.

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