Saturday, May 05, 2012
Good sociology, bad mechanics
NPR runs a nice feature on 'cars that made history' this morning.
In discussing the ascendancy of the VW, author Paul Ingrassia makes an excellent contrast: the Beetle was a "good car for poor people", but only rich people and hippies liked it. Poor people want to look rich; only the old established rich like to look poor.
Good sociology, and a level of candor about rich and poor that we rarely hear on the air.
But it doesn't apply to VW. The Beetle was completely inappropriate for poor Americans. It required a Teutonic level of precise maintenance and precise driving; parts were fairly expensive; repairs needed special tools; a minor collision could destroy it and kill you; gas mileage was no better than a Dart or Rambler.
Poor and working-class Americans were vastly better served by a plain-jane Chevy or Ford. A '59 Biscayne with six and stick would take all sorts of abuse. You could forget to change the oil, shift into high at 5 MPH, bump into things, tow trailers, pull treestumps .... and it would keep on going.
In short, poor Americans understood their own needs accurately, and Detroit gave them what they needed. ¶ 5:36 AM
In discussing the ascendancy of the VW, author Paul Ingrassia makes an excellent contrast: the Beetle was a "good car for poor people", but only rich people and hippies liked it. Poor people want to look rich; only the old established rich like to look poor.
Good sociology, and a level of candor about rich and poor that we rarely hear on the air.
But it doesn't apply to VW. The Beetle was completely inappropriate for poor Americans. It required a Teutonic level of precise maintenance and precise driving; parts were fairly expensive; repairs needed special tools; a minor collision could destroy it and kill you; gas mileage was no better than a Dart or Rambler.
Poor and working-class Americans were vastly better served by a plain-jane Chevy or Ford. A '59 Biscayne with six and stick would take all sorts of abuse. You could forget to change the oil, shift into high at 5 MPH, bump into things, tow trailers, pull treestumps .... and it would keep on going.
In short, poor Americans understood their own needs accurately, and Detroit gave them what they needed. ¶ 5:36 AM
