As IF Times

link Toyota recalls 52,000 Prius models in U.S. after report of single accident – Drive On: A conversation about the cars and trucks we drive – USATODAY.com.

Boy, have times changed.  Anyone who has ever owned a British, Italian or French car made during the mid ’70’s or a Russian Yugo or Hyundai Pony from the 80’s will no doubt be amused by this story.  Apart from the usual spare tire and jack that came as standard equipment when buying one of those beauties, you were also issued a roll of duct tape just in case.  In addition, you’d be crazy not to have some jumper cables in the trunk.   Windows that didn’t roll down, roofs that leaked and floor boards that disappeared were considered part of the charm of owning these marques.  At least it was in those days. 

Steering some of those old cars was more of an exercise in aiming than precision guidance.  As far as brakes were concerned, you had to engage in long term planning in order to stop within a block or two of where you wanted.  I remember clearly that a Fiat 128 owned by one of my university buddies had to be parked facing downhill so that there would be a chance of starting it afterwards. 

Some of the design elements of the old cars were also suspect.  Even something as simple as having 3 wiper arms on the old MG’s was quizzical.  Who buys 3 wiper blades?  Some of the old convertible tops were designed to nominally keep the rain off your head, but they would leak so badly that your feet and seat were guaranteed to be soaked instead.  Fiat had the bright idea of having to screw the bolts into holes in the wheel hubs rather than  have studs stick out as is the case on most cars.  Try aligning bolts to holes while propping up a heavy tire on a dark rainy night.  Don’t ask how I know.  The Lucas electrics on the British cars were so utterly useless that often you could have either lights or ignition but not both.  Anyone who remembers the quirks of these old cars as being charming is either delusional or have selective memories.

It wasn’t until the Japanese cars came along with their attention to detail that people began to have any expectations of quality control at all.  Now cars have bumper to bumper warranties and are very well engineered and constructed.  They make the old cars look like weekend garage projects.   For the masses, cars have in effect, become appliances like any stove or refrigerator.  People expect their cars to be perfect and trouble-free.  Expectations and perceptions have clearly evolved.  Nowadays, if you tick off the option box for the Mark Levinson sound system on a Lexus, it would cost more than the entire purchase price of a Toyota Corolla 20 years ago.  The days of accepting ‘quirkiness’ are gone, the lawyers have seen to that.   The linked article describes a recall of 52,000 cars  just to fix a bolt after a single accident.  Compare that to the 70’s when there were scores of incidents of Ford Pintos bursting into flames when their rear bumpers were struck. 

However, even as car quality has unquestionably improved over the years, the charm surrounding them is mainly gone.  I guess I’m one of the delusional who liked the goofiness of the old cars.  At least if something broke, you could find a way to jury rig it.  Nowadays, that’s not possible.  You’d have to pay the Apple geek to tinker with it.   Kind of sad really.  It’s hard to feel affinity for something that you plug in.  The sheer fun of just driving a car has been replaced by the material desire to have gadgets in them.   I’m sure it’s only a matter of time before Apple comes out with the ICar.

link RealClearPolitics – Video – MSNBCs Martin Bashir: Palin Bus Tour In “Breach Of Federal Law”.

It’s amusing to the point of farce.   So if you are minding your own business, driving around in a bus painted with the American flag visiting places of historical interest, you are in danger of breaking federal law.   Hmm.  Sarah Palin is not exactly your run of the mill individual of course.  But to our knowledge, she has not advertised her trip, her stops, nor participating formally in any political event.  It’s just that the ‘news media’ are chasing her around like pimply faced paparazzi hoping or expecting something to happen.  CBS even stated that the caravan of media hounds trailing the bus is ‘dangerous’.  Dangerous maybe to the idiots following her around counting the times she invokes, ‘shucks’ or ‘golly gee’.  Maybe they’ll catch the bus speeding.   Ooh..Ahh….

At the same time, a Democratic congressman from New York is apparently in danger of violating some kind of federal law, by virtue of having an image of his crotch in tighty whities sent to the twitter account of a Seattle student.  The ironically named congressman Weiner, is giving every evasive answer except the direct one to the question of ‘was it your hot dog?’  His inability to be frank about this is suspicious.  In so much as a crime of some kind was actually perpetrated here, by hackers or by lying about it, wouldn’t it make more sense to have a caravan of news hounds chasing the Weiner around?  Shouldn’t Weiner be the one being grilled?

On the one hand, a private citizen is just minding their own business, having a sightseeing road trip and the media are frothing.  On the other, an elected government lawmaker flashes his sheathed Oscar Mayer over the Internet and he gets a page 6 mention in the New York times.   As long as Palin doesn’t have Death to America painted on her bus, why should the media by covering her like she was Brad and Angelina on their 23rd adoption?  The derangement syndrome which has gripped the liberal media has not abated at all in over 3 years.  They pursue her like Ahab stalking the big white whale.   In the case of the brewing scandal surely to be dubbed ‘Weinergate’, shouldn’t someone be looking into the judgement of an individual who is amused by puerile displays of exhibitionism…..ok, allegedly.  I guess the media think this is a ‘small’ crime…. Hey, he’s a New Yorker; they’re prone to all kinds of wacko behaviour over there.  But enough titillation, back to the real criminal, Sarah Palin.