The "Automobile Age" in America -- Did It Ever End?

Hi folks -- I just completed grading 35 undergraduate response papers after the students read James Flink's important essay "Three Stages of American Automobile Consciousness" in a 1972  issue of  the American Quarterly. The article is a good one, and I use it to provide the students with a sweeping synthesis at the beginning of my "Automobile and American Life" course offering. But it is now 50 years old, and Flink's attempt at an historical synthesis is now largely forgotten. His conclusion that by the 1960s the automobile was no longer a progressive force in American life was prescient, given that at the time of writing the author had no idea that two oil shocks were in the near future and that first Europe and then Asia would emerge as formidable competitors to the Detroit Three.

In thinking about the past 50 years, it is hard to conclude that the automobile age really came to an end. Yes, the marriage between the automobile and Americans was strained. And particularly there was a falling out between consumers and Detroit, but that relationship was in part filled with a new fascination with the likes of BMW, Mercedes, Audi, Toyota, Nissan, and even Hyundai and Kia! Subarus have a cult following. To be sure, there was and continues to be plenty of noise from East Coast anti-car folks like Jane Holtz Kay and her Asphalt Nation followers. Some west coast progressives are also advocates for taking the wheels out of the hands of drivers ignorer to save the planet. And critics, many well-meaning,  continue to publish in this genre. But let us not forget that the U.S. has plenty of folks and land between New York, Boston and Oregon. The dissenters are noisy, but ironically few of their children have not been mesmerized by the images, characters and voices from the film "Cars."

And that brings me to the real impact of the automobile on America life during the past 50 years --- culture -- especially film but also print media and to a lesser degree music. Who in America has not been influenced by automobile chase scenes starting with "Bullit" and ending with the "Bourne" or "Fast and Furious" franchises? And then there is music and fiction. Flink never really explored the place of the automobile in culture, and I think it is there that one can explore how the automobile age remains with us although admittedly not with the fervent intensity of the 1950s. Let's face it, Americans have more choices as to where to spend their money now than in 1970s. McMansions -- another way to flaunt status. Vacations around the globe are now quite affordable for many. Electronics, although in my opinion only a dangerous way to lose time and cultivate meaningless relationships. Get off the grid and go for a drive.

On a Saturday or Sunday go to any Cars and  Coffee, cruise-ins at a church parking lot or other venue, and you'll see that the automobile age is with us, and now moving on to a new stage in terms of electric vehicles and autonomous technologies. The young have not abandoned motorized mobility. But many have large debts from going to college. It will be different in the future, but in some ways mirror the transition that was made as Brass Era transportation gave way to the Model T. Driving and future life will become more accessible, cleaner, safer, and easier.


Any response is quite welcome!!