Wichita Residents, like All Americans, Love Thier ‘Bimmers’
People love cars, especially Americans. Big cars, little cars, fast cars, fancy cars, we love them all. Our infatuation with the automobile began when Henry Ford started rolling off the Model T back in the early 1900s, and it hasn’t stopped, not during the oil crisis of the late 1970s, not during the on-going “green” movement, not even when the Yugo was introduced. We love cars. Heck, I’m not even a “gear-head” and even I can tell you what my dream car is – a 1965 Corvette Stingray (cherry red with a convertible top, natch) – what was the first car I owned – an ‘82 Ford Fairmont (as Luke Skywalker said in Star Wars, “what a piece of junk.”) – and what car I want my daughters to drive – any car that has seatbelts, airbags, and no boys. (especially in the backseat. Come to thinking of it, maybe they’ll ride bikes for most of their lives.)
But we love cars. We truly do. We love everything about them. Don’t believe me? Consider this: when you go to the car wash, they usually offer you a variety of scents for your interior, right? Guess what’s most popular. I’ll give you a hint, it’s not “new shoes smell” or even “new baby smell.” That’s right, it’s “new car smell.” You see? We love them so much we even like to be reminded of when we first met and when we first fell in love. Heck, most of us can’t say that about our spouses, but we sure as heck can say in about the vehicle parked in our garage. Love, love, love them.
Except . . .
Well, sometimes we don’t love them. I mean, they do break down – my old Rabbit was in the shop at least twice a month for a while. They sometimes won’t turn over on cold mornings – not that I blame them, sometimes I don’t like turning over on cold mornings. Sometimes they need, well, tinkering – I thought about opening a BMW repair shop in my hometown of Wichita, because my dad’s Beemer always needed a little work done.
But still, in the end, we love them. And how could we not? Seriously. What would you have us do without our cars? Walk?
Yeah, right.
