A couple of years ago I was sitting at a traffic light, and for some reason I began identifying the cars crossing the intersection by country of origin… Japan, Japan, Japan, Germany, Japan, Japan, Sweden, Japan, US, Japan, Japan, Japan, Korea, Germany, Japan… and so on.
The fact that I was sitting in front of a recently-closed Ford dealership may have been part of what triggered this little exercise.
Obviously, my identifications were not perfect. When a Toyota passed by it could have been a Japan-built car or a US-built car. When a Volvo went through the intersection it was probably from the Ford ownership period. That BMW might be from the South Carolina factory. The Chrysler PT Cruiser? Built in Mexico. And the Mini — what country should I assign to that?
But what I was musing upon was the fact that, 45 years ago, such a car census would have been overwhelmingly US, with a smattering of Germany, thanks to the success of the Volkswagen Beetle, and with the occasional British or Italian car. France might be represented, too, since back then there was a Peugeot dealership not far away.
This evolution in passing traffic would have been unimaginable to a person 45 years ago. Plymouth – gone? Oldsmobile –gone? Mercury — gone? Pontiac – gone? Mainstream cars from Korea? You would have been locked up in the looney bin for suggesting the possibility.
Image selected from Wikipedia via Creative Commons
