Fun pub discussion last night - things your kids will never know or experience

[SheilaT]

435. And I'm willing to bet that your pick-up has a lot more

than 50-60,000 miles.

Oh, and remember the days before safety glass? I knew a couple of people with terrible facial scars because of car accidents. Most people today wear seatbelts. Cars are designed with "crumple zones" which do just that in a crash, so plenty of car body damage is done, but far less to the humans inside.

And yes, we can thank the Japanese and the Germans (think VW) for making inexpensive and eventually good cars. I recall quite well when the earliest Japanese imports really were small and somewhat like tin cans. Their main virtue, along with the VWs, was they didn't cost much and were very economical on gas. In about 1982 a friend commented that the American manufacturers were beginning to get quite nervous about the Japanese car manufacturers because the Japanese now understood the American market, were making larger and more luxurious cars, still keeping them relatively inexpensive and fuel efficient.

And now, the American cars have caught up. We all benefit.