New Car

Remember when the annual fall arrival of newly-designed automobiles arrived at one’s local dealer?

Please say that you do, Baby Boomer or other generational reader. Please placate the writer; it’s the premise of this post.

The big reveal was standardized amongst the auto manufacturers, all American, all based in Detroit, though Studebaker and others made a run. The iconic Stutz was in Indianapolis, I think; there’s a vintage auto museum in Auburn, Indiana to this day.

It was a rite, a ceremony, an extravaganza! A party that my family got dressed up for, often receiving baby orchids pinned to our lapels. As if it were Prom or Easter.

Perhaps it was regarded as a secondary Mother’s Day, worthy of a corsage or other gift, because even in the ’50s when women didn’t work outside the home, women influenced the car buying…

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kCbuMIDcAYQ

(my mother didn’t even drive, an uncommon way to control her movement… about in a very small town? I’ll never know because the politically incorrect question was never asked or answered, not by this eager-to-thrive child, anyway.)

My husband lunches each Saturday with a band of brothers that I call the ‘Need for Speed Guys’, men bonded by shared enthusiasm for all things fast, though, perhaps not women because they are all long-and-happily married.

Larry’s buddies include racing legend Dan Gurney, Bob Liebeck (he invented the Indy car airfoil), the legendary test pilot Chuck Yeager, and a local dentist with a penchant for gizmos and gadgets and the monetary fortune to buy them.

Also in the ranks at the CoCo’s restaurant is a specialty Corvette shop owner, who recently attended with a quest: names for his new super-charged 657 hp Corvette – yes, that is the correct number, way over the stock Corvette engine, which is smoking hot without the boost.

I suggested Blazon.

When my suggestion becomes the new showroom star, don’t you think that I should be awarded one? As a gift – way better than a corsage! Florals are lovely, there is nothing like that new car smell.

If your commentary suggests that an arrest-me-red Corvette would be a midlife crisis present for me, I say “thank you!” – for thinking that I am in the middle of my life.