Newer cars

After resisting for a while, because I really don't want to sell her, but I know I should, I went to the car parts store to get "For Sale" signs to hang in the window of my lovely 2008 Silver Outback with a stick shift (98k miles, $8500). As I was checking out, the guy at the register, an African-American guy in his mid-late-20s, asked me what I was selling:

"A 2008 Outback, but with a stick shift"
"Oh, a newer car."
"Newer?"
"Well, I've never owned anything newer than a 2000."

Turns out, right now he's driving a 1995 Lexus. "It's in great shape. I mean, it had the engine rebuilt a couple of years ago, but it's basically like new."

I do love people who drive their cars for a while and come to love them just because. That aspect of car culture is endearing, and its slow demise with the advent of autonomous vehicles will be bittersweet.

But I also remember when the natural order of things seemed to be three TV networks (ABC, CBS, NBC) plus a little more (PBS, channels that carried syndicated stuff) and three automatkers (GM, Ford, Chrysler) plus some scrappers and foreign cars for those cool enough to live in university towns. And that all changed.