The Automobile: An Overlooked Luxury.
Driving home for the weekend, taking a road trip across the country, going to the store across town at midnight for a quick snack: none of these simple tasks would be possible without the existence of the automobile. The ingenious work of a man named Henry Ford changed the scope of American life with an invention that rocked the entire world. When they came into existence in the beginning of the 20th century cars were considered a luxury, something reserved for the rich and famous. Henry Ford realized his dream of producing an automobile that was reasonably priced, reliable, and efficient with the introduction of the Model T in 1908. It was easy to operate, maintain, and handle on rough roads, immediately becoming a huge success. In less than one hundred years, with a plethora of styles and manufacturers, the automobile has been used to give Americans an identity and has offered a unique freedom to anyone over the age of sixteen. America's fascination with the automobile, however, has lessened and the convenience that it offers is often taken for granted. .
The people of America do not realize how much automobile dependence has increased in the last one hundred years. Neither do they account for the fact that cars have been around for only a century. Imagine a day without a car resting just twenty feet away, and how different life would be. Life would be much slower; it would lack the extreme rapidity that exists today. If one icon serves to represent life in America, the automobile would be it. Baseball has been around for the same amount of time, and has been labeled "America's pastime,"" but most people do not watch or play baseball everyday. Neither is our icon the American flag; in the wake of our nation's tragedy, the stars and stripes has lost a large part of its symbolic qualities. America's fascination and subsequent need for the car has caused the automobile to become the one icon that has stood the test of time.