[john70t]

There were electric vehicles in the 1880s and gasoline one in the 1890s.

Up until the 20s, cars were made by small manufacturers and were known only as the playthings of the rich, like small airplanes are today.
The concept of personal cars didn't start untill in the 30s Ford made mass production and cheap prices a reality, but then WW2 got in the way and intorduced GM who was making Tank etc..

In the fifties GM, Dow chemical, and other industries got together and pushed through the National Highway Act (inspired by Hitlers autobon) which used public funds to create the national infrastucture we have today.

At the same time a front group called National City Lines bought up all the electric inner-city trolley systems which dominated the infrstructure of most cities at the time, and literally burned them within weeks. The trolley were replaced by diesel buses which were noisy, smelled bad and ran with less regularity.

Urban sprall was born and the necessity for cars has become accepted as fact, untill the countryside begins to reach the population density of major citys, then demand for mass transit starts up again. (In Tokyo for instance, they have workers with poles who compact people into the train cars during rush hour. It'll happen here eventually.)

I think cars have been progressing as fast as they can, given the influences of major oil (our elected president), and manufactured obsulescence (it's made to break a day after the warrentee expires). Crappy cars create a lot of jobs.

Some of the public has demanded better, smaller, fuel efficient cars (rice). For instance, in the Bay Area there were thousands of pre-orders for the Honda Insight(70 mpg) but less than a hundred were actually delivered to the dealerships. You figure out why. COLOR=blue]You can only try to vote with your dollar[/COLOR].

If the Saudis decide we're not their friends anymore and the Ruskis pull the carpet out from under our feet, we're in a whole world of hurt.

No need to buy a storage shed for out back, just throw it in the Suburban.

Thats my 1 1/2 cents, thanks for listening to my rant of the day....Ugghh[