Tuesday, July 14, 2009

Fins and Wings

Today's posting is about something that's been bugging me for a long time. The rear deck spoiler.



If you feel the urge to argue in favor of the rear deck spoiler, I offer these two photos into evidence. You tell me, which looks more bad-ass, the tail fins on the Caddy or the wing on the PT Cruiser? Both might be stupid, but the fins were way cooler. I rest my case.










That last line of the clip, I just had to throw in there. The phrase "The Greatest Generation" comes from a book by TV anchorman Tom Brokaw about the generation of Americans who grew up in the depression and fought in WWII. My parents were part of that generation, and not everything they did was so great. I haven't read his book, but I doubt Tom devoted many pages to their tacit acceptance of the racist norms of those times. It's shocking to me that there are still many people alive today who remember those "good old days" when "the colored" like Tiger Woods weren't allowed to play in PGA tournaments.

Just for the record, I refused to let my Saturn dealer put a spoiler on my Ion sedan. I've seen Gallardos with and without rear wings, and I much prefer without. Keep that in mind if you're thinking of buying me a Gallardo.

3 comments:

Red Pill Junkie said...

Couldn't agree more: the name itself is self-explanatory: it spoils the line of an automobile.

BTW, you'll love this link! ;-)

Re. the so-called Greater Generation, I guess that in their defense one could claim that their virtues outweigh their defects. Sure they were racist, but so were the other previous generations of Americans since the country was founded. You can't expect to correct every mistake in 25 years, can you?

Or maybe, what's troubling is not the fact that we're idealizing their achievements, but that what they did has never been topped by subsequent generations. Somehow the American society peaked in that era, and then began to go downhill; sure social rights came afterwards, but only as a result of the momentum generated in the previous years —when people realize that the same black men and women who sacrificed themselves in the battlefield along side them, were denied service at diners back home.

The 60's counter culture could then be seen as a protest from the disappointment that brought the realization that the ideals of the Greater Generation were transformed into merely greed form material wealth; that the American dream changed from a land of the free, to an utopical Suburbia where every family could have a lawn and a color TV.

Jeremy said...

I have to disagree, spoilers make a car look tight. Now, spoilers on trucks look retarded, but sedans are cool. Just try to picture a Subaru WRX without a spoiler... It would look way lame.

Red Pill Junkie said...

That Subaru is a sweet ride, Jeremy. This I believe is the exception that confirms the rule ;-)