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The Forum > Article Comments > An elder’s observation of the American Dream > Comments

An elder’s observation of the American Dream : Comments

By Brian Holden, published 13/11/2012

The reason that the shockingly inefficient 'Caddies' of the 50s, 60s and 70s were such big sellers was that there were a lot of Americans who wanted to feel to be bigger Americans.

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Dear Mr. Holden,

Reaching their personal potential is New Age talk. You are a thoughtful man, and I expect better from you. My mother's parents came to the United States so they could be together. In Lithuania they were both supposed to marry somebody else. My father was a deserter from the Czarist army who came to the US because he had relatives there. Most people came to the US simply because in some way they could be better off there. That is generally why people move from one country to another.
Posted by david f, Tuesday, 13 November 2012 2:45:25 PM
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voxUnius, glad you enjoyed it. Don't be jealous, but I bought a Morgan +4 brand new in 1962. With a few extras it cost me 1440 ponds, plus registration. It was to be my new wife & my last bit of youthful extravagance before settling down.

Those were the days when you could drive into town, [Sydney], park in Pitt St, go to a movie, & drive home, no hassles.

It did not work out that way. The Morgan was frighteningly quick, [in that day], so I went racing to learn how to drive it where there was nothing coming the other way.

That led me to racing things like Lotus & Brabham open wheelers, so it took about 25 years for settling down to happen.

Don't blame the car, it's in the genes I think. 8 years of that 25 was spent sailing around the Pacific islands.
Posted by Hasbeen, Tuesday, 13 November 2012 5:14:51 PM
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Mr Hasbeen,

I knew you were into Moggies, I read it some time ago in one of your posts. I knew it wasn't Cadillacs (see, staying on topic).

You say "brand new in 1962", So I'm thinking it probably came out of Ken Ward's servo down in Gladesville, yes?

Even the American Dream embraced Morgans, and Brits are still building them new today with wooden coachwork and all. Classic. Now that's spirit.

Anyway, getting too close to the edges of OLO etiquette here, better sign off. But, just to say I bought my first Australian Dream (nightmare actually) in 1966 - a very overused 1949 MG TC for $450. I used to drool going through Gladesville back them. Ooh yeah.

You can contact me if you like, go here - http://www.interactivetechnical.com.au/contact/contact_02.htm

We've got more in common than you might think.

Mr Young, Sir, many thanks for your tolerance in anticipation.

Cheers all.
Posted by voxUnius, Tuesday, 13 November 2012 6:34:54 PM
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BRIAN HOLDEN says in this article<The reason that the shockingly inefficient 'Caddies' of the 50s, 60s and 70s were such big sellers was that there were a lot of Americans who wanted to feel to be bigger Americans.>

I think the main reason was that at that stage in history, America owned some very prolific oil wells and petrol in America was dirt cheap compared to the rest of the world . This enabled people to drive big cars without much cost.
The other reason was “space”. A low population meant plenty of parking space. These cars started to become impractical as the population grew and it became harder to find room to park a lot of big cars. Petrol also got more expensive in America over time.
Brian sounds envious of cars that did no harm in the period in which they existed.

Brian Holden fails to address the issue of the consumer- base that fuels the ever increasing
demand for western goods and the majority are not white Americans or Australians. That consumer base is being driven by some very big overpopulated countries in the world who have not controlled their childbirth rate like the white Western citizens have.
It’s like prostitution. No customers, no prostitution.

Capitalism in the West would have stagnated by now, if it were not for the flooding of Western countries with millions of immigrants fleeing their own overpopulated countries. The politicians in fact use immigrants to fan Capitalism to make sure the economy doesn't stagnate. Countries like China and India also have massive consumer bases and a love of Western ideas. They also keep Capitalism operating.

Brian you need to take off your 1970’s Hippy glasses and realise that the world does not conform to those ideas any more.
Posted by CHERFUL, Tuesday, 13 November 2012 10:28:26 PM
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