AUTOMOBILE
The inventions of the industrial revolution changed the face of the world and human existence profoundly. The most notable of these inventions, with more social and economic impact than any other, is the automobile.
With its endless variations in design, size, performance, speed, prestige, power, and cost, the automobile creates its own hierarchy of class. Pickups for the working man, muscle cars for the rich, and safe comforts for the family. Marketed with such slogans as “the car designed with you in mind,” “a rare kind of car for a rare kind of man” and “the action car for active Americans,” the automobile has never been just a machine or material object, it is a symbol of independence, freedom, success, and most importantly, status.
What begins as a luxury item, however, soon becomes a financial obligation, and many automobiles pass through the generations only to meet their end as heaps of rust, broken glass, and weathered upholstery. These cultural corpses, immune to decomposition, remain within their surrounding environments as iconic relics, memorials to their glory, grandeur, and achievement.
