Lawyers Road Review

Fr. Karol Józef Wojtyła drove an ancient Ford Escort with a 1.1 liter engine and a 4 on the floor manual shifter. He kept a small tin for mints on the dashboard with an image of Our Lady on the lid.

In this most holy expression of unassuming transport, he completed the journey from Poland to Rome. This alone qualifies as a miracle. No wonder he was elected Pope, took the name John Paul II and was later canonized a saint.

The Popes Ford

Catholicism teaches much of modernity dehumanizes the individual and robs the soul of his or her dignity. Modern cars are much the same. Note the simplicity of the Popes car, where the Shoes of the Fisherman worked the pedals and his holy arm blessing the stick shift with Devine Sanctifying Grace worked the gears.

Pope John Paul II Ford Escorts Interior

Most cars today lack this humility and certainly the character. Driving an appliance that does everything for you degrades the drivers God given talents to a nullity.

Now they are building cars that drive themselves. It feels like Sin, doesn’t it? Can a self-driving car thread an old stump to the delight of the kids in the back seat? Maybe, but only after several alarms go off.

Any idiot can plunk down too much money for a new car then leave the car lot only to learn that these days once on the road the driver is constantly reminded of the limits of his humanity. Annoying bells, cameras, chimes constantly correct the driver, demanding from the man behind the wheel maintain an impossible standard some whiz kid thought up in the engineering department of General Motors. Who are you anyway, my mother?

Now even a buzzer shocks the seat when the machine decides the driver is too close to another car when backing up. It’s like they designed in a dehumanizing cattle prod. All this tells the driver he is inadequate to the task and should be treated as just another cow in the herd. How does this make the passengers feel? Bovine?

Besides, modern cars have too much on them that break.

Better to drive around in my Dad’s old Buick which we affectionately refer to as “The Nimitz” because of the long wheel base. Jets from Whidbey Island Naval Air Station try to land on it when it is underway on Interstate 5. The car is easily mistaken for an aircraft carrier.

If you think about it none of our heroes sailed around in anything like this vehicle that anticipates every danger; not the Homeric Jason’s Argo, Magellan’s Nao Trinidad , Nelson’s HMS Victory, Neil Armstrong’s Eagle or Steve McQueen’s Mustang in Bullitt. Did you ever see Clint Eastwood buckle up? Nope. There is the power of prayer for you.

Technically you can listen to Bruce Springsteen in a modern car, but can you really feel the poignant humanity in his music behind the wheel like you can in large American cruiser like the Buick? Consider the basic element of humanity in Springsteen’s Thunder Road:

The screen door slams, Mary’s dress sways
Like a vision she dances across the porch as the radio plays

Roy Orbison’s singing for the lonely
Hey, that’s me and I want you only

Don’t turn me home again
I just can’t face myself alone again

I mean, isn’t that the whole thing, driving involves some kind of risk, like love ?

On the way to the Junior Prom, 1976. My date rejected the corsage.

Perhaps it is the memory of the better parts of the past come together in the movement, road feel and speed that driving an old car means. What better way to return this soul to a moment in the American culture where self-sufficiency, God given skill and intelligence to navigate the roads and all its hazards serve as a metaphor for life? 

My son John took these lessons to heart. He bought a 1979 Toyota Supra, a hot car in its day. But unfortunately the car had not been out of the prior owners garage in decades. Half way home the tires looked like this:

We decided to take this risk with the classic Toyota sportscar. It didn’t work out. So the car more or less sits where it was when he bought it after a wrecker brought it home. Another downside of these cars are they are too old and they no longer make parts for them. Right now we are without a windshield wiper motor, and we live in Seattle.

My sons Supra, now with new tires but still cannot be driven.

Yeah its great to have a back up camera too, and the lack of one in the Buick has led to some bumps, but isn’t that what a “bump-er” is for? To bump? My brother-in-law assures me we can retrofit the Buick to have a camera, but then it wouldn’t be “retro” would it?

At least my son and I am not alone. I asked my friends Patty and Jerry if they felt the same way. Sure, but they are better at buying. They sent me these like father like son photos.

Jerrys Dad and his Tin Lizzie and Jerry with his 2015 Mazda Miata 6

Beyond the purchase it takes foresight and care to keep an old car going. Where is the sense of achievement keeping a new car on the road? Where is the nostalgia for another time? Just what Gestalt can a new car claim to have?

Patty and Jerry consistently pick right. Take for example this used Lincoln they moved to Maine in with their son Chris. Now that is the way to move.

When we look back even further we feel the draw of the road even more. This snap from the P and J collection is entitled “Trip to California 1955”. Note how rugged and self sufficient the car, driver and passengers are. It looks like it is hot, no climate control likely, yet they made it and understood the territory better than they would if they made the trip today.

California Dreaming, 1955 Salmon Pink and Black Cheverolet and Willys Jeep on their way to the Golden State.

Or check out this General Motors precursor to what I drive, Patty’s 1962 Buick Skylark.

Thats right, take down the rag top and scream across the desert and forget about the sun screen; on a wing and a prayer.

No doubt about it, there is something remarkably American about driving a car that is more about the driver than the car itself. It’s tougher, more authentic and emotional. An old car is a more elegant manifestation of a more civilized time.

There is refuge in the road. A coming and a going, a leaving and arriving. A means to live out the poetry of the American experience.

Well, the night’s busting open
These two lanes will take us anywhere
We got one last chance to make it real
To trade in these wings on some wheels
Climb in back, heaven’s waiting down on the tracks

Oh, come take my hand
We’re riding out tonight to case the promised land
Oh, Thunder Road, oh, Thunder Road
Oh, Thunder Road