Biarritz

Newer Isn't Always Better


I am sitting here lamenting the end of something. It has actually been gone for quite a while.

I keep coming across the notion that newer isn't always better. There are things that I used to buy or wanted that I can't get anymore at any price. The stuff of my dreams really aren't obtainable anymore, unless I want to manufacture them myself, which just isn't practical.

I don't drive much anymore. Don't need to. When I do, I have a toy car to move around in. It is more of an ego machine than anything else. It is hardly practical and pretty expensive to run. It is 16 years old. The ones they make today are much more expensive and not as well made.

I suppose it is a loss of innocence. We used to dream big and the American Capitalist Dream Machine was there to fill those fantasies, because the machine dreamed big as well.

But those dreams all got lost somewhere between the Summer of Love, the Vietnam War and Watergate. I suppose the Apollo Moon Landing was the last time we really dreamed big and lived large. It has been a slow decent into mediocrity since then.

Pictured above is the 1958 Cadillac Biarritz Convertible. They only made them for about 3 years. Lord knows how many are left and what they might go for at Pebble Beach or the Barrett-Jackson Auction. I am sure they would be worth more than our house.

It isn't that they were great cars (they were). But their real value is they stand as a monument to what our dreams were. And you can't buy those dreams anymore. The Cadillac’s of today pale in comparison. And besides, most folks want Hummers these days anyway.

I have to struggle to remember that there was a time when I looked forward to going for a drive. Back when the roads were empty, I didn't have to pay taxes and my parents owned a car like the one pictured above.

I feel for the kids that get piled into the mini-van to be shuttled through traffic to spend the afternoon at the mall. We lost something in getting from there to here. We lost a lot more than we realize.

(Clicking on the picture, takes you to the website where more of the hand made behemoths are viewable.)