Along for the ride

摘要

Long ago and far away when muscle cars ruled the road and (leaded) gas was going for about - 30 cents a gallon, I borrowed 150 dollars- from my dad and bought my first car-a 1940 coal-black Plymouth Clipper coupe. American-made from the hard-rubber running boards bolted to both sides of its chassis to the retrofitted electric windshield wipers that slowed to a crawl every time we rode up a hill, the car was almost old enough to be an official antique when I added it the family fleet. I still have the car and the headaches-and expense-that come with finding parts to keep it running. And my extended family is still driving American cars. The difference today is that many of the cars parked in front of our homes or in our garages share pedigrees stretching around the world from Japan and South Korea to Germany. They are manufactured by American workers using American steel in places like Greer, S.C., Lincoln, Ala., and Canton, Miss. And they have come to symbolize nothing short of the wholesale reinvention of the American automotive industry.