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After the ‘gangster type’ cars, glided in the Thunderbird and Mustangs. Of course, I just had to have my picture taken with one of them. I remember movies from the Golden Age of Hollywood where the bad boy image reigned supreme. James Dean’s movie, Rebel Without a Cause, was the battle cry of the youth. Visions of these rebellious rogues float in my mind – the mysterious brooding James Dean in his infamous 1955 Porsche Spyder, the wicked devil-may-care smile on Elvis while driving his 1956 purple Cadillac convertible, and bad-boy John Travolta in a convertible hitting on good-girl Olivia Newton-John in the drive-in movie theater. Top-down or convertible defined cool. Cars were no longer purely functional but have become somewhat ‘personal.’ Car customization is what network gaming is to us today. Every guy dreamt of owning a convertible. While the Porsche and the Cadillac are destined for the Hollywood gods, the Ford Thunderbird and Mustang are for the lesser mortals. One proud owner of the Mustang in the Ford Day said, “When I was a boy, I dreamt of owning a Mustang. Now, I have one. I’m living my dream. ” Classy, stylish, and elegant 2-door sedan models entered after the flashy vehicles. Remember the Ford Escort? Prince Charles’ engagement present to Diana? Ahhh... That car… The silver 1981 Ford Escort Ghia… This era saw the rise and domination of MTV among the youth. Musicians/Singers were the new silver screen royalty. “Baby, you can drive my car… beep beep’m beep beep yeah…” belted out The Beatles along with their millions of Beatle-mania fans. Each Beatle had his own “car” love – Paul McCartney had the Lamborghini 400GT 2+2, John Lennon loved his 1956 Bentley, George Harrison publicly posed with his famous Ford Roadster, and Ringo Starr zoomed around in his Radford Mini. |
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