The Automobile: Part 2

Fewer inventions have transformed American society more than the automobile.

Imagine what life was like in the late 1800s or early 1900s. In some parts of the United States, you didn't have electricity in homes until the 1920s and 1930s.

Horses and buggies could travel about 2-3 miles per hour. 10 miles, not a very long distance in today's standards, wpould take a couple of hours to travel. You could walk faster!

10 miles was a world away before the automobile.

Sure you have trains, but you have to travel along the railroad lines.

There are none of the major conveniences we take for granted today.

Most Americans were farmers. Most people today live in the city. A car = Freedom. People were once isolated on the farm or in rural communities.

During the next two podcasts, we are joined by both Fred Colgren and John Lacko from the Gilmore Car Museum in Michigan. Fred Colgren is the Director of Education at the Gilmore Car Museum and John Lacko is a staff at the museum and is also an accomplished photographer who has spent a lot of time over the last few decades traveling along Route 66 and taking photographs. We will be discussing how the car changed American society and how changes in American society dictated the makes and models of cars within the automobile industry. 

Follow along in this interview that Jeananne organized. There is always more to learn!