If cars could talk.

Cars, as we know, can serve as a status symbol of where you have been, where you are going, and where you want to go; placed all together, I am reasonably sure when Henry Ford rolled out the Model A, he had no idea how cars would impact American culture beyond going from one point to another. (Oh by the way, Henry Ford did not invent the automobile it’s credited to Karl Benz of Germany---Ford perfected the mass production of the automobile.)

One of the most important roles of the automobile was the freedom it offered; before the car, we lived in cities close to the hub of industry. If you couldn’t drive or travel to the suburbs, you lived close to where you worked or would never be at work on time. But, once the automobile arrived, the opportunity to travel further than you ever thought imaginable, allowed people the freedom to move around. Of course this didn’t happen for some time---you still needed mass production and the essential pathway called a "road." But it was not too long after, that more and more cars were seen being driven around. A few years later, teenagers could get their licenses, malls popped up in the suburbs and the term "mall rat" was born. (All this from a car...kind of amazing.)

So what about the bumper sticker? Once again, you can pretty much credit Henry Ford for it. The first bumper stickers were made of cardboard and metal, and were placed on the bumper of Ford automobiles. Turns out the bumper became part of the car after mass production was perfected; with no surprise, the more cars that were on the road, the greater the chances of them bumping into one another. With the addition of the bumper came the bumper sticker. The first bumper stickers were affixed with wire and string; if you know anything about Henry Ford, you are well aware of his political views and obsession for free speech; this was how he started taking his points to he streets. This did not always help his reputation.

Probably one of the funniest bumper stickers I can remember was one I saw when I was a teenager. It obviously has been etched into my mind as that was a long time ago. I was driving down the road and saw a car that at best should not have been on the road. It was rusted, battered, and noisy; a guy, who was about my age was driving it. The bumper sticker said, “Don’t laugh, your daughter might be in this car.” It truly put in perspective how funny and entertaining these pieces of American culture can be-- and how scary it is to think that yes your daughter might be hanging out with someone who drives a car like this.

The photo above was taken this past weekend in Indiana. If Henry Ford envisioned freedom of speech as the role of the bumper sticker, he would have been proud of this car. With stickers ranging from Apple Computers, to witchcraft, to AAA, and more—the license plate says it all--"B Kind." In the end we can be who we want, drive what we have, and say what makes us feel good, and we can do this all from point A to point B.

Thanks for stopping by.