I went down to the famous "Cannery Row" last night for a stroll with my lady, but found the entire street clogged with a throng of sight seers, all come to see the "Old Car Show." There were perhaps 150 entrants, old roadsters from the 20s and 30s with those elegant Art Deco vertical grills and tear drop headlights, a Model A Ford, and all the Chevy Impalas, Ford Fairlanes, Mustangs, Pontiac GTOs, Corvettes and more, all lavishly detailed and gleaming in the neon shop lights. I have never seen "the Row" this busy. People were gawking and taking photos as the proud car owners sat lazily by in folding canvass chairs. When we finally reached the Clement Hotel near the Aquarium, the poor valet parking staff was flabberghasted, trying to sort out potential arriving guests from the crush of sight seers.
Americans love their cars! The evening had a nostalgic tint to it as these shining relics of a bygone era growled to life with their V-8 engines thrumming when the show began to wind down. I realized that, of all the various auto makers represented, only Henry Ford's original auto company still thrived. All the rest were history, or on government life support. These were the old "made in America" cars of yesteryear, but today the road is owned by the likes of Honda and Toyota. You can see those old cars just about any day on most highways, dating back years and years--because they still run! Face it. The Japanese make great cars, and the legacy of all the decades of American design was this car show, a proud, glittering tradition, but nothing you will ever see on the freeway again. Even the crowning glory of stupidity and excess in American design, the dread "Hummer" has been sold off to China where it will hit the road next year as the Dongfeng Hummer marketed by Sichuan Tengzhong Heavy Industrial Machinery Company Ltd.
Dongfeng, the "East Wind," is clearly blowing China's way. Already well established as the world's primary manufacturing center, China's economy, while still a third of US GDP, continues to humm along. As for the loss of Hummer--good riddance. Now Chinese drivers can fume and curse at the monstrosity as they try to see around it on the busy roads. As for Americans? They can enjoy the nostalgic fervor of the occasional old car show, and remember the glory days of yore. Perhaps, after learning the same lessons US car makers did in investing in clunky, inefficient SUVs and vans, the Chinese will one day sport old Dongfeng Hummers, complete with flaming paint details and LED lighting...decades from now in the old car show in Beijing.
Here's a photo of Cannery Row from one of the flyovers, taken by my companion that night.
