Carjacked: The Culture of the Automobile and Its Effect on Our Lives

269 Pages·2010·0.92 MB·English

by  Catherine Lutz, Anne Lutz Fernandez

Carjacked
The Culture of the Automobile and its Effect on Our
Lives
Catherine Lutz and Anne Lutz Fernandez
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Carjacked
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ALSO BY CATHERINE LUTZ
Homefront
Reading National Geographic (with Jane Collins)
Unnatural Emotions
and
Breaking Ranks (with Matthew Gutmann)
Carjacked
Th e CULTURE o f t h e AUTOMOBILE
a n d ITS EFFECT o n OUR LIVES
CATHERINE LUTZ AND
ANNE LUTZ FERNANDEZ
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CARJACKED
Copyright © Catherine Lutz and Anne Lutz Fernandez, 2010.
All rights reserved.
First published in 2010 by PALGRAVE MACMILLAN® in the United States—a
division of St. Martin’s Press LLC, 175 Fifth Avenue, New York, NY 10010.
Where this book is distributed in the UK, Europe and the rest of the world, this is
by Palgrave Macmillan, a division of Macmillan Publishers Limited, registered in
England, company number 785998, of Houndmills, Basingstoke, Hampshire
RG21 6XS.
Palgrave Macmillan is the global academic imprint of the above companies and has
companies and representatives throughout the world.
Palgrave® and Macmillan® are registered trademarks in the United States, the
United Kingdom, Europe and other countries.
ISBN: 978-0-230-61813-8
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Lutz, Catherine, 1952–
Carjacked : the culture of the automobile and its effect on our lives / Catherine
Lutz and Anne Lutz Fernandez. — 1st ed.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 0-230-61813-8
1. Automobile—Social aspects—United States—History. I. Fernandez, Anne
Lutz. II. Title.
HE5623.L88 2010
303.48’32—dc22
2009037724
A catalogue record of the book is available from the British Library.
Design by Letra Libre, Inc.
First edition: January, 2010
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
Printed in the United States of America.
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For Kristie and Gordo
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Contents
Preface ix
Chapter 1
The United States of Automobiles 1
Chapter 2
Dream Car: Myth-making, American Values,
and the Automobile 13
Chapter 3
The Pitch: How They Sell 39
Chapter 4
The Pitch: How We Buy 61
Chapter 5
The Catch: What We Really Pay 79
Chapter 6
The Catch: The Rich Get Richer 101
Chapter 7
What Drives Us 127
Chapter 8
Getting Carsick 161
Chapter 9
Full Metal Jacket: The Body Count 177
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Chapter 10
Conclusion: A Call to Action 205
Endnotes 229
Acknowledgments 247
Index 249
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Preface
t is 1968. In the way-back of a sky blue Pontiac station
wagon, we lie cozily wrapped in well-worn car blankets,
Ibouncing home. Looking out the rear window, we watch
the lights of the George Washington Bridge flash overhead as our chatter
dies down and we start to doze off. We took many trips like this one, grow-
ing up as two sisters in a big family of six kids—trips to visit Grandma in
her New Jersey apartment, to our nearby beach, or to a summer rental at
a lake in New Hampshire. These car expeditions carried us through our
happiest family adventures.
It is now several decades later. Since then, between the two of us, we
have owned nine cars and driven eleven others belonging to the important
people in our lives—our parents, boyfriends, husbands. We have driven or
ridden an estimated 600,000 miles, consuming around 30,000 gallons of
gas. To do this, combined, we have spent an estimated 25,000 hours in the
car—if this were a job, each of us would have been at it for 3,125 eight-
hour days, or more than six years of our lives.
We have totaled one car, been rear-ended by a drunk, spun out a few
times on icy highways, and bent some fenders. We have been pulled over
for speeding and let off with a warning, and paid dozens of parking tick-
ets. We have made our share of visits to the DMV and mechanics in seven
states, from Idaho to North Carolina. We have driven across the Golden
Gate Bridge, through the Rocky Mountains, and over the Chesapeake Bay.