Then vs Now. The World Has Changed More Than You Think.
Ask most Americans whether cars were more affordable in their parents' generation and you'll almost always get the same answer: of course they were. But when you run the actual numbers — adjusting for wages, inflation, and what you were really getting for your money — the picture that emerges is far more complicated, and a lot more interesting, than simple nostalgia suggests.
In 1972, more than 54,000 Americans died in traffic accidents — a number so staggering it's hard to process. The cars of that era weren't just lacking modern safety features; in many ways, they were actively dangerous. The story of how automotive engineering responded to that crisis is one of the most consequential — and underappreciated — chapters in American public health history.
The American road trip has always been a rite of passage, but the experience of driving coast to coast in 1963 versus today are almost unrecognizable from one another. From hand-folded maps and unreliable engines to real-time traffic updates and built-in Wi-Fi hotspots, the open road has been quietly and completely reinvented. Buckle up — the contrast is more dramatic than you'd expect.