Many of you probably saw the Ken Burns documentary about the first automobile trip across the US by a guy named Johnson in a 1903 Winton touring car he named "The Vermont". The documentary was classic Ken Burns, lots of historic photos, music from the era, and visual quotes/interviews with descendants. As I watched the documentary, with assorted quotes about the Winton as "one of the marvels of the century", in spite of almost hourly breakdowns and catastrophic failures, I mused that, just one hundred years later, I can read through the pages on this chatline and find the same sort of commentary extolling the marvellous technology of the Prius, etc, etc. All this leads me to conclude that just as the Winton, and Johnson's trip therein, led to the building of paved roads across the US, the Prius in our time will lead to a generation of automobiles whose virtues most of us cannot imagine let alone comment upon. I can see a time in the future when the paltry 55 mpg of the Prius running on GASOLINE, will seem quaint to someone getting into his/her zoomogadget powered omnicrusier and zipping on down the graviton highway, hovering inches above the pavement using centripedal mass neutralizers and electromagnetic current, and producing water as an emission, which is collected in a filtered container for use by the vehicle's occupants. Every age has its genius and its hubris. Marvellous as the Prius is, it will shortly be "just another girl on the block" when Gen3 Prii emerge, and, finally, the Europeans and even the US get into the act. Meanwhile, we should certainly celebrate our luck to have been part of this revolution/evolution. Drive lovingly, Bob
Yup. And it's particularly evident (and startling) when you look at the Woods Gas Electric hybrid automobile. So much of the hybrid technology that we find revolutionary had its roots in this vehicle -- including regenerative braking and the lack of gear shifting. No cup holders, though. :iagree
