My Daily Driver



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by Bobby McCarthy
Copyright (c), 2003, My Daily Driver -- All Rights Reserved

The Worlds Largest...
What does this have to do with Classic Cars?
Everything.

I am especially lucky to live in the good old US of A. I am a driving fool, always have been, always will be. Unless I absolutely positively need to be there the next day, I prefer the old fashioned method of travel. Drive, baby. I have driven an automobile, a motorcycle or a plain old pick-up truck through a vast portion of this great land of ours. There only a few states I have yet to leave my burned air-fuel mixture in and I plan to drive through them soon.

If I had my choice and of course the access to unlimited funds, I would gas up my vintage car with high-test, fold up and stuff the AAA road map into the visor, stack a 12 pack of Diet Mountain Dew on the vinyl split bench and head west. Yeah, that's it. Drive out to Chicago; pick up the remnants of route 66 and serpentine along the blacktop until I sink into the Pacific Ocean. Or perhaps pick up 80 to 79 to 94 and cross the northern passage. It doesn't matter, regardless of the route, the lure of the "Blue Highway" draws me like a moth to a flame.

So what is the attraction? Isn't it just aiming your vehicle down an endless black stretch of faceless geography with only the monotonous drone of your engine keeping you company? Nope. This is America. The land of the World's Largest...

The World's Largest. This has been a national phenomenon since America took to the highways after World War II. Small highway hamlets that wallowed in anonymity discovered, for better or worse, that almost any "roadside attraction" would generate commerce. And boy, the attractions sprung up across the US like so many dandelions on a trailer park lawn.

If you have never seen a Worlds Lagest in your town, city or state, your probably just not trying. Check out the examples on this page. I could have had all 50 states represented. All 50 states! Regardless of how a states denizens may think they are "above such cheesy displays", you can be sure there is a Worlds Largest somewhere afoot.

America cannot boast the rich history and culture of Europe (You know, the Huns, the Black Plague, two World Wars and a decaying infrastructure based upon artifacts). But, when you can boast about the Worlds Largest Cow Skull - Amado, Arizona, Artichoke - Castroville, California, Rifle - Ishpeming, Michigan and Flashlight - Las Vegas, Nevada, well who the hell needs Europe?

Corn

My wife Patty, her sister Kristin and I had the unique opportunity a few years back to drive from San Diego, California to Boston, Massachusetts. That's pretty much the whole damn country in one shot. The trip had a theme, if there is a sign for the Worlds Largest, we're taking the exit baby! Why is this? Is it nostalgia, Americana or the longing for a simpler time? Or perhaps it's the same neurological affliction that causes some of us to pay the 2 bucks to enter a Freak Show at the County Fair. What ever the scientific reason is for this type of behavior, for me, it's the same reason why a daily drive a classic car. That much I know.

When you see post cards, TV shows or web pages depicting these "Spectacles of the Highway", you seldom see a Ford Taurus or Mitsubishi Gallant parked out front. Why is that you ask? The birth and subsequent evolution of the Road Side Attraction was forged solely around the American automobile. In an era in which the Big Three and a half (sorry to all you American Motors enthusiasts) were producing vehicles with style, attitude and flare also produced entrepreneurs small towns able to lure a driving nation right to their back doors.

Whether you drive a classic or an "appliance" car, the next time you pass a road sign indicating "The Worlds Largest", do yourself and America a favor. Peel off the exit and stand in wonderment at the "Worlds Largest". Amen.

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