Theisen Chang
STS325
5/6/14
Final Paper
The Saleen S7: Americas’ Supercar
Perhaps well before late automotive reviewer, L.J.K Setright of the Daily Telegraph, first coined the term supercar, such collaborative effort as Ferrari, Lamborghini, and Porsche have established the paradigm of the supercar. The supercar is a high-end race-ready production car, a mark of status and exclusivity, and traditionally, European in origin. Their clean lines and subtle flares reflect the motor sport lineages, most of which date back to the beginning of the automobile. The concept of the supercar was largely uncomfortable in America at the beginning of the 20th century but has since become a 21st century status icon for the wealthy. Then, in the year 2000, Saleen unveiled its half million-dollar S7 coupe. Before this, there has always been controversy over what can be considered a supercar in American manufacturing. I will explain why there was hesitation towards an American supercar by contrasting the early automotive culture of America and Europe. The cultural paradigms set in early European and American automotive history naturally created a polarizing car culture that resisted an American supercar. The S7 is a localized definition that changed this paradigm within car culture.
Phil Frank of Phil Frank Design, LLC, designed the car with a few traits similar to those found on the paradigms of the supercar class. The S7 features a slim profile, quintessential engine layout, Aston Martin style headlights, and Ferrari style taillights. These trait similarities are the most interesting as they indicate an international influence not brought upon by physics and technical limitations but by car culture. The S7 developed into a supercar because the...
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• This contributed to lack of community development
• In the 1920’s polarization between European and American car manufactures increased because European had higher gas taxes and narrow road thus they focused on small efficient cars.
• “Interstate highway system was an integral part of one of the key social trends of the 1950s and 1960s; the relocation of a substantial part of American population to the suburbs.” (Volti pg. 131)
• Televisions have a huge role in shaping sociological factors of racing. Supercars and racing have always been tied together to give car legitimacy in the market. (Altheide pg. 3)
• Racing provides means of symbolically interacting with and/or dominating technology that seems to overwhelm man elsewhere. (Barendse pg 15)
• European racing was dominating and supported by the wealthy so its support doesn’t compare to that of the US.
The 1950s can be seen as a time of unprecedented family values, in which young, white, middle-income nuclear families arrived en masse in the pre-planned community living areas of suburbia. In the article "Joyride", Kunstler identifies the reasons for, and attraction of, a grand public relocation to previously uninhabited areas outside main city centres. Kunstler argues that it was, in part, the replacement of the streetcar (or trolley), and later the automobile, from the horse-powered transit of earlier 20th century life, that ignited weekend traffic to expand outside urban centres.
Flink’s Three stages of American automobile consciousness fully express the progress of the whole automobile industry. From the first model T to the automatic production, it gives me an intuitive feeling of the automobile history from a big picture. On the other hand, Kline and Pinch focus more on a certain group of people--farmers or people who live in the rural area, they use it as an entry point to talk about automobile, alone with the role and duty transition between male and
In conclusion, from the early 1950's and 1960's there has been two cars that have taken the American people by storm, the Chevrolet Camaro and the Ford Mustang. Both rivals have tried from day one to out do and out perform each other to bet the first to develop an affordable sports car that handles and performs like a $90,000 dollar muscle car. Each in its own right have established itself on the car market place with such creations by Ford for its 590-HP Super Stallion and Chevrolet for its 600-HP Big Block Camaro. The Camaro and Mustang have been looked at as the "First true American sports cars." They are arguably the two most rivaled sports cars of yesteryear and today. "The Chevrolet Camaro and Ford Mustang are quintessential American pony cars and as such, continue to fight the good fight over which is best" (
People who have participated in racing for the past century, have never been universally accepted as athletes. The drivers, especially those in the National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing (NASCAR) prove this misconception as incorrect with their intense training and stellar performances. Drivers on social media, assert that they are athletes, contradicting other sports stars who insist that they are not. The drivers in NASCAR and all forms of racing deserve to be given the respect of their fellow athletes in other sports. NASCAR drivers are seasoned athletes because of their training and tough race conditions that they encounter every week on the track.
Throughout the book Tom Lewis goes back and forth between the good and bad that came about from building highways. While the paved roads connected our country, made travel time faster, provided recreation, and pushed the development of automobiles they also created more congestion and travel time, divided communities, and made us slaves to automobiles. The author is critical of the highways, but he does realize the great achievement it is in the building of America. Lewis said, “As much as we might dislike them, we cannot escape the fact that ...
Speediness, adrenaline, and the beauty of mind and body combine with a machine. Every racer lined up at the starting gate with their steel horses to achieve the desire of winning. These are some words that try to described what supercross is about, but is not even close to what really is. Over the years I have known people that don’t know anything about supercross; they believe that is an easy sport that just twists the throttle and hold on to the bike. For some, it might not even be consider as a sport because they believe that engines are not a sport. These kind of people will say that supercross does not requires any technique or much skills as others sports without engines. Here is some background information to my reader to get familiar with the sport. Supercross is an indoor sport that takes places in different stadiums around the US. In this races racers risk their life every time they are at the starting gate to win racers and finally to win the championship and be the fastest rider in the US. Through this essay I will provide fears, misperceptions and misunderstandings from people who don’t know about supercross. Secondly, I will respond to their claim with strong arguments and personal experience. Finally, I will construct a convincing conclusion where I will try to open the eyes to my audience, which are people who don’t know about supercross.
It started with a governmental incentive of getting America out of the Great Depression. Home Owners Loan Corporation (HOLC) was “signed into law by FDR, designed to serve urban needs” (Jackson, 196). This law protected homeownership, not only that, “it introduced, perfected, and proved in practice the feasibility of the long-term, self-amortizing mortgage with uniform payments spread over the whole life of the debt” (Jackson, 196). Because of this new law, it was cheaper to buy a house than rent. Then came the Federal Housing Administration (FHA) that encouraged citizens to reside in new residential developments and/or areas with FHA-approved features, like Levittown. Mass-produced cars and cheap gasoline made the option of moving to a suburban area more of a reality for many families because now they can think to live such a lifestyle. With cars, come commuters who needs accessible roads to drive to and from work, to go grocery shopping, etc. which mean that the government need to pave roads for such commute to happen. “The urban expressways led to lower marginal transport costs and greatly stimulated deconcentration,” (Jackson, 191). As Jackson expressed, “The appeal of low-density living over time and across regional, class, and ethnic lines was so powerful that some observers came to regard it as natural and inevitable,” (190). Urban areas were becoming too crowded, too heterogeneous, more and more crimes were breaking out everyday; this is not an ideal living condition for a lot of people so moving to a bigger, more spread out area is a great contestant. Therefore, some of the key factors that explains the growth of the suburbs are housing policy (FHA & HOLC), mass-produced houses, mass-produced cars, cheap fuel, and government funding
The National Football League (NFL) and NASCAR thrive on sponsors and vice versa. An NFL game is by far the most watched single game event in the country and gaining popularity exponentially worldwide. Their championship, the Super Bowl, is arguably the most watched television program in that particular year. In NASCAR, the Daytona 500 is their “Super Bowl” and is a very large event in its own right. Corporations all over the world jump on these mega advertising vehicles with the hope that their name is popularized which will result in profitability. In many cases, most of those who do buy airtime during NFL games, the Super Bowl, and during the major NASCAR races are very visible names and products that we already know about. Most of the time, these companies are trying to market new products or products that have been enhanced.
Americans soon not only had one car, but they had two! Teenagers now drove cars as part of the iconic 1950s culture with their friends. Fast food places like In-N-Out and McDonalds were built on the fast paced nature of the automobile. The US interstate was built for more convenient travels, and also for cold war preparations. Having a car was part of the American way of life and the American way was to buy an American car that was made in Detroit Michigan. The best selling car companies of the 1950s were Chevy, Ford, Pontiac, Buick, and Oldsmobile. (Zyla, 1) If someone drove a car that did not sport an american badge on the grille, they were a
Creation of highway networks outside the city and subsequent growth of suburban communities transformed the way citizens worked lived and spent their leisure time. Downtown businesses closed or moved to malls inducing a reduction in downtown shopping and overall downtown commercial traffic.
“Motor Age Geography” describes land use practices and new transportation policies, which in turn helped reshape roads. These key aspects helped centralized rural America, while urban areas in America were decentralized. Specific landscapes from then to now required that people of America would have to own a motor vehicle to function effectively on a day to day basis. “Fueling the Broom” goes into detail about oil wells, pipelines, service stations, and so forth. This term explains how taxes on gas became a significant source of funding for road building. “The Paths Out of Town” examines mass production and how it increased the demand for the iron ore, wood, rubber, and many other raw materials. As the need for automobiles steadily increased, American construction workers built one mile of road per square mile of land. When Americans built highways, soil erosion came into the picture along with the natural habitat for wildlife. At this time planners focused on creating a “car friendly nature” (Wells). The book informs the reader on the historical period from 1940-1960 where the government granted housing to the suburban area and highways
In the July 1997 issue of Commentary, James Q. Wilson challenges the consensus among academia’s finest regarding the automobile in his bold article, Cars and Their Enemies. Directed towards the general public, his article discredits many of the supposed negatives of the automobile raised by experts, proves that the personal car is thriving and will continue to thrive because it meets individual preference over other means of transportation, as well as presents solutions to the social costs of cars. Wilson emphasizes that no matter what is said and done in eliminating the social costs of the automobile, experts are not going to stop campaigning against it.
Bayerische Motoren Werke AG, shortly known as BMW, is a German manufacturer of luxurious automobiles and motorcycles. BMW group is not simply one name: it is also the parent company of other premium brands such as the MINI, the Rolls-Royce and the motorcycling company Husqvarna. For the purpose of providing a maximum of details, this essay will just focus on the automobile part of BMW as it is more significant than the motorcycle segment and since they have a lot of overlapping factors.
Ford’s production plants rely on very high-tech computers and automated assembly. It takes a significant financial investment and time to reconfigure a production plant after a vehicle model is setup for assembly. Ford has made this mistake in the past and surprisingly hasn’t learned the valuable lesson as evidence from the hybrid revolution their missing out on today. Between 1927 and 1928, Ford set in motion their “1928 Plan” of establishing worldwide operations. Unfortunately, the strategic plan didn’t account for economic factors in Europe driving the demand for smaller vehicles. Henry Ford established plants in Europe for the larger North American model A. Their market share in 1929 was 5.7% in England and 7.2% in France (Dassbach, 1988). Economic changes can wreak havoc on a corporation’s bottom line and profitability as well as their brand.
Starting in the 1920’s America began its shift towards a consumer culture as the economic growth of the nation began to depend more on the proliferation of consumer goods than of capital goods. Even at the outset of this trend, the automobile held a significant place in the new consumer economy. The automobile, which was once thought of as a rare luxury, was being sold by the millions. Assembly lines were becoming more efficient, thus allowing cars to be made more cheaply allowing the price of automobiles to drop. The growth of the automobile helped stimulate the economy through its dependence on other industries such as glass, rubber and steel, which were connected to the production of cars. These automobile related industries created new jobs, greater affluence and more spending power for millions of American consumers. Even at the beginning of America’s transformation into the consumer culture of today the automobile was at the forefront this conversion.