Quentin Tarantino Has It Right: The Nova Is Cool

I am not an SUV person. SUV people don’t seem to care how much gas they guzzle as long as they are safe. The poor little Escort they crash into may be demolished but the SUV people are safe. The fear factor is now embedded in our consciousness so that even ninety-eight-pound ladies long past childbearing age feel they must drive a humongous SUV even though they have no passengers, because they feel safe.

And don’t get me started on how SUVs block your view in parking lots so that you have to back out an inch at a time and pray that you won’t be hit, as I almost was while backing out at my local supermarket. And never mind all the children who have been run over by SUVs backing out of driveways.

The difference between the Nova and an SUV: the Nova really was safe. It had no blind spots. It didn’t block anyone’s view. And it was indestructible. SUVs give drivers a false sense of security. They are prone to rolling over and other hazards.

Before the Nova, I drove my share of hazardous vehicles.

Scary to think, but I once owned a red, white and blue Ford Pinto. Those were the cars with the gas tank in the rear so that in the event of a rear end collision the car might blow up.  Ford maintained this was not true, but lawsuits were filed and damages were paid. My middle daughter wrecked the patriotic Pinto in an intersection collision that looked worse than it was. She escaped with a broken nose and thumb while a helicopter for the local news hovered overhead.

I remember the days when you got in your car with no seat belts and no airbags, and you felt safe. Why is that? According to a recent Newsweek article, it’s because there were 78 million cars on U.S. roads in 1962, the year before seatbelts became mandatory. Today there are 237 million cars on the road.

Now, just as flying has become a dreaded chore, I loathe driving. I prefer to be a passenger in the back seat, where I can’t see those brushes with death that seem inevitable in today’s traffic.

If I were wealthy, I’d have a driver. I’m not, so I’m looking to trade in my sort-of dependable Ford Escort for a dependable used car with airbags. And I’ll keep hoping Chevrolet sees fit to bring back the Nova.