I Must Ask . . . Which Would You Drive?

Q. What do you call a Ford at the top of a Hill?
A. A Miracle.

Q. What do you call two Fords at the top of a hill?
A. A mirage.

Q. How do you make a Ford go faster downhill?
A. Turn off the engine.

Q. Why are the latest Fords so aerodynamically designed?
A. It improves the Chevy tow truck's fuel consumption.

Q. Why do they put sidewalks beside most streets and highways?
A. So Ford owners have a safe place to walk home.

Q. What goes on the last page of every Ford user manual?
A. The train & bus schedule.

Today, as you might have already guessed, we're going to debate Ford vs. Chevy, and you've probably deduced which side I'm on. I want to say, right off the bat, that this is all in good fun and everyone is entitled to an opinion, but bashing and flaming will not be tolerated and abusive comments will not be approved. So if you're here to vent your spleen, move along. These are not the droids people you're looking for.

Before we get into a heated debate over which car manufacturer dominates, let's do a quick re-cap of last week's discussion on travel destinations. I find it interesting that not one person who voted wanted to go to Egypt, Portugal or the Middle East. Obviously, I didn't/couldn't include every possible destination. I completely forgot Greece, Switzerland, New Zealand and Korea. And I kind of lumped several countries together; Great Britain encompasses England, Wales, Ireland and Scotland {I know this because LadyBug did a report in 2^nd grade} and Scandinavia includes Denmark, Norway, Sweden, Finland and Iceland.

Still, it was fun to hear where you all would like to venture off to. Thank you to everyone who stopped by to comment. I promised to share a couple of favorite comments. I should never do that. It is so hard to pick and I don't want anyone to feel left out. The comments were all great, but I thought I'd share two with you since I said I would. I loved what Annelise had to say: Since my mom is from Denmark, she took us kids back several times growing up. I have so many amazing memories from those trips. Feeding the ducks at the parks, bike rides, canoe trips and kite flying, walking to the candy store with my grandpa, the freezing cold beach, warm pastries from the local bakery... But its been 16 years since I was last there. I ache to go back. I so look forward to the day I can take my husband and my kids with me and share with them everything I love about Denmark.

And from my dad, A year ago, I went to Germany for business. In the city of Hamburg are 2 landmarks I will not forget. The first is a Church you can go up to the Bell tower and look out over the city at night and see the Ships in the harbor heading up the river and out to sea. The City all lit up, with the amusement park lights all aglow in the distance was very cool.

The second Landmark is another Church that stands a few blocks away. A bombed out Church that was not restored and stands as a Stark reminder to never let desire to take what others have, and that Power, Greed and the power of greed can blind an entire nation to the evil of what its leaders want and the horror they can bring upon a nation.

Thank you again, to everyone who commented! I loved reading them all! With thoughts of traveling to new places on our minds, it's time to talk mode of transportation. There might not be that much of a debate about this outside the US, but when we're talking American-made cars, there are two kinds of people: those who drive Chevys and those who don't drive Fords. Most people have an allegiance to one or the other, and it runs generations deep. I come from Chevy stock. My dad has an 1968 Impala that he drove for nearly 20 years. He plans on restoring it someday. In the meantime, he drives a cherry red 2009 Chevy Impala Super Sport. I heard that he might even take my mom on a little road trip to see Mt. Rushmore in it. Over the years, there have been many Chevys in our family. Between the '68 Impala and the '09 Impala, there was a Caprice Classic and in high school, my dad and I shared a 1978ish Camaro. The kids at work called it the car that used to be a Camaro. It wasn't pretty on the outside, but that V-8 had get-up and go. In college, I bought a little white Cavalier. I loved how comfortable the seats were. I'm pretty sure that someone in the family still drives it. And to keep the '09 Impala, which he only drives on weekends and special occasions, in mint condition, my dad drives a Lumina for every day kind of stuff.

The most memorable of the Chevrolets, however, was a 1965 Chevy II, also know as a Nova. My dad used to race in it. Straight from the late 1970's, I present to you the quarter-mile at Bonneville Raceway on 8mm. OK, so 10 minutes of home movies with no sound and about people you don't know is pretty boring. The Nova can be seen at time index 7:37-7:41 and again at 7:53-8:00.


Lest you think that I'm unfairly biased towards Chevrolets, I did once own a Ford. It was a Bronco II. At the time, Mr. Bug was doing fiber installations for a local internet company. It was dirty work and he didn't want to haul tools and equipment around in our then only 3-year old Honda. So he bought this old Bronco, trying to do the previous owners a favor, with the idea that he would drive it around to do his dirty work. Not soon thereafter, he was moved to the IT department for this company and he went back to driving the Honda. It turns out that the Bronco was really no fun at all the drive. The klutch was stiff, the brakes were iffy, the steering was barely negotiable, the seats were uncomfortable, it was noisy, smelly and just plain ugly. But rather than stay home all day with Baby Grasshopper, I'd take our lives into my hands, strap his car seat in the back of that Bronco and venture out in it every once in a while for free samples shopping at Costco or strolling at the mall. It was winter and the risk of life and limb to go some place different seemed worth it at the time. Needless to say, the Bronco was traded in after less than a year.

Now, I realize that this was only one out of I-don't-know-how-many Fords in the world, and perhaps not all Fords are created equally. But honestly, I've never met a Ford I liked. They just don't appeal to me, not even the Mustang. I'd choose a Corvette or a Camaro any day over a Mustang. So now that you know where my allegiance lies, let's get to it. I must ask . . . which would you drive? Ford or Chevy?