We were walking through the mall last weekend and came across a display for the Smart Car.  Having a family of seven, our options are thankfully limited to the dumb, large variety.  Ben walked up to the car, gave it a cursory look, smiled and said, as he walked away, "not too smart on the highway with all those regular-sized cars and trucks."

Flash forward and I saw this sad clip at Mark's blog on Detroit's mistakes in the auto business and as a city.  I also recently watched this advertisement for the first Corvette.  I thought of the excitement I've experienced toward cars - the Chevette never moved me, I remember my buddy, Dave's Gremlin for all the wrong reasons.  The Challenger, Charger, the Grand Prix, those I remember.  I think of the Prius and the Smart Car in the same way as the Chevette and Gremlin.  And it isn't all about money either.  But it seems we are selling cars on guilt these days.

The topper for me was this advertisement from Mercedes, via Tim Blair.  Now THAT is a car: