7/22/05; by Ruth Zaslow
Field Interviews
I own four vehicles. A Chevy truck, an SUV---a trailblazer and two Harley Davidson's, an Electroglide and a Dynoglide. My wife and I ride the bikes.
- How did you choose these vehicles?
Well, first, I buy strictly GM vehicles. I like the high visibility of the truck and the Trailblazer-being up higher than everyone else. Also, cost is a factor. And I buy strictly US-made.
- Which of these vehicles do you drive and when do you drive them?
I drive the truck for work and the Trailblazer when I get home if I have to take the kids places. Otherwise, my wife drives the Trailblazer. I ride the bike on weekends and during the week. On family vacations, we take the Trailblazer.
- Tell me about your driving for work.
I either drive to the office of the airport. Airport is about once a month. The rest is the commute to the office.
About 40 miles.
- Tell me what happens for you on the commute to the office? I'm interested in what's going on for you inside the truck.
It's mostly residential driving, then highway driving. Of course, the closer I get to work, the heavier the traffic. So, sometimes, I roll right through. Sometimes I'm fighting traffic.
- What's happening for you in the cab of the truck in addition to your making the car go actions?
I listen to music-satellite, Sirius.
- What kind of music do you listen to?
Mostly obscure rock and what we call underground garage. Pretty strange really.
- Do you listen to other things in addition to music?
Howard Stern.
- What made you decide on Sirius?
Satellite at all, and Sirius versus the others, because of Howard Stern.
Yeah, when all that stuff broke . . . when was it a year ago March? The FCC maybe banning him from the radio. On the one hand, I can see their point. I mean, I wouldn't let my youngest kids listen to him. But this is America. The guy's off color, but he should be allowed to have his show. So, I checked out the whole satellite thing, and signed up.
- Did you have to add anything to your car to receive satellite?
Yeah. I checked around some with buddies from work who were already into this and wound up getting a Kenwood tuner and accessories.
- Do you have satellite at home too?
No. Just in the car. There's too much else to do at home.
- So, we've talked about the music you listen to in the car. What else is going on during your commute?
Well, I'm smoking cigarettes and talking sometimes on the cell phone.
- What kinds of calls do you take and make?
I rarely make calls. I take calls from my wife, kids, sometimes work. I don't like to talk on the phone in the car. I'm not a big talker on cell phones.
- Tell me how you make that decision in the car whether or not to take a call.
Depends on the ring tone. That's how I tell who's calling me. Ring tones for wife, kids, work, I answer. Others I don't.
- Let's talk about the driving you do in the Trailblazer after work. Tell me about that.
It's mostly in residential areas, to and from my kids' events-they're into singing, concerts, softball.
- Is it usually just your own kids in the car? Are their friends or classmates also in the car? What are the ages?
Mostly just my kids and stepkids. They're 20, 18, 13, 12 and 9.
- What are the kids doing in the car?
They read a lot. They're big readers. They're also watching DVD's. There's a player built in to the car. Sometimes they're fighting.
- How are decisions made about what to watch on the DVD player?
The kids bargain. Usually the older ones get their way. The 20 year old is off at college, so she's not home much and the 18 year old doesn't like to go in the car unless she has to. So it's usually the three younger kids. Usually the oldest two get their way by promising the littlest one they'll watch what she wants later.
- Is the DVD player typically on or typically off?
Off. They read a lot more than they watch.
- How many hours a week are you driving the Trailblazer after work?
I'd say eight hours a week. A little every day.
- Let's talk about the Harley Davidson's.
Ah, the pleasure vehicles!
Strictly pleasure vehicles. It's not about the kids, errands or work.
- Tell me about riding them.
What do you want to know? What I'm doing while I'm riding? I'm usually just playing music in my head. My wife has a CD player that she uses, listens to music.
- I've seen people riding motorcycles who have what look like microphones built into their helmets. Do you use those?
Naw! I don't like those things at all. You don't want too much chatter on a bike. For one thing, it's about being out there, not talking. For another driving a motorcycle requires attention.
- What exactly do you like about riding the motorcycles?
You know, I've been riding for 20 years and I've only just recently realized what it is. Remember when you were a kid? Did you ever have a fantasy about flying? Well, this is as close to flying as you can get and still be on the ground. There are no doors. There's nothing on the sides. There's nothing in front of you.
- So where do you go when you're on the bikes--or is it even about going somewhere? Is it more about flying?
Yeah, the object is just riding. We usually go one night a week and on the weekends. Sometimes we go for a long 3-4 day weekend. It's about enjoying the scenery and fresh air. I mean, we might say we're going out to dinner, but the point is the ride.
- So you and your wife each ride a bike?
Yeah. I've been riding for 20 years. She's been riding for three. She'd been riding behind me on my bike for years, then about three year ago, she wanted to ride one herself. I fixed up an old bike I had for her. She wanted me to teach her to ride but I told her “no,” you have to learn the right way, not bad habits like mine.” So she took the Michigan state motorcycle safety class. Turned out she loved riding. So I got her a bigger bike-the Harley.
- Tell me about the bike riding itself. Do you ride all day? Where are you riding?
When we ride for the weekend or longer, we ride for an hour, then stop for 15 minutes. Usually, we use hand signals or we're just especially tuned into each other and want to stop at the same time.
- Are you on the highway at this point? Somewhere else?
We'll be out in the country at this point. We'll take the highway to get us out of town, then we'll hit the backroads. So we ride for a while, then stop and talk about what' we've seen.
- Do you use maps or navigation devices?
We have maps, but the point is the driving and we're pretty self-contained with the camping equipment if we need to be. So we don't worry about it too much. Plus, I have a good sense of direction.
I have a friend who has it in his car. We don't. I don't. I don't see any need for it.
You know, it's funny. My wife told me not long ago: “All those years I was riding behind you, I was massaging your back and shoulders because I thought you were doing all the hard work. Now I realize you were driving, you were having all the fun!”
- Let's talk about your history with cars. What was your first car?
A 1973 Opal Wagon. It was my dad's, but I drove it so much once I got my license that it became mine. Since them I've had a couple of sports cars, Camaro's, and then trucks.
- What made you switch to trucks?
I didn't like how low you have to sit in a sports car. You're practically on the ground! I like high visibility. I still like driving a stick though. My truck is a stickshift. The Trailblazer is automatic, though. My wife likes that.
- How about when you were a little kid? What memories do you have of your family's cars?
My dad worked for General Motors, so we always had company vehicles. They were always pretty new. I think he had to buy one every two years, no maybe every three years.
- I remember family vacations. That was a big thing. But I'm bad with the long term memory. I don' recall much detail about them. They were a little stressful. You could say that my dad was a high stress kind of guy. He'd get everyone stressed out.
- Let's skip back to the present for a moment. Do you go on camping trips with your own family today?
No. We have a cabin on a lake in north Michigan. We'll drive up there for a couple of weeks every summer.
- Thinking back over the years, what's stayed the same and what's changed about what you look for in a car?
The same? Visiblity. I like it. Also, loyalty to GM. What's changed is I'm not as much of a car guy any more. I'm more of a functional vehicle owner. I don't see the point of having more than you need in a vehicle. Like the Trailblazer. We've had it for two months already and I haven't figured out how to navigate through the options.
- Any sense for what those options are?
Nope. Just haven't figured them out. Don't seem to need them.
- What else has changed for you over the years?
You know what else has changed? I used to work on my vehicles. I liked that. Now it's too complicated.
- Do you work on the motorcycles?
Yeah. Still do that. I enjoy it.
- How much of a priority are your vehicles compared to other things you spend money on?
We keep the payments to $300 a month. Ideally $250. Like I said, I'm more of a functional guy. We have to be able to do what we want to do. But that's about it.
- Imagine it's ten years from now, the year 2015. What would you like to see standard on vehicles that's not standard now?
Satellite radio. It would reduce the need to buy CD's. Streaming music whenever you want it.
- What else would you like to see as standard?
Some kind of passive cruise control. You know, I haven't driven a car like this, but if you could combine GPS and OnStar plus cruise control, like that mechanism they have that steers your car back into a lane if you're drifting out, then I think they'd really have something. It would be a self-guided system. Now that's something I'd have to have.
- So if the car is taking over the driving actions, what would you spend your time doing?
Read, sleep. Sleep is a big one for me. I never get enough. And I never get to in the car. When I'm with my wife, she prefers that I drive. So I'd like it to be more like when I'm on a plane. You know, I'll read for a while, then take a nap, then read some more.
- What else would you like to see as standard?
I can't think of anything else. You know for me, it's really about function, not style. I don't need all the bells and whistles. I don't mind rolling down my own windows. What I really want is air conditioning, music, leg room and head room.
