Times were that every Sunday afternoon families used to crowd into the family car (note the singular) and go for a leisurely drive around town. It used to be an event, something to be looked forward to. It was not to be sneered at and wheedled out of. That was because cars were still a novelty and it was such bliss to ride in one, even if one was going at a sedate 30 km an hour and being rattled to death by non-existent shocks. One kept all one’s sneering for those who did not have cars and who were thus not able to enjoy the thrills of the Sunday afternoon drive. Poor peasants who had to walk on a Sunday! Those were the days of the family that drives together stays together.

Let us surmise what happened to bring on the demise of this quaint little ritual. Cars got a little bit cheaper and a bit more common place. More families had one car and a lot of families even started having two cars. Driving was not such a rarity any more. But petrol was still relatively expensive and in some places there were fuel restrictions, so driving was still somewhat limited and some novelty value remained. In addition the Sunday drive managed to retain some sentimental value for a lot of families and that allowed the tradition to continue among many but it was the beginning of the end.

And then cars got better and even more affordable. Most homes became two car families. Teenagers even started buying them. Used car sales went through the roof. Only the poorest of the poor didn’t have cars and they were probably saving up for one. Every second person had a driver’s license. Driving was as common as walking, more so because now people would rather drive than walk. What was the point of going for a Sunday drive when you could go for a Monday drive, a Tuesday drive, a Wednesday drive, a Thursday drive, a Friday drive or a Saturday drive? When you could go in the morning or in the afternoon? When you could go alone instead of trying to squeeze into one car with three or four other people? Having a car meant freedom. Freedom from everything, including antiquated rituals that bound you to your family who were square and didn’t get you anyway.

In these days of more equals less even middle-income households can have up to three cars each. Many parents think that it is perfectly normal to buy their children a car for their eighteenth or twenty-first birthdays. Many parents help their children finance their first cars. And still it is only the poorest of the poor who do not have cars and still they are probably saving like mad for one. Ask any little boy what he wants and it is probably a car. Their first toys are usually cars for goodness sake, and they never grow out of them.

The automotive industry is one of the biggest, most powerful industries in the world. Try and think of any industry more important. The arms industry. Medicine maybe. The total budget for Ferrari’s Formula 1 season in any given year is probably more than the budget for education in; pick a country, the UK, for that same year. That’s just one team. There are twelve of them. And that’s just one motor sport.

The industry is getting bigger and more powerful every year too. Every year we read in the newspaper about how this year they had a record number of car sales. And cars are not getting cheaper. They are getting more and more luxurious and they are coming with more and more features but the prices, they are not coming down. Still people are spending their hard earned money on their dream vehicles or, as suspected in most cases, they are compromising on their dreams and getting as much of their dream as they can afford, or that can safely carry 2.5 children and a large family dog.

Car rental is also a booming business. You can rent anything from small economy cars, which have only the bare bones on them to large and spacious luxury vehicles with every mod con that you could possibly wish for. You can get something fast and sporty or you can get something huge and capable of carrying 16 passengers at a time. Most rental places can be found at airports because it makes a lot of sense for them to be based there. People fly in with no other means of transport, rent a car for the duration of their stay and return the car on their way out again. Many cities do have rental offices within their centre though, so its not just airports that offer this service. Rental firms that have branches countrywide will often allow you to hire from one branch and drop the vehicle off at another. This offers added convenience.

So what killed the Sunday drive? The over abundance of cars and the death of novelty. Too many people drive too far too often now, especially with commuting to work. Some people spend up to three hours a day in their cars just driving to and from work. Sundays are now good days to be car free.