"A car is not a luxury, but a means of transportation" - author and meaning

2024 Author: Henry Conors | [email protected]. Last modified: 2024-02-12 02:42

The phrase "A car is not a luxury, but a means of transportation" has been heard by everyone. Many themselves often pronounce it, but not everyone understands the meaning. And the origin is completely known only to attentive lovers of classical literature and admirers of Soviet cinema.

The birth of the catchphrase

"A car is not a luxury, but a means of transportation" - a quote from the novel "The Golden Calf" by Ilya Ilf and Evgeny Petrov. She became known not only to the circle of readers, but also to movie lovers after the film adaptation of the work in 1968.

The phrase is repeated three times in the film. The first to say: "A car is not a luxury, but a means of transportation" was the organizer of a rally in one of the villages on Novozaitsevsky Trakt. The words were part of the slogan that literally flowed from the lips of the organizer during the meeting of Adam Kozlevich's car with Ostap Bender and his companions. Their "Gnu Antelope" was mistakenly mistaken for the leader of the Moscow-Kharkov-Moscow rally. A beardless man, who ran out of the crowd of spectators, shouted out words about how important it is to establish the production of the Soviet automobile industry, and at the end shouted after the departing Antelope: “A car is not a luxury, but a meansmovement!”

Ostap Bender repeated these words during a speech with a response address to the residents of the city of Udoev, and then again when he saw the real participants in the run, led by its leader.

"Yes," he said. - Now I myself see that a car is not a luxury, but a means of transportation. Aren't you envious, Balaganov? I'm jealous!"

Where do legs grow from?

"A car is not a luxury, but a means of transportation." The meaning of this phrase can be understood if we turn to the life principles of the great Henry Ford.

He was born and raised in a poor family, but this did not stop Ford from creating his own auto empire. It all started when little Henry saw a locomobile for the first time in his life. "Cart with a motor" did not give the boy peace. Since then, Ford has been only trying to create a mechanism that can propel vehicles.

From childhood, dreaming of designing cars, Ford felt that he needed to learn everything in practice. Therefore, he did not finish school and from the age of 15 began to work in a mechanical workshop. After that, young Henry changed many more jobs, set up experiments and studied the device of various equipment.

Ford's father was a farmer, so the young man really wanted to invent a machine that could pull a plow or a cart to facilitate the work of a person. However, it was impossible to build such a steam "iron horse" (it was steam transport that was "in use" at that time), since the weight and size of such equipment would be too large forsmall agricultural work.

Soon, Henry learned about gas engines and began to design his first car - a quadricycle. He sold his car for $ 200, and invested the money in the creation of a new one.

To attract investors, Ford created two fast cars to race. His fast car rightfully won the race. The plan worked, and within a week of winning the competition, Ford Motor Company was formed.

Ford set itself the task of creating an inexpensive, reliable and lightweight car. He wanted to make a mass product available to almost everyone.

Of course, Henry Ford was not the one who said: "The car is not a luxury, but a means of transportation." However, that could be the slogan of his company.

Meaning

What does the catchphrase mean? It is necessary to interpret the expression depending on who pronounces it.

A phrase from the lips of the strikers on the occasion of the increase in car prices means that the cost of budget cars should not be huge.

If the car manufacturer says it, then he means that he focuses not on decor or additional options, but on the basic set of functions necessary for the operation of the car.

So luxury or not?

Many people have the opportunity to buy a car today. Almost everyone can afford a used car. And yet for some it isvital necessity, and for others - a way to show their status.

The first are people who buy a car for the following or similar tasks:

• work on the car;
• travel to work, cottage, etc.;
• convenience of family movement (with a child, elderly parents, etc.).

For these people, a car is really a means of transportation, not a luxury.

And sometimes the one who said: “A car is not a luxury, but a means of transportation,” complains that car maintenance today is not cheap. Gasoline prices are high, parts are very expensive, and insurance and car maintenance cost a pretty penny.

Those who want to emphasize their position in society usually buy business class cars. Most likely, the machine is intended to solve the same tasks as listed above, but it costs much more.

Luxury cars can also include models produced in a single edition. To purchase them, you need to "sweat": order a couple of months before the purchase, discuss all the details, sign a contract and leave a deposit. A hand-built car with a powerful engine and exclusive design - isn't that a luxury?

Growth in the number of cars

The number of cars on the roads is steadily growing every day, which means that the car is becoming a regular part of our lives, just like, for example, a telephone. Is this good or bad? Probably everyone has something to answer this question. Butwe will still give some pros and cons.

Cons

The downsides of increasing the number of cars are as follows:

• Reducing the quality of roads (that no one is in a hurry to repair them, of course, you already know).
• Increase in traffic accidents - from minor to horrific fatal crashes.
• Deterioration of the environmental situation due to the large amount of emissions of exhaust gases.
• Decrease in road capacity (in large cities, motorists have to spend a significant amount of time in traffic jams).
• Growth of fraud related to the sale of cars (thieves, dealers, drivers of cars from abroad are on the alert and in a hurry to snatch their tidbit).
• Numerous construction projects (huge interchanges, overground and underground passages, tunnels) serve for the benefit of cars, they all change the face of settlements, and not always for the better.

Pros

What are the benefits of car growth?

• A gigantic industrial industry operates in the manufacture, sale and maintenance of automobiles, which means that numerous jobs are being created.
• Increases the comfort of people's lives. It is much more convenient to drive your own car than to depend on public transport, stomping to a stop in the morning in the cold or heat, in the rain or snow.
• Well, another plus, maybedoubtful, but still. It consists in the fact that a large number of manufactured cars leads to a similar increase in transport in the secondary market (where used cars flock from owners who have decided to change the “iron horse”). Resale prices are low, so people with average earnings can afford used cars.

It's hard to argue with the ambiguity of the phrase "A car is not a luxury, but a means of transportation." Who is the author of the expression, you now know. Ilf and Petrov, probably, did not even suspect that it would become winged. But in vain.