The image that hooked me, and then dragged me into the abyss. A pink 1958 Cadillac. *SWOON*

In 1966, our family of six piled into 1957 Cadillac and drove from Portsmouth, VA to Santa Monica, CA, a 3,000 mile journey. I was six years old. For two weeks and 6,000 miles, I rode in the front seat, sitting on the fold-out arm rest.

I can't read this text without hearing the narrative in Don Draper's voice, complete with dramatic pauses.

Our 1957 Cadillac was black, but I think I could have settled for blue if they were out of pink. Check out the rubber-tipped bumpers on the front. I could use a set of those on my Camry Hybrid.

While we're on the topic of luxury...

Is that Betty Draper in the back seat of the 1958 T-Bird?

In 1974, I was forced to sit through a HORRIBLE "Driver's Safety Class" that mainly consisted of a sadistic gym teacher forcing us to watch gory films of people being turned into bloody hamburger meat via Detroit steel. As a sensitive soul, I was truly traumatized. I'd close my eyes whenever possible and then the gym teacher would screech at me to "pay attention." One of the stories was a paralyzed woman who had not buckled in that fateful day because she didn't want to wrinkle her dress. I guess society really did judge you by the wrinkles in your dress.

I love this caption. It's from Bing Cosby's song, "Did you ever see a dream, walking..."

Poor hat boy. He knows that this is the closest he'll ever come to a new T-bird. And look at those pedestrian souls admiring that shiny new thing. They're such simpletons in their plain-jane clothes. But at least they have a shot at the shiny new thing - one day - if they marry well. I'd like to caption this, "Envy."

Well, it's good of her to give the two Plain Janes a ride to the bus stop.

My husband tells me that he's secure enough in his masculinity to wear a pink shirt. Back in the day, apparently men were secure enough in their masculinity to show up in a pink Chevy.

Looks like Mom and Dad are driving home from a party with Timothy Leary.

Many of these car ads have a random plane. And Junior is playing with planes in the back seat.

Nobody in these ads have their eyes on the road. Maybe she's looking for low-flying aircraft. It seems to be a big problem in 1958.

By 1958, we were using sex to sell cars. "Come hither look?" I guess the car is inviting you to "slip into something more comfortable" such as its "smart fabrics."

"We knew Mildred had lost her mind when she started trying to hail a taxi from her new Chevy."

I've no idea what's happening here, but of course, Mother has baked goods in her right hand. OOOH, edited to add: Shari (see comment below) observed that it was The Boy in the yellow helicopter and in this shot, the helicopter is behind The Boy. He and Mother have both "landed" here.

That's one fine-looking car. Love the two-tone paint job.

More random airplanes.

Looks to me like someone's making a run for it. Lots of luggage there.

When I bought my new Camry in 2012, no one said a word about "gay silk pillows."

Tufted leather bench seats. Be still my heart.

Wait til you see this Vicuna lap robe.

There's the Vicuna lap robe.

And here's a Vicuna (still wearing his lap robe).

"Iridescent leather features channeled insets of darker blue." Wow.

My Camry has a "symphony in gray" going on, but it's a really quiet symphony.

In mid-August, this fine-looking antenna went up at my house!

This small antenna was a perfect match for my needs. I wanted something small and unobtrusive, because I didn't want to diminish the look of my new car. And I also didn't want to damage the paint job!

My car is still so new, and I didn't want to damage the paint job, so I turned to Ultra-Shield (in Chesapeake) and asked them to provide this small disc of 3M Ultra-Shield to protect the new car's finish.

The 3M Ultra-Shield does an amazing job of protecting the car's paint job from all manner of evils. This car has 3-M Ultra-Shield installed on the bumpers, hood, mirrors, fender, trunk and more.

The antenna wire is threaded through the trunk and into the backseat, and is used primarily for my little Wouxun radio.