The North American International Auto Show is a site to be seen around the country, but in the Detroit area it is a chance for the millions of local auto workers that live here to see what they may be producing and take pride in their company's name. Every year in January, the Cobo Center hosts the Detroit version of the Auto show and every year well over a half million people make the trip to the venue to take in the glory. This is a show for everyone, even the little ones. This years event took place from January 19 thru January 27th. It was a week of beauty, style, and concept. If you are a people watcher there is something here for you. If you are a car aficionado this is your dream, and if you are just looking for your next vehicle this is the place to start. Hummer put together a very intriguing concept vehicle when it put out the HX. This SUV has a removable roof, can be transformed from a short bed pickup to a convertible and then back to the traditional square Hummer. This vehicle is geared for a younger crowd that wants versatility and I think they accomplished it. Saturn had a winner as well with its compact SUV, the Saturn Vue. This vehicle is a 2-mode hybrid and will be available later this year. It was a show stopper with its fuel economy and is pleasant to look at.

According to statistics, the average household income in 1970 was $8,734 and it rose to $16,461 in 1979. The unemployment rate was 3.5% in 1970 and up and down all decade landing at 8.5% in 1979. Heart disease was and still is the leading cause of death. Also, Aids and HIV was discovered in the seventies. There were many major medical break throughs in the 1970's. One of the most noted being the completion of the MRI scan in 1977. My mother recalls having medical insurance and being able to get a tooth pulled at the dentist for $15.00. site Skip: "Not sure, --maybe a skunk, dead frogs, the water smells sometimes; maybe shit, who knows up here, could be a combination ... let's shut our windows." As another mile goes by it starts to get a little foggy looking out the window, shadows seem to be everywhere. In 1970 my husband bought a Dodge R/T for $5000. The price of the car was usually a bit less, but this particular car had all the bells and whistles needed to be a true Muscle Car. If kept in mint condition this car would now be worth approximately $50,000. He was young and foolish though; blew up the engine, and just trashed the car. To this day, the thought of his youthful waste makes him kind of sick. I had just started on another beer when someone dropped a few coins in the juke box. The music was bad country. To my utter disgust the first song that played was that "I want to stick a boot up your butt" super-patriotic, ultra-jingoist thing by the guy in the buy truck hitch commercials. The people around me began to sing along loudly. Skip: "Yes, yes, I saw him! D' did you? He was by the trees, or was it in front of the house...? No, by the road; gee, maybe it was both, he seemed to be in both locations at once. A shadow effect I suppose." . Skip: "Yaw, I can see that, let me yell at him: --'Hay stupid, yaw you, what you doing!"' Amery looks at Skip as if that might not be the smartest thing to do. So there you have it. I have listed some of the more popular accessories for a Ford truck. Of course there are many more such as performance tuners and if you are going all out you can completely upgrade the suspension. That will be another post for another day however. Until then happy trucking my friends, hope to see you out at the truck shows.