All the news of GM's bankruptcy filing today triggers some great memories of growing up in the 1950s and '60s, when big American cars -- and fins -- ruled the road. It's hard to imagine these days, when we're strapped in with seat belts and protected by air bags, but in the big Chevies that my parents favored, I often read while curled up on the floor of the rear seating area.

One of my fondest memories is being given some money as we prepared for another drive from central Connecticut to New York, where my father's relatives lived. I'd head to the drug store to buy comic books -- Batman, Archie, etc. -- and lose myself for hours as my parents guided our Biscayne down the highway.

By modern safety standards, it is unthinkable. (I mean the sitting on the floor -- not reading comic books.) But the solidity of those cars gave off an aura of invincibility. I guess that was part of GM's problem.  

Photo courtesy of Chevrolet