Miracle car

As much as I love the idea of my previous love (see prior post) and the fact that she can defrost her windshield in seconds with the push of a button, an old college roommate of mine reminded me this morning that the less flashy models can have a stable and dependable charm to them that more than makes up for the absence of the smooth curves and sleek stylings.

Some kids in high school built their own car. I know my high school never did anything like that. The closest class we had was the gender restricted class "Car Care for girls." (yes, we actually had a class that only girls could take where they taught all of the 'helpless little girls' how to change a tire, deal with buying car insurance, and check their oil." I tried to enroll for the course under the theory that I didn't know these things either, and the administration denied my request, with the explicit (written) instruction that if I wanted to know these things I should have my Father teach me how to care for automobiles. Yay, Kansas, where blatant sexism can still exist in public schools without apology or lawsuit. I wonder now if they still have that class.

Anyway, these high school kids built a car with decent power and that gets about 50 miles per gallon of fuel. And what's more, the fuel is made from soybeans.

But GM can't manufacture a car that gets 35 mpg to save it's life. Literally. How come?

EDIT/UPDATE: I did a quick bit of research, and what do you know? My old high school DOES still offer their girls only car care class. Page 24, under "Industrial Technology" lists the course as current as of this last year's curriculum. That surely can't be Constitutional.