2012 Chevrolet Volt test drive review. Today's car of the future

Do you ever look back at all the wild concept cars of the 1950s and ‘60s and imagine what it would be like to relive that excitement? The beautiful shapes and outrageous ideas often predicted a future that never came.

For example, in 1958, Ford offered the Nucleon Concept—a car that was supposed to be powered by a nuclear reactor. In 1953, General Motors offered Harley Earl’s radically styled Firebird I Concept, which looked like a jet airplane and ran off of a turbine engine. Chrysler really took the turbine thing to new levels with the 1963 Turbine Cars, which could run on tequila, among other things.

2012 Ford Focus Electric test drive review. Ford sets the pace on electric vehicles

On Monday, Ford announced that the new 2012 Focus Electric would pace the NASCAR Sprint Cup Race in Richmond on April 28. As I was listening to the Ford official talk about this on my Sirius NASCAR Radio, he stated that electric vehicles like the Focus are the cars of the future. And while I have no doubt that he knows what he is talking about, I would also contend that electric vehicles are deeply rooted in the past. This technology has been dealing with the same issues and perceptions since the beginning of the automobile, and simultaneously, electric cars have been ahead of their time for more than 100 years.

Clean Trasportation Exposition in Overland Park attempts to generate interest in alternative fuel vehicles

The world ain’t what it used to be. You know, just from the time I graduated high school in 1991 to now, the U.S. population has grown by 50-million people. Folks are living longer and longer, and babies are being churned out like crazy. I know when I drive to work, or go to the store, or stand in line at the pharmacy, or do whatever else it is that I do, there are times when I just think there are too damn many people around.