Adaptive Curmudgeon yesterday:
In 1981 the nerdiest Canadian rock band to ever exist released Red Barchetta. I loved it. I still do.
It’s the story of a young man who lives in a dystopian future. His uncle possess a glorious little sports car but “motor laws” have outlawed(?) such things. As any true rock protagonist should, he ignores this and goes tearing through the countryside in the beautiful mechanical delight. Shortly a “gleaming alloy aircar” appears, then a second, both intent of destroying him and his little car. The antique sportscar enthusiast outdrives the behemoth machines and flits back to safety at his uncle’s farm.
Being Gen X I’d been hammered about environment since I was born. I assumed “motor laws” were an environmental thing. Later I read the sci fi story that was the song’s inspiration.
He’s talking about a Rush song. But he’s also talking about the Lee Majors film The Last Chase, ainna? It also came out in 1981, and I saw it several times at the home of the family friends who had HBO.
Interesting: I thought I’d mentioned seeing this movie before because it was set way in the (then) future of 2011 and because they were taking the red car to “free California” which was the opposite of the totalitarian state they were fleeing (which followed a viral pandemic). But a quick search of the archives indicates I have not yet mentioned it. Or that my blog does not want me to find it.
