It's been more than postulated that men are from Mars and women are from Venus; we just don't see things the same. True as that is in any given sense, nowhere could it be more graphically indicated than by virtue of the cars male designers have supposedly designed for women, versus the ones women would design for themselves. Starting in the 1950s, we have pieces like the 1956 Dodge LaFemme. (And, no, I am not making this up.)



Aside from the ultra-effeminate paintwork, the LaFemme boasted an umbrella and cosmetic compact as standard equipment. Hmm. Contrast it yet again to a car that supposedly wasn't designed for women, (probably more for men, really,) like the 1957 Cadillac Eldorado Brougham, (above bottom,) which boasted a glovebox containing a set of magnetic cocktail glasses, and I suppose it works, but then again, does it really? I know I've never seen many of these. Fast forward a few years to 1958, and General Motors had the bright idea to put a feminine spin on the Chevy Corvette with the "Fancy Free" concept (once again, that was the name The General gave it, not me.)



Aside from a paint job in a color called Silver Olive, infecting even the inners of the wheel covers, I don't see a lotta difference between this and any other '58 'Vette; not like I've looked, really, the '58 is one of my least favorite 'Vette vintages, but I'm not seeing much here. Perhaps there is a certain amount of female credibility in this exercise, in that General Motors would actually contemplate such a thing for something as otherwise utterly macho as a Corvette. Dunno. Once again, though, it didn't live beyond the concept, perhaps for that precise reason. As we flip to the 1970s, this whole postulation starts to really get weird, when Ford came along with a package for the much-unloved Mustang II that was supposed to be designed around women's tastes.


Yeah. Make what you will of that. Come to think, though, I was close to purchasing a Mustang II that was infected with this particular option group when car shopping eons ago, although had the purchase happened, I would have acquired the vehicle through a mechanic's lien; and immediately repainted it. Fortunately for my masculinity, it didn't. Now that you've seen what men think of women as car buyers, have a look at what a car designed by a coterie of female engineers looks like, in this case the current Volvo YCC.

Hmm. To say the contrast is drastic is an understatement. As I understand, the interior of this one is a particularly fine piece of work. Martha and I actually did agree that the Dodge Magnum "sportwagon" was a car worthy of consideration, however constrained we may have been by our current financial situation. Okay, we proabably liked it for different reasons, but there it is; a male/female point of agreement. Ladies, take a minute and drive home what's important to you. I promise I won't get upset, anyway.