Seen in downtown Seattle, June 18, 2011. At 1:18, I assume.

Seen in Brattleboro, Vermont, on July 12, 2011.

I saw this while on a brain-frying four-hour hike around Atlanta with Paul Shaw to help him scout locations for his upcoming TypeCon Type Tour. Photo taken July 15, 2009.

Seen in Saint Paul, Minnesota, on June 20, 2009.

Spotted this curious little car in an amazing place called M. Schettl outside of Oshkosh, Wisconsin, back in 2009. It’s a Citicar, an all-electric vehicle made back in the seventies.

Not long after I saw this relic, I happened to be watching the television movie adaptation of Ursula LeGuin’s science fiction novel, The Lathe of Heaven, starring Bruce Davidson. It was made in 1980 and was set in the (then) near future. Of course, they needed some futuristic looking cars, and I guess the Citicar fit the bill. They used several of them for the film. I wouldn’t have known what they were if I hadn’t just seen this one in Oshkosh.

There’s something forlorn about seeing this little car rusting away among the other antiques they had there. The future is never quite what people think it will be.

Check out the logo on the dashboard and over the rear bumber: Amelia—the erstwhile number-one choice when you wanted to say “future” with a font.

1976: One hour by bus from Osseo (an outer-ring suburb) into downtown Minneapolis.

1977: Half hour by car from Osseo into downtown Minneapolis.

1977: Twenty minutes by bus from Saint Louis Park (an inner-ring suburb) into downtown Minneapolis.

1979: Fifteen minutes by car from Saint Louis Park to Saint Paul.

1981: Twelve minutes by car from South Minneapolis to downtown Saint Paul.

1985: Ten minutes by car from South Minneapolis to South Minneapolis.

1992: Five minutes by car from Saint Paul to Saint Paul.

2000–Present: Under one minute on foot (working at home).

I don’t understand why people put up with long commutes.