By the time General Norman Schwarzkopf's troops rolled into Kuwait in 1991 the automotive world was already in a transition period. Toyota, Nissan and Honda went after Cadillac, Lincoln and the German cars with their luxury versions of Lexus, Infiniti, and Acura.

Some features were fazing out like power antennas, hub caps, manual window cranks, the ole floor mounted headlight dimmer switch, flip-back side vent window quarter glass (that were great for a forced breeze in the summer) and even the ash tray.

Headlights evolved from acetylene or oil (before my time) to Tungsten, Halogen, HID (or electric arc), LED, and now Laser headlights.

A few features came and went like the motorized seat-belts in the early 1990's. They could wrap around your neck if you put your head out of the window while you shut or opened the door.

Then we had the 'Cupholder Wars'. There is no need for the goodol' plastic hangon side cup-holder. Soon all car brands inproved sales by merely adding four cup holders and then four more for the rear passengers and another in each door for a total of 12 cup holders(check your late model and tell me if I lie).

Some changes were motivated by issues with pollution, greenhouse gases, fuel efficiency, safety and convenience.

Now you got your smart key, your OBD II on board diagnostics, navigation, turbochargers on economy engines, direct fuel injection, variable valve timing and lift, TPMS (tire pressure monitoring system), bluetooth integration, window switches that are wireless bluetooth except for a common power feed, air bags, other safety systems, security systems, traction, stabilization, digital display, heads-up display, cameras, heated wiper blades, seats that heat, cool or massage, regenerative braking,

artificial intelligence in parking, lane change, radar based cruise control spacing between moving vehicles, semi-autonomous driving, self driving, braking, sharing safety information from one vehicle to other vehicles behind them automatically (Vehicle-to-vehicle (V2V) and vehicle-to-infrastructure (V2I)).

Now you get into your electric power like your: first hybrids, then plugin hybrids, Battery Electric Vehicle (BEV) with a range extender ((BEVx) completely electric powered but with gas generator emergency power (like the BMW i3)) and then your fully electric powered vehicles like Tesla and Nissan Leaf.

Although we are not rushing to fully electric vehicles there is also a big trend to electric in many incremental ways like electric steering, electric power brakes, and electric air conditioning compressor.

I leave you with: “Each generation goes further than the generation preceding it because it stands on the shoulders of that generation. You will have opportunities beyond anything we've ever known.” Ronald Reagan