Automobiles have become so common
today that it is almost impossible to imagine a world without them. Like any
other invention in its early days, the automobile was present only in the lives
of the affluent. However, in time, its rising popularity made it affordable to
other people and thus it stopped being a symbol of belonging in a certain
social category. Between 1945 and 1989, the automobile s evolution in Romania saw
some stages beginning with the restrictive one, when it was exclusively used by
the state and the communist leadership, to a period when it was desired by the
commoners as well. It went through a period of democratization as Serban
Cornaciu, vice-chair of Retromobil Club Romania said. This period was kicked
off by a low number of people, the ones who could afford it at that time.
Serban Cornaciu: We cannot
speak about this period of democratization, without speaking about car imports
from the West. Those people were privileged because they had the