Both sets of my grandparents were farmers.

They farmed with horses.

Yes, really. Or, at least they started with horses and moved to mechanized farming later in life.

My mother still remembers the hitching posts at her school house… though by the time she was in school they weren’t used much anymore.

Automobiles are ideal vanities. They appeal to the young to express independence from their parents, and to the middle aged to express social status to their peers.