Early tourists in frail Model A Fords overcame danger as they conquered the southwestern unknown.
Travelers could be stranded miles from assistance when gas tanks ran dry, radiators overheated, tires blew, and clutches burned out.
Traveling Route 66 replicated the adventures of pioneers fulfilling America's Manifest Destiny as they
crossed the continent in covered wagons. Tourists returning home with souvenirs from their treks through
New Mexico proved to skeptical friends that they had triumphed over the dangersalbeit imaginedof
the "wild west."
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