Dallas was America's car, the sleekest vehicle of the horsepower age. Its raw, muscular power made it a kind of legend in its time. It offered a spectacular economic success story, the stuff of TV legend. Today, though, an unmodified '57 Chevy can be a peril on the road. It guzzles gas and can't compete with its modern technological rivals.
Replacement parts are expensive.
And there are some real questions about obsolescence. The once-omnipotent banks and real estate operators who made Dallas globally famous hit the rocks. Racial tensions, once suppressed, erupt everywhere. A federal judge declares the council districts illegal. Dallas' crime rate soars.