Cars are like beer. There may be a few out there who will grasp my intentions
for this analogy with little hesitation, the rest will dismiss it, maybe to
think of it only when they are standing at the market deciding which brand
of fermented barley malt to purchase. Bud is perhaps not so much the "King
of Beers" as the "Chevy of Beers", something that appeals to a wide range of
folks. One could keep applying the analogy, perhaps mating the Miata to
something like Corona, the once fashionable brew in the eyecatching packaging.
And the Coors versus Miller discussions have no more merit than the Ford
versus Chevy fisticuffs at the monster truck spectacles.
Me, I make my own. Unlike the beer brewed at The Fat Chance from the basic
raw ingredients, like various grains and hop clusters, the cars I work on are
not constructed from piles of iron ore stashed in the alley. The intent,
though, is pretty much the same, a simple desire to craft something a little
different, something that you know is "better" just because you made it, or
painted it or welded on it yourself. Or perhaps just searching out such
objects, like looking for the latest microbrewery and pub in a new town, or
buying a car upon which someone else has bestowed their efforts.
I got a chance to drive a Miata not too long ago, I was impressed. It felt
nice, a good feel to the controls. I would like to have one, perhaps someday
I will. But I doubt I will forsake the Triumph collection to obtain one,
as the Miata is not the same. Not better, not worse, just different.
Sometimes I quaff a few cans of pale fizzy water from a Lightweight Beverage
Container (That's LBC to the acronym impaired), other times I sit and relax
with a Klisterbrau, or an FCG&B barleywine at hand. And like the opinions of
folks regarding the Miata, some homebrewers swear that ANYTHING made by a big
brewing company is poison, tainting the soul of one who dares consume.
But I drink both the homebrew and the storebought, each when appropriate.
mjb.
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