On Tue, Dec 03, 2002 at 07:58:12PM -0600, Charles & Peggy Robinson wrote:
> Jeeze guys, what snobbery. What's that make the owner of a stock B
> who puts on an air dam, racing stripes and mag wheel with wide tires?
>
> Cheers,
Scott Fisher the first once had a great quote about spending lots of
money to make our cars louder, less comfortable and unreliable, and if
they were slower too that was even better.
While I wholly support anyone's automotive hobby, whether I share it
or not, I'll tease people who just go fast and turn left just as
they'll tease me about leaving a trail of oil every where I go. I,
personally, find amusement in people who go to great lengths and
effort for the appearance of performance, when with less money and
effort they can get greater performance.
You get the yuppy bikers, that just ride their Harleys down to the
local bar so that they can strut around in their leathers. It's their
game not mine. Likewise you get the folks who have motorcycle
leathers, but no bike. Functional leather is suboptimal if you aren't
on a bike, just like fashion leather is useless if you get introduced
to Mr. Tarmac.
Likewise, I look around the bay area at the incredible number of all
wheel drive cars that never see snow, mud, gravel or any sort of off
road driving. Heck, most of them rarely even see an honest rain
storm. Of course what's even funnier is when they go to the snow and
Mr. Newton explains to them that AWD just makes them go better, but
that they don't stop or turn any better.
A lot of riceboys go to great effort to draw attention to themselves
and their cars. Quite a few people whose attention they gain happen to
find those efforts humorous. In about '78 I about fell down laughing
when I saw a full size chevy 4x4 pickup that had been converted into a
low-rider.
Here was a vehicle that handled poorly, got lousy mileage, only
carried 3 (OK four if you squeezed) people. Had extra weight cost and
complexity for four wheel drive, but did not have the ground clearance
to use it in the dirt, or the weight balance to use it on the
track. And of course with all the money invested in paint, they sure
weren't goign to haul anything in it.
There used to be a big healey in Santa Cruz with the license plate
Redare. It had glassfibre bodywork to beat any ricebox car I've ever
seen. The nose was extended three or four feet, it had a huge wing on
the back, fins, scallops, vents, you name it. The owner was a bit of
local color, and I'll let you figure out what it took to be considered
local color in Santa Cruz in the seventies.
On the other hand, there was a TD that looked pretty stock except for
the mag wheels. It had the license plate "Boss MG", the Boss referred
to the source of the 302 ci powerplant under the hood. It was owned by
some retired guy from Monterey.
I don't begrudge people their fun if they want to soup up their car
with decals and performance inhibiting bodywork. It makes them happy
and gives me a bit of a laugh too.
--
I've found something worse than oldies station that play the music I used to
listen to. Oldies stations that play the "new" music I used to complain about.
lrc@red4est.com http://www.red4est.com/lrc
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