Peter Egan buys a Boxster

notfarnow · 05:08 AM

And a Boxster S, no less

http://www.roadandtrack.com/article.asp?section_id=26&article_id=4128

"And one day, while passing a truck on a slight uphill, I depressed the Vibe's gas pedal in 6th gear and not much happened. I downshifted to 5th, with similar results. The Mini, in the same situation, would have blasted itself into hyperspace.

"This will never do," I said to myself aloud. "What we have here is too much yin and not enough yang. I must keep this car as a sensible daily driver and then go shopping immediately for a frivolous rocket ship." I said this flawlessly, almost as if I'd rehearsed it.

Looking in the classifieds that day under "frivolous rocket ships," I scanned the ads for Boxsters..."

Other Peter Egan fans may remember the fantastic essays he wrote while restoring a 356C. As he is wont to do, he sold it after a couple years to start another project. Great to see him in a Porsche again.

I am a HUGE Peter Egan fan... the man is my hero. In fact, I am quite sure I would never have taken up writing if it wasn't for him. If I hadn't taken up writing, I wouldn't have fallen into my current line of work. If I hadn't fallen into my current line of work, I probably would have become a depraved sociopath. Thank God for Peter Egan!

Z-man · Z-man's Garage

Egan's article is the first thing I read when I get my copy of R&T. Whitty, sharp, and if ever there was an enthusiast, it is him. Anyone have a link to his "Murhpy's Law in the Garage" bit?

-Zoltan.

RKC · 12-12-2006, 06:21 AM

I love his work as well. I think Santa may be getting me the new collection of his columns.

In the article last month he called the Boxster S the best car he's ever owned!

His comments are usually so spot-on that it made me think about test driving one come spring!

notfarnow · 12-12-2006, 06:26 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by Z-man
Egan's article is the first thing I read when I get my copy of R&T. Whitty, sharp, and if ever there was an enthusiast, it is him. Anyone have a link to his "Murhpy's Law in the Garage" bit?

-Zoltan.

Unfortunately, they only list his articles from the past 6 or so months.

However, if you do a "Peter Egan" search you get stuff back to '03. Some great stuff in there.

The best option is to get his "Side Glances" books. I believe his road trip articles are compiled in a book too.

daepp · 12-12-2006, 06:32 AM

+1 - Love Peter Egan's columns - 1st thing I read in RT. And now that Brock and most of the other good writers are gone from C&D, ther's not much else.

notfarnow · 12-12-2006, 06:36 AM

I used to buy R&T for Egan, and for the "Salon" articles. That was about it. Stopped getting it 2-3 years ago.

IMO, the R&T "golden era" was the late 80's & early 90's. Lots of Egan road tips, Phil Hill doing Salon articles and the occasional piece by Rob Walker.

CJFusco · CJFusco's Garage

I loved R&T when I was in high school - probably because the British magazines were not available in the U.S. After reading some essays and books by Brock Yates, Stephen Wilkinson, etc., I am a little jaded toward the American car mags (esp. R&T and CaD). From many perspectives, one of the biggest flaws of those magazines is the "run by the sponsors" system in which major advertisers would threaten to pull their ads if the magazine published an unfavorable review of one of their cars. From what I hear, this occurred exclusively with Ford and GM. R&T prints a bad review of the Malibu SS, GM pulls its advertising. Hence, I believe, the decidedly pro-American car bias in those two magazines, despite the fact that to most other markets, most American cars are (to quote Clarkson), "rubbish".

Egan's articles are, and will always be, wonderful... but I can't get past the PC-toward-American-cars politics of R&T. Every time I read a review I wonder how much is politically-motivated.

I have found the magazines I like: Excellence and evo. evo might be the best all-around car magazine published in the English language.

oldE · 12-12-2006, 06:49 AM

A nice treat for Road & Track fans who visit England is found in a room of the Haynes Auto collection near Sparkford, Somerset. What appears, at first glance to be a Lotus 11 is in fact a Westfield, which, as the plaque reads, was assembled in the United States and featured in an article in R&T. This was the car from Peter's story, "East By Westfield".
As if that wasn't enough, across the aisle is Rob Walker's Delahaye! I have read so much about that car in various issues of R&T, I felt I was meeting an old friend. Rob had passed away the year before I was there.

Great writers.

Les

oldE · 12-12-2006, 06:55 AM

Excellence has a sister publication, "Sports Car International". Some of their scribes are brutal in their reviews. The mag is hard to find, sometimes, and the articles are a bit short, but you never have doubts about what the writer actually thought about a particular vehicle.

Les

Nostril Cheese · 12-12-2006, 06:58 AM

Egan has always been great. I havent read R&T or C&D for years. Any of the old columnists still there?

One other thing, how do you pronounce Csaba Csere? Always wondered that..

notfarnow · 12-12-2006, 07:09 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by oldE
Excellence has a sister publication, "Sports Car International". Some of their scribes are brutal in their reviews. The mag is hard to find, sometimes, and the articles are a bit short, but you never have doubts about what the writer actually thought about a particular vehicle.

Les

Sports Car international is a great mag, but hard to find. They have fantastic "history" articles. Ever read the one about the Cuban Grand Prix, when Fangio was kidnapped? Fantastic story!!

And "East by Westfield" was a great road trip story! Imagine packing all your gear & your wife in an open car for a cross-country trip!

Another fave was when he headed south by Isetta. Hilarious.

As for current mags, the only ones I can stand are "practical Classics" & "Sports & Classic Car".. both from the UK. True enthusiast mags.

legion · 12-12-2006, 07:14 AM

I like Automobile. They always seemed to me to tell it like it is.

I'm actually kinda worried now that they have a British editor...

oldE · 12-12-2006, 07:53 AM

"One other thing, how do you pronounce Csaba Csere? Always wondered that.."

A few years back, they mentioned that. IIRC, it is something like: "Chubba Chedda" I certainly would not mind being corrected.

As for Automobile, (and I have to be kind, they once published a letter of mine), they have a bad case of 'Rose Colored Glasses'. When the first generation MR2 came out, they raved on and on about its handling. We bought one and thought it was in need of some fixes. When the second generation came out, they announced Toyota had fixed the handling problems the 1st generation car had. Oh thanks!

Les

daepp · 12-12-2006, 08:13 AM

Someone who knows Egan should get a hold of him and get him on this board, now that he's got a Boxster.

notfarnow · 12-12-2006, 08:16 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by daepp
Someone who knows Egan should get a hold of him and get him on this board, now that he's got a Boxster.

Agreed!

Question: is it appropriate for me to have quoted the article above? Not sure of the etiquette & legality of quoting online articles.

Chocaholic · 12-12-2006, 08:21 AM

Recently cancelled my C&D subscription and went back to R&T. C&D has gone completely sophmoric (almost as bad as Speed Channel). They devote pages and pages to useless, barely funny nonsense. When I saw a picture of Paris Hilton in one of those useless articles, that did it for me.

Egan is the last of a dying breed of car guys that loves cool bikes and vintage guitars to boot. I still remember the one about the old Caddy he bought on e-bay. Spent two days having dried mud daubers fall in his face as he scraped them from underneath the dashboard. Ya gotta respect that!

Z-man · Z-man's Garage

Quote:

Originally posted by oldE
"One other thing, how do you pronounce Csaba Csere? Always wondered that.."

A few years back, they mentioned that. IIRC, it is something like: "Chubba Chedda" I certainly would not mind being corrected.

Close. It's Chauba Chere. Gotta love 'dem Hungarians...

- Zoltan.

RKC · 12-12-2006, 11:13 AM

All his stories are great, but the best have to be "Dino, car of the north" and the "40-mission car" about his 356 vs. wisconsin salt.

pwd72s · 12-12-2006, 11:20 AM

Great writing. If R&T drops Peter Egan, I'll drop R&T. I mean, how many megabucks super car tests can you read without crying from boredom? Not to mention the editor's accounts of his wine country drives. Egan's the blue collar guy car enthusiast. The rest of 'em? Well, IMO, he's THE talent of the rag...

We should have warned him about Boxters, though...

the · 12-12-2006, 11:23 AM

Egan = best ever.

But owning a Pontiac Vibe and now a Boxster - that's not the Egan I remember reading as a kid. When I think of Egan, I think of the opposite of teh ghey.