Peter Egan... cars & politics

[notfarnow]

This month's column is perfectly suited for PP OT:

... Bush’s reelection team, according to the book, “determined that Porsche owners tend to be Republican while Volvo drivers tilt Democratic. Jaguar drivers were considered most likely to vote and Hyundai drivers least likely.

Now, some of this makes sense to me.

Back when I was restoring my 1967 E-Type some years ago, I was extremely well informed on national politics because I used to watch three hours of evening news as a way of procrastinating so I didn’t have to go out to the garage and figure out why the dash lights flickered when the passenger door was slammed. Voting was the natural upshot of all this political exposure.

I can’t tell you why Hyundai drivers don’t vote more often. Maybe their dash lights work.

http://www.roadandtrack.com/article.asp?section_id=26&article_id=4620

[gprsh924]

peter egan is the best part about road and track

[nostatic]

he has one of my favorite quotes:

"Racing makes heroin addiction look like a vague longing for something salty." --- Peter Egan

[david c.]

Although I've never met Mr. Egan, he and I have a mutual acquaintance that I met when I was in law school. I have a few black and white photos that our mutual friend took of Peter sitting in the garage he built in Wisconsin when visiting a few years ago.

This may sound difficult to understand if you're not a lifelong Egan disciple, but seeing the inside of that garage - in which his readership has vicariously done just about everything from listen and play blues to wrestle with and restore an E-type Jaguar - is so familiar that it's eerie. We've all had such similar coffee-drinking moments in our garages, or shared a sense of frustration followed by laughter at this goofy hobby of ours. Peter, however, has a unique talent for reducing our common experiences to words.

I have not a doubt in my mind that Peter Egan is one of the greatest writers of the last 25 years, and I do not limit that to automotive journalists. Consider the relative intellect of the readership of Road & Track, or his other rags. Consider the breadth of his audience independent of the focus of those magazines. When I was 13 I was reading the same copies of Road & Track, and enjoying Egan's articles in the very same way as any executive in an airport waiting for a flight. The near universality of his appeal to the broad spectrum of otherwise unrelated car nuts illustrates well, I think, that had he chosen to write literature or a regular column in, say, Rolling Stone, my sentiments would be held axiomatic. The only reason he isn't more famous, I think, is because the car hobby has a certain anti-intellectual stigma to it.

People who aren't car nuts will never understand the romance of it all, but those of us who are afflicted with the bug will always admire Peter Egan for providing proof, if only once a month, that we aren't truly alone out there in the garage late on those Sunday nights.

[gsxrken]

Are there any compilations of Peter's work? I've been off the magazine treadmill for a bunch of years and have some Cycle World and R&T catching up to do.

[jim72911t]

Dave,
Very well said. I still have the Cycle World that contains the first article of his I ever read: "The Flashback Express." I was hooked from that point forward. While I don't subscribe to Cycle World any more, I still get a copy of R&T every month and the first thing I do is look in the contents and see if there are any features written by Mr. Egan. If there are, I turn directly to that page. If there aren't, I go straight to his Side Glances column. Without exception, his writing is engaging and poignant, regardless of the subject matter.


gsxrken, check this link: http://shop.roadandtrack.com/index.asp?PageAction=VIEWCATS&Category=424

You really can't go wrong.

[Z-man]

Originally posted by gsxrken
Are there any compilations of Peter's work? I've been off the magazine treadmill for a bunch of years and have some Cycle World and R&T catching up to do.

The book, Side Glances is a compilation of his more recent work. I found it under the Christmas tree a couple of months ago...

-Z

[notfarnow]

Originally posted by dave cardone
People who aren't car nuts will never understand the romance of it all, but those of us who are afflicted with the bug will always admire Peter Egan for providing proof, if only once a month, that we aren't truly alone out there in the garage late on those Sunday nights.

Amen

He captures the moments that only other car nuts would appreciate.

Perfect example: Anyone remember the article about the first time he started the Jag engine after the rebuild? Only another car nut understands the anticipation and slight dread when you turn the ignition after months of work. Anyone else thinks, "well, it's SUPPOSED to start"... but Egan understands. HughR could speak to that, after all the work he's been doing on the DB4.

Peter Egan also captures the essence of roadtrips like no other writer.

[Rot 911]

Originally posted by gsxrken
Are there any compilations of Peter's work? I've been off the magazine treadmill for a bunch of years and have some Cycle World and R&T catching up to do.

Go to Amazon.com All of his works from both the car and motorcycle side have been compile in I think 5 volumes. I have them all. I bought them all used, but in like new condition, off of Amazon. I love re-reading them in the winter when it is just to cold to do anything. I feel like I am sitting there beside him bull****ting in the garage.

[berettafan]

R&T was my mag of choice 20yrs ago. With C&D going down the toilet maybe i should check it out again.

Anybody remember their favorite articles/cars from younger days? In particular i recall one with a yellow CRX Si that had been tweaked for track duty. I can still see the pics in the article. Lusted for that thing for some time.

Seems like car mags were better then. Less 450hp sedans and more sporty, fun cars.

[notfarnow]

Originally posted by berettafan


Seems like car mags were better then. Less 450hp sedans and more sporty, fun cars.

You bet. I stopped getting R&T about 5 years ago. The british car magazines are TRUE enthusiast mags. Great writing and lots of interesting cars. Classic & Sports Car and Practical Classics are my current faves.

[Rot 911]

Originally posted by notfarnow
You bet. I stopped getting R&T about 5 years ago. The british car magazines are TRUE enthusiast mags. Great writing and lots of interesting cars. Classic & Sports Car and Practical Classics are my current faves.

+1

[Dottore]

Originally posted by notfarnow
You bet. I stopped getting R&T about 5 years ago. The british car magazines are TRUE enthusiast mags. Great writing and lots of interesting cars. Classic & Sports Car and Practical Classics are my current faves.

Check out Octane. It is by far the best of the lot. Great magazine.

[notfarnow]

Originally posted by Dottore
Check out Octane. It is by far the best of the lot. Great magazine.

Funny, got it in my stocking for Christmas. It's very good... great article on the SC

[RKC]

"Dino: Car of the North"

Need I say more?

[notfarnow]

Originally posted by RKC
"Dino: Car of the North"

Need I say more?

Ya, that is a classic. It's in his collection of road trips:



Now that he's bought a Boxster, maybe we could lure him to PP BBS. Not sure if he'd care for OT, but he'd sure as hell have some great stories.