A Sense of Proportion?

[roGERK]

This is a bit heretical for this board, but some recent posts, plus some talk at an AutoX at the week-end have got me thinking about the whole classic car culture.

Its trite but it might be worth reminding everyone that cars are just cars, even ones we choose to project a "personality" on, such as our beloved 911s.

The sad truth is they are not alive, not "part of us," they are just machines, on the same emotional, ethical, and intellectual level as a electric toaster or a spin-dryer.

Now, don't get me wrong, I've spent hundreds of hours on my 911, the $$$ are too horrific to contemplate, its my hobby, I like the car a lot.

But please! Don't love anything that can't love you back, and don't get emotional if it gets damaged or even destroyed - its just a car and it can be repaired or replaced.

Just a sanity check.

- roGER

[marc weintraub]

Tell that to a guy that owns a Rembrandt or DaVinci. It's just a piece of art... don't get too attached to it. In many cases, these cars are an extention of the individual and become much more than just a car.

Having owned numerous exotics, my love for cars as well as art is very much the same. Ferrari's, Lamborghini's, etc. are beautiful and they sing. They are hand made and should not be confused with the more common versions of automotive transportation. They are art in it's most basic form and are trend setters in both aerodynamics and artistic creativity. Many cars are statements of time in economics and space (the mini's, the Ferrari 208, fiats, etc) because of taxation and gas taxes.

Everyones sense of proportion with regard to cars would have to be very different based on where and what stage they are in their respective lives. Still, I do think you are right... these things do get a bit out of hand and priorities have to and must be maintained.

[RarlyL8]

I'm afraid I would be very emotional if the P-car were damaged. The reason for the rage however would not be that the car is more than just a car, it is my TIME and EFFORT. Anyone who has built a car from the ground up knows the agony that goes with it. This effort cannot be duplicated at any cost.

[ScotMcLean]

This thread is a bit philosophical so here's my $.02

The time and effort we spend planning, preparing, repair and enjoying our machines is absolutely an extension of ourselves and our development/growth. The piece of mind that comes with discovery of a problem solved or a new repair successfully completed is a reflection of the meaning and value we created through our actions.

Materialism vs. Idealism (where the only things that are real are what you can see, feel, touch, vs. the only things that are real of those which we create in our minds, ideas & ideals) doesn't capture this experience.

The machine, and how it performs, is an extension of the ability for you or me to perceive the ideal (timing, rhythm, etc.) and make the material (machine) come close to this ideal, back into balance.

When I first read roGERK's post, this is that passage I thought of, from Zen & the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance),

"It's the way you live that
predisposes you to avoid the traps and see the right facts. You want to know how to paint a perfect painting? It's easy. Make
yourself perfect and then just paint naturally. That's the way all the experts do it. The making of a painting or the fixing of a motorcycle isn't separate from the rest of your existence. If you're a sloppy thinker the six days of the week you aren't working
on your machine, what trap avoidances, what gimmicks, can make you all of a sudden sharp on the seventh? It all goes together.

But if you're a sloppy thinker six days a week and you really try to be sharp on the seventh, then maybe the next six days aren't
going to be quite as sloppy as the preceding six. What I'm trying to come up with on these gumption traps I guess, is shortcuts
to living right.

The real cycle you're working on is a cycle called yourself. The machine that appears to be ``out there'' and the person that
appears to be ``in here'' are not two separate things. They grow toward Quality or fall away from Quality together."

http://www.aoe.vt.edu/~ciochett/lit/part3.html

[rstoll]

Left ya on the side of the road, eh Rog?

------------------
Robert Stoll
83 SC
83 944

[BRAINIAC]

So I guess the American Flag is just a stupid piece of fabric, Eh? It's what the car represents, not just what it is. O.K. I'm done. I see your point though. Some people go alittle overboard.

------------------
Tyson Schmidt
72 911 Cabriolet
92 C-2 Cabriolet

[Jack Olsen]

I agree with you, Roger -- 12 months of personal Porsche-centered behavior notwithstanding.

While these cars are amazing, and a lot of fun to work on and drive, none of us would be fundamentally transformed (I hope) if we woke up tomorrow morning in a world where Mr. Porsche had never existed. What I most like about my 911 are things like the satisfaction of laying out a task and completing it -- and of being able to drive the results of that work (like a son of a *****), and also of being able to get my dose of 'P-car fellowship' from places like this board.

There are two things I don't like about this 911 hobby. One is that it can be dangerous, since these cars really outstrip the average conditions of our public roads, and also are not well-matched to the performance characteristics of most of the other cars on those roads. These are cars that invite you to push the limits in a place (public roads, filled with license-carrying idiots) where it's really not wise to do so. Secondly, these cars are expensive as all get-out to modify and improve, which makes the pool of owners more exclusive than I'd like to see. If President Bush would propose a decent Porsche subsidy for the middle class, I'd be all over it. The cost of 911 admission keeps too many good people out of the club.

They're great cars, which is nice, because they attract some great people. If it weren't for groups like the POC, R Gruppe, the PCA, Rennlist and this board, I'd have lost interest in the thing a long time ago. If I woke up tomorrow and all the world's Porsches were gone, I'd shrug my shoulders and start thinking more kindly, I guess, toward BMWs. But if we were to all wake up and have the community of 911 owners disappear, well, I think that would be a real tragedy.

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Jack Olsen
1973 911 T (3.6) sunroof coupe
jackolsen@mediaone.net

[This message has been edited by JackOlsen (edited 05-29-2001).]

[BRAINIAC]

Wow. Jack just wrote what I meant to write. (I'm just not that verbose.) (Just kidding) If Porsches were outlawed tomorrow and they took away my toys, as soon as I stopped my crying temper tantrum and put my lower lip back where it belonged, I'd be on to the next obsession. (The BMW dealer to pick out the color of my new M3)

------------------
Tyson Schmidt
72 911 Cabriolet
92 C-2 Cabriolet

[RarlyL8]

Iteresting that you bring up the P-tax. I am one of the biggest winers when it comes to this topic. Actually it's not all bad.
Part of the Porsche experience is the exclusiveness of the cars. If you could hop one up for the price of Camero parts you would soon see abominations as never before. Just think of what a ricer or redneck could do to one of these cars.
And some folks think mine is over bastardized, HA!

[roGERK]

Thanks for all the replies - witty and/or thoughtful...

I just brought this up because of some observations of owners/drivers here and at AutoX events I've been attending.

Its hard to avoid the conclusion that for a minority of people, love of their car is a substitute for something else. At best this seem misguided, at worst, literally unhealthy.

Still, its good to see plenty of common sense and balance in the replies.

- roGER