Hello all, I thought I'd post something a bit different today. Instead of just posting some auto news item, and ranting about'em, today I'm gonna get philosphical. Hope you don't mind.
Now working two jobs (three if you count wrenching down the garage) I have to drive a lot. And most of these miles are either in the late night/very early morning, I'm usually alone doing quite a bit of thinking. Today, I found myself behind the wheel of my Caddy thinking "why did I buy this?". Now this question was not an expression of regret, as I love Victoria, but it was a legitmate question. What made me choose this one car over the tens of thousands that I could have?
Well the obvious answer is "I like it." Well duh. But why? What parts of it do you like? And why do you like them? As I thought more about this, I realized every car I've ever owned, and every car I adore, all have four major things in common. They all pocess: Performance, Pedigree, Value, and "the X-Factor" (I do hope that hasn't been trademarked yet). A deeper look at these items will explain how I can love Mustangs and Chargers, and TVRs and Zondas.
1.) Performance: Summit Racing used to ask "How do you measure performance?" And its a great question because performance is realitive. We can see this with the DMC-12, and the Cossie Vega. They would be classified as dogs today, but lit shit up when they were new. Also, just because a car isn't "classically fast" doesn't mean it doesn't have the stuff. Take my caddy for example, she only has 156bhp, not exactly take your breath away type power. But when I'm on the freeway, late for a meeting, and I drop the hammer, she responds. Its all about how you measure performance. I know what you're thinking, and yes, I suppose you could use this definition to classify any car as a performance vehicle, but as a rule every car I'm interested in is moderately fast, or was when released.
2.) Pedigree: As a historian, one of the most important things to me is a car's well, history! I generally love cars with very deep roots (both Dodge and Cadillac are over 105 years old, ditto Ford). However, being a racer, cars with a deep performance history are important to me, so Companies like Ford, Ferrari, and TVR are favs of mine. This also applies to specific models. Winning racers such as the GT40 and Superbird are some of my wet dreams. A car has to prove itself over a long period of time in my book. I liked Foxbodies much sooner than first-gen Mustangs, because first-gens were yuppie trend cars, whereas Foxbodies were proven evolutions. Later I realized the early cars were game changers, and my appreciation followed. However, that doesn't mean that new car companies aren't going to get any love from me. Some have pedigree nonetheless, like Pagani, whose founder was the head of Lambo's composites. Basically, you need to be experienced to interest me.
3.) Value: Like performance, this too is realitive. Value doesn't mean cheap. A car can be expensive and be a good value if you get a lot of options, if its technologically relevant, and if its fast. A great example is the Zonda F Roadster, $827,000 but worth every penny. Or the new ZR1, sure its $110,000, but you get a Ferrari killer you could daily drive. Likewise, there are expensive cars that are so overpriced that no matter how admittedly good they are, they are crap value, such as the Veyron, the SLR Mclaren, or dare I say it the "Lexus-that-shall-not-be-named". Value works both ways. There are cheap cars that have amazing bang for buck, such as the Colbalt SS, or WRX STI, and cheap cars that are still crap value, such as an Aveo or Prius (wait, they're cheap, anyway). For me to buy a car, it doesn't have to be a steal, but it has to have enough value to justify its price, no matter how big or small the check is that I have to write, I never want to feel like I overpaid.
4.) "The X-Factor": This last one is kind of a cop out. The X-Factor is something that can't be fully explained, its a car's mystique. Its more than looks or ride, its just something that grabs you and makes you say "whoa". Overall Design could do this, so could the raw numbers, but usually its something less phyiscall. With Roxy, it was that she was a third-gen Charger, which most people hate, and which I thought "that'd be fun to hop up, nobody does that." When I bought Victoria, I went to the dealer looking at his third-gen Camaro. I took the Caddy for a test drive to humor the salesman, and after driving it, I knew I wanted it. That's the X-Factor. If a car doesn't have it, if it doesn't effect me, I don't want it.
So there you have it, my four "must haves" for any car. Of course, despite this sometimes you get an oddball that doesn't fit any of these, in my case a Maserati GrandTurismo S. But generally, these rules apply. I might post my list of favorite cars tomorrow, maybe.
Wallio out.
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