I’m sure I don’t have to tell you that sometimes it could be hard to stay cheerful. Bad news is only a visit to a news site away. Let’s not do that. Instead, let’s show you the greatness of car people right now. A few of you posted uplifting comments today and I want to highlight them.
Our founders have been drinking up all of the hot cars at the Goodwood Festival of Speed, but the Aston Martin Valkyrie driven by Adrian Newey stood out because it showed the dirt and grime of an important car that’s driven rather than trailered everywhere. ClutchAbuse told a similar story:
Around 20 years ago I was filling up and a Viper pulled up on the opposite side of the pump. It was filthy. He cleaned the windshield and didn’t wipe the dirty water dripping down onto the car kinda filthy.
I made some comment about it being the dirtiest Viper I’d ever seen and he said something to the effect of “I’m too busy driving it to care”.
I know a Viper isn’t an ultra rare super car, but it was great to see one just being used and enjoyed regularly.
As did Al Camino:
After a pretty good snowstorm in Chicago, I saw a red Ferrari 308 in a downtown parking lot that was covered in snow and salt streaks with ice crusted behind the wheel wells.
So did Nicholas Bianski:
About a month ago when I was returning from the airport with my girlfriend, I got to drive alongside an incredibly dirty Murcielago for a few minutes. It was an absolute joy to see it wasn’t some garage queen.
Part of it is seeing these awesome cars being used as cars, but also seeing that their owners are having a ton of fun. Earlier today, Jason asked you to identify a car that was mostly hiding under a cover. Admittedly, I cheated and reverse image searched the wheels, coming up with the answer based on a blurry 100 by 100 thumbnail.
The real cuteness comes from Angrycat Meowmeow:
I remember taking my son for a walk, maybe 7 or 8 years old ,and he correctly identified a Mustang under a cover. That’s when I knew I had spawned a tiny Autopian.
Finally, we land at the Morning Dump, where the headlining story was about the two states where EVs might be more expensive than gas cars. Something I’ve noticed is that a lot of folks really love the Volkswagen e-Golf. It’s a minivan makes a good case:
Did the math for our second car (that we use exclusively city). Compared a used e-golf with a used gti, equivalently equipped. Given that this is used only in the city, performance is about the same. Would be different if I spent all day on the autobahn, but instead I live 3 miles from the center of the city.
Upfront cost: about the same.
Gas: e-golf wwwwaaaayyyy cheaper. I charge at home for basically free (10c/kwh) vs premium fuel.
Maintenance: lol e-golf cheaper
Depreciation to 10 years old: used e-golf: $0 terminal value. GTI? $0 terminal value.Non-financial costs?
Convenience: e-golf (again, city car, more than enough range so no gas station ever)
Guilt-free flooring it? e-golf (I’m too cheap for a car that runs premium fuel)
Environmental externalities (I’m allowed to care): e-golf
Smuggness: e-golfFor me it was a no-brainer.
Have a great evening, everyone!
Was driving through my neighbourhood on a snowy january day and was passed by a Lamborghini Murcielago, slip sliding along in traffic. What a sight!
My dad taught me a long time ago that cars are meant to be driven. For example, I fondly remember him using his ’31 ford panel delivery hotrod as a work truck all the time, it constantly had sawdust and tools rolling around the back from the last kitchen install, and now that we’ve finished his cobra he has been regularly driving it therough the massive clouds of mosquitos on the 30 mile commute to his job. The car’s only been on the road for four months and it’s got more rock chips than you can shake a stick at. The best part for him though is that all of the local parents know that they can knock on the door and he’s more than happy to take the neighbor kids for a roar around the block. So many little kids excited about a loud handmade car can only make the world better right.
The e-Golf is legit! My neighbor 2 doors down was asking about mine yesterday, so it seems like there’s another coming to my block soon!
Many, many years ago when I was a teenager, there was a guy who would randomly show up at the craft store I worked at during high school. The guy would always come in and buy stuff like balloons, streamers, and double-sided tape. One day he asked if I was curious what he needed all of this stuff for, which I admitted I was. He asked me to help carry out some of the stuff he bought to his car – a 308 GTS with the targa removed. He said he bought the car to enjoy during his retirement, so he drove it daily, and would visit sick kids at the local hospitals every day. On the days the kids got well enough to go home, he would let the kids sit in his Ferrari and pretend to be a hero (like Magnum P.I., specifically). When there were especially sick kids who were getting released, he would tape balloons and streamers down the hospital hallway and then sit there in his car to give the kids a quick (and slow) ride from the entrance to their parent’s car in the parking lot. He was certainly an eccentric old man, but the older I get, the more I think that old man understood things in life better than most – and certainly better than I did then or now.
“Smuggness: e-golf”
Never underestimate the value of smugness.
My second year of college my friends and I saved up our money and bought tickets to the Pebble Beach Car show. After sleeping in our car on the side of highway 99, we got up at 6am-ish, then stopped for coffee and food at this run down cafe in a roadside strip mall. When leaving, we see this disheveled hungover looking guy unloading laundry from his car trunk, a foam convenience mart coffee cup resting on the roof….
He was unloading laundry from the trunk of an Iso-Grifo.
One of my favorite cars of all time. A car I had never seen in person before. To this day he is a personal hero and I dream of living his life.
That guy’s a hero.
I try and be like that with my Datsun fresh out of resto. It’s too fun to keep in the garage, she sees some miles despite the fact she obliterated my savings.