Any car people out here?

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kensuguro
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Any car people out here?

Post by kensuguro »

I'm not a car person. I don't particularly hate cars, but I have like zero attachment to cars. It's probably because my first car was a Rover Mini Kensington, that was just put under my care by my uncle. He didn't give it to me, he just wanted me to keep it "current" (inspections and such) and in working condition, and in return, I could freely use it. I already had my license, and so I was like cool, a free car. Well, little did I know that a classic, air cooled, vintage Mini Kensington would be like courting an insane person. Every inspection would result in massive repairs. Missing parts couldn't really be bought because there are none being produced. Second hand parts had to be hunted down, and even if acquired, they were still used and vintage. The car itself drove like a gokart. No power steering, no power anything, barely any AC, and a top speed that was more like a motorcycle. But I didn't really care, I was already very much non-car person. I thought driving the Mini was funny because it was so similar to a cartoon car. So I drove it around for some 5-6 years, and took very good care of it. Eventually I had to ask the mechanic to put it in "storage" mode, because the transmission was about to break, and if it did, the car would not be able to reverse anymore.

So with that experience, what I expect from a car.. MY car, is pretty minimal. If it's not air cooled, that's a huge plus. (so that's 99.9% of all cars) Having hydrolic assisted steering is a plus. (that's 99.9% of all cars) And power windows, and a nominally functioning climate control would be nice, but maybe not a necessity. Anything beyond that I see as a blessing, or luxury. So I think it can be said that I'm very easy to please when it comes to cars. I pretty much just needs to be a contemporary car, and it will exceed my expectations. Over the years though, with my uncle's explanations, I've come to appreciate the Mini Kensington experience more. That was about as "real" as cars get. It wasn't fast, but it was about feeling the surface of the road through the steering wheel vibrations. Driving that thing was all about the road surface, and feeling it, sensing it, and reacting to it. It was a crappy go-kart style road car, but the sensations driving it was much closer to driving a race car on the tracks.

Today was apparently "classic car day" in Jersey City. I went to see what the commotion was all about, and saw some classic Mustangs laid out. I was like, well, yeah they look nice and well maintained. But as I got closer, and started to see the details, or as the car in its entirety started to speak to me.. I was enchanted by these cars. I can't explain the feeling, it was kind of magical. I was just drawn in, sucked in, even.
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I saw a blue Chevrolet convertible. It was big, and its form was, maybe not provocative, but it was loud, boisterous, and assertive. And I thought, yeah, that's sort of a typical "classic car" kind of attitude... until I peeked into the driver's side, and saw the Impala logo... I was like, the Impala? The only Impala I knew were the contemporary ones that look like a cross between a Camry and nothingness. The modern Impala was a nobody... but here I'm seeing a beautiful, sexy Impala that could assert its presence from across the street. What happened? Did someone decide that it's a bad thing to make cars look cool? Do people overtly hate awesome cars now? And prefer boring, tasteless, flavorless, McFastfood McNugget, unmemorable, no-identity, no-face cars? Did we lose the technical skills to produce beautiful designs? I just couldn't understand.
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John Wick's car was sexy as hell. Why don't cars look like this any more? I mean, these weren't one of a kind art pieces right. These were mass produced products. How can the know how of how to make these beautiful objects just fade out over time? So I'm asking around to see if anyone can tell me why cars went from super awesome, to super suck. I don't give an anything for contemporary cars because that's what they are, they are nothing. They completely suck. I think even the contemporary Mustangs are of a different DNA compared to the classic beasts. But if cars looked like these funky Mustangs, I WOULD totally care about cars. How could anyone not? That's the problem, the classics were beasts. Wild, little bit crazy machines. Contemporary cars are genetically mutated house pets that only give prozac infused, xanax sedated sensations that have no definition or meaning.

And I get these classics are still in circulation, but WHY aren't we making MORE of them? These are obviously more valuable and more MEANINGFUL than boring no-face filler cars. What the HELL happened? It CAN'T have been the Japanese imports... yes, they are terrible, and they lack any meaning and character... but they're also just terrible cars, no? I mean, LOOK at this! The world deserves more beauty like this!
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valis
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Re: Any car people out here?

Post by valis »

I had a 1970 Mustang with a 302 (like your 2nd pic but blue and the lights are slightly different on a 70, that's a 69) and a 1967 coupe with a hi-po 289. I do dearly miss those cars, they're incredibly easy to work on and very rewarding. It's what I did when I was a teenager. I used to say as an adult I'm not sure I'd have the time, but since I've taken the last 2 years off doing much in the way of major musical adventures, it's clear now where my time has gone. I would love to have one again...someday =]

Unfortunately no modern car can be made like that, at least not in production runs large enough to be street legal, crash tested & visible to the general public. The small botique makers out there that DO follow suit in things like this are either aftermarket companies remaking a vehicle for the performance market, or you start to enter in to supercar realms. Legislation & Technology have made the rest something that can be done (car kits and the like) but how legal it is to drive will vary depending on where you live. Large areas of Montana are still fine last I checked, but not WA/OR/Cali where I tend to live.
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garyb
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Re: Any car people out here?

Post by garyb »

yeah, i used to build Mustangs, and others. i had a 65 coupe, my neighbor a 67 fastback highly modified...

why? convenience, standardization, corporate stupidity, lawsuits, and legislation. you might as well ask why all the instruments have become homogeneous, or why truly great music is so hard to find anymore...you might as well ask why kids don't play in the street, or how my generation survived without helmets and people keeping us off of monkey bars.

what is beautiful about humans has been suppressed to keep us from hurting ourselves. personally, i don't need that protection, but obviously there are plenty who desire it.
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valis
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Re: Any car people out here?

Post by valis »

No pain, no gain? Certainly pain has to be faced and not avoided if one is to grow, but we also know that mistakes are less about growth in the modern social world than they are a means to slot you into your (limited) place, IF we accept compliance.

If I do ever get a mustang again I’ll be sure to bring it over Gary =]
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Re: Any car people out here?

Post by garyb »

right.
dawman
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Re: Any car people out here?

Post by dawman »

Rejection is also being avoided.
Losing out on an audition made me practice harder, getting smoked by headliners keyboard players made me practice.
Hard to find demanding teachers these days. They all seem to use psychology and dealing with behavior, then comes the discipline of learning.
Interesting times.
But speaking of cars....

Ken, I’m sure you know this car.
It’s a 1989 Skyline from Japan with 16,000 miles on it.
My son had to have it.
Steering wheel is on the right side of the vehicle.
Guess he thinks he’s James Fucking Bond.
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kensuguro
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Re: Any car people out here?

Post by kensuguro »

Haha, yeah, the Skyline is a classic... still is. But I heard the "impossible to own" ones are the ones fetching premiums in the US, like the R34. I don't know what the R34 is, but I just know that's a model that was only legally imported in super limited quantity. I think the Skyline's history is also very interesting.. they weren't even Nissan originally, they were made by Prince, which was later merged in to Nissan. So Skyline is not genetically related to Nissan at all. It's its own species. I don't like how the skyline looks, but can appreciate how everything about it had a common theme. Everything about the car proclaimed it was a racing car, that it was all about performance, and it was a car that loved people who loved cars. Clearly, it wasn't addressing me, but I respect very much how the product was put together.

For the aesthetic devolving of cars.. I understand the compliance pressures and other legal pressures. Those types of evolutionary forces seem like they would affect the performance specs of the car, less so the visual aesthetics. That's why I feel frustrated that the aesthetics have devolved into an average of everything. Well, comparing to human faces though, maybe the averaging out, or thinning out means the design DNA has become more diverse and cosmopolitan... which I guess in itself isn't a bad thing... but the result is so... boring. I think for visual aesthetics, if the result is dead, inert, bland, and devoid of all defining characteristics, all is for naught. The evolution has failed, and that bloodline should end.

I checked out the Mustang history to educate myself about how the form changed over time. I see that the fastback is the shape that I like the most, the 1967 one in particular. Not that the other variants are bad, just doesn't quite hit the nail on the head. From a high level though, I think it's about the statement. Not just the old Mustangs, but there was a generation of cars that made clear, notable, bold statements. That's what I think is respectable and admirable. AND those cars looked sexy as heck. Of course, every industry / genre has ups and downs in terms of creative juices running wild vs constricted, creative integrity utterly compromised and violated, and buried in a grave. I just wonder, if all creative industries were on an upswing, or if there was cooperation and collusion to maintain the upswing.. would car designs become awesome again? I think multiple disciplines affecting each other is historically a very real thing.

It's ironic that in the age of 3D printing and other fabrication advancements, we've effed the source. If we can't even imagine beautiful forms, or if we do not possess the creative workflow to bring these far out ideas to reality, then any amount of fabrication isn't going to help. That's not where the bottleneck is. Fabulous things aren't being made not because we don't have the finger dexterity to fabricate them. The bottleneck is the creative process killing itself, or business / marketing coming in and smashing it to death. I'd like to see a 3D printer fix that.
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astroman
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Re: Any car people out here?

Post by astroman »

I remember the 1st time I spotted a 57 Corvette... man, that thing is HUGE :o
(they always look so cute on photographs) :D
We have no speed limit in Germany on highways, but inner city roads are often small and overcrowded, it would be some challenge to drive classic 'US size' vehicles here.
I'm totally into those cars, never would buy a modern one with all this electronic stuff. (not a driver atm, though)
My first car was a small BMW 1602, advertized under the slogan '...for the sake of enjoying the ride'.
Later switched to the big BMW limousines, which were cheap buys - noone wanted them for their gas thirst.
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Re: Any car people out here?

Post by Nestor »

With some of my cousins when I was a teenager, we had a Ford T 1929, it was so cool, the only problem we had was to decide who would drive this time... :lol: we all wanted, it looked something like this:

[img]https://i.ytimg.com/vi/QVOY7TCDA5w/maxresdefault.jpg[img/]
*MUSIC* The most Powerful Language in the world! *INDEED*
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Re: Any car people out here?

Post by Nestor »

I don't have a car now, but I have always been a fun of the Range Rover, particularly the 1995, I had the chance to drive it for a short trip and I felt completely in love, it is my preferred car ever, I know it is not that pretty in terms of appearances, but this is for me the one that matches my exact expectations, I like to get into nature, not to do crazy things, just into nature:

Image
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dante
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Re: Any car people out here?

Post by dante »

Stretch Limo we saw outside Rockerfeller building. Fuck its high up there.
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kensuguro
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Re: Any car people out here?

Post by kensuguro »

Rock center? You're in NYC Dante? Where you staying and for how long?
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Re: Any car people out here?

Post by dante »

@Ken - was there 3 nights only - I posted that just after we got back. I've raised a separate post about it w/ more pics and a cover tune. That's right your a resident, so I should have caught up with you - a missed opportunity ! Maybe you coulda directed us how to get a buggy ride in Central Park (we stuffed that one up w/ a non English speaking Uber driver).

Have you written/mixed or produced anything for Broadway ? If we were there a longer we would have gone a Broadway show every night.
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