Red Wings Have A Good Logo.
Among the numerous ways that the world can be split into two groups of people, a clear divider is cars. There are car people. And there are those who just as clearly aren’t.
Soon after high school, a large number of my friends became car people. And I became a car people by default. Danny and Rusty took me to an autocross event. Kent sold me his Sentra SE-R. My dad bought a Triumph Spitfire and an ancient Prelude convertible. Cars I grew to like.
Detroit has two things. Motown and The Big Three automakers.
Detroit had two things. One has been reduced to Erykah Badu. The other was eaten by imports. I’m ok with both. I’m a white farm kid. We drove Honda Accords and beater American-made pick-ups only because Honda didn’t yet make a truck.
I do respect movements to retain American labor. But we’ve long failed at making not mind-bogglingly stupid vehicles.
Saturday was my first and last visit to the North American International Auto Show.
It was grey and cool and rainy. From Toledo to Detroit is dirty. Smokestacks, abandoned warehouses, weeds, methane burners, Wendy’s litter. It literally smelled bad. Detroit itself doesn’t do any better. Wan, faded, sad. That town is ugly.
I’m glad I went. Not because the show was good, because it wasn’t. But because now I know. I came, I saw, I puked.
There is something stultifying about seeing too many of something. When something is rare too be seen, it is good too look upon. Zoo animals are only cool cause we don’t ever see them. To the right person kitties and pigs are probably just as interesting.
To see four hundred shiny new brilliantly lit and prominently displaced cars was mind-numbing. To see a Gallardo on the freeway is neat-o. To see a Gallardo next to a Bently next to a Rolls next to a Ferrari is boring.
On top of that there were hundreds of cars I couldn’t give a hot damn about. Minivans and over-sized trucks and concept cars. Yes, concept cars are awful. Art for art’s sake. The shark has been jumped. Start building better cars, not designer’s wet dreams. This wheel makes no sense:
The coolest car there was an aging Volvo with it’s original engine and turbo. It was the first in America recognized as a 1,000,000,000 mile car. Pretty girls braying about the Camero’s MPG rating is not nearly as enthralling.
Soon after high school, a large number of my friends became car people. And I became a car people by default. Danny and Rusty took me to an autocross event. Kent sold me his Sentra SE-R. My dad bought a Triumph Spitfire and an ancient Prelude convertible. Cars I grew to like.
Detroit has two things. Motown and The Big Three automakers.
Detroit had two things. One has been reduced to Erykah Badu. The other was eaten by imports. I’m ok with both. I’m a white farm kid. We drove Honda Accords and beater American-made pick-ups only because Honda didn’t yet make a truck.
I do respect movements to retain American labor. But we’ve long failed at making not mind-bogglingly stupid vehicles.
Saturday was my first and last visit to the North American International Auto Show.
It was grey and cool and rainy. From Toledo to Detroit is dirty. Smokestacks, abandoned warehouses, weeds, methane burners, Wendy’s litter. It literally smelled bad. Detroit itself doesn’t do any better. Wan, faded, sad. That town is ugly.
I’m glad I went. Not because the show was good, because it wasn’t. But because now I know. I came, I saw, I puked.There is something stultifying about seeing too many of something. When something is rare too be seen, it is good too look upon. Zoo animals are only cool cause we don’t ever see them. To the right person kitties and pigs are probably just as interesting.
To see four hundred shiny new brilliantly lit and prominently displaced cars was mind-numbing. To see a Gallardo on the freeway is neat-o. To see a Gallardo next to a Bently next to a Rolls next to a Ferrari is boring.
On top of that there were hundreds of cars I couldn’t give a hot damn about. Minivans and over-sized trucks and concept cars. Yes, concept cars are awful. Art for art’s sake. The shark has been jumped. Start building better cars, not designer’s wet dreams. This wheel makes no sense:
The coolest car there was an aging Volvo with it’s original engine and turbo. It was the first in America recognized as a 1,000,000,000 mile car. Pretty girls braying about the Camero’s MPG rating is not nearly as enthralling.
posted by Lord of the Barnyard at 1:33 PM
9 Comments:
Toledo is the bastard stepchild of Detroit. I'm glad to have lived there because I know that I will probably never live in a worse place for the rest of my entire life.
I'm a big fan of the conversion vans at the auto shows. Don't know why, but I love the idea of huge comfy seats, apolstered ceilings, and a little TV in the back (before the car dvd craze).
Maybe it's that small fraction of my soul that wishes I were around in the '70's to own such a wonderful machine.
Never been to Detroit, but it doesn't sound like a place I'd confuse with epcot center.
A volvo with a billion miles. I don't believe it, or you made a type-o.
And that's a rear end of a Saab.
i am awesome. it is very clearly a saab ass end. whoops.
but even though the plate says one million miles, a guy told me, it was a billion. so there.
Lotb:
I love this post. My dad is a car guy, and I've been to car shows my whole life, and I can totally understand the feeling of walking into an arena and smelling so much leather and metal. AND I am in 100% agreement that concept cars are weird.
I love the idea of a one billion mile Volvo. Probably not good for the environment, though. N'est pas?
Here's a link to the one million mile Saab. It was a guy who lived close to where I grew up in Milwaukee.
http://www.jsonline.com/story/index.aspx?id=538098
Being from Detroit but now living in rural Ohio, I can totally see where you're coming from. Every time I have to go back, I saw ...man...I don't miss this AT ALL! I'd have to agree about the auto show, and with almost everything you said in general. The only thing I would say differntly is that the "downtown" area of Detroit, where the Autoshow is held is actually pretty nice (in comparision with the surrounding area) There are alot of cool things to do downtown, especially when the weather is nicer. There is Greektown(awesome food) Detroit Institute of Arts and the Science Center, 3 Casinos, Joe Louis Arena, Comerica Park and Ford Field, the Fox Theather, Hockeytown Cafe and the Hard Rock Cafe.
PS.
The area you drove through that stunk to high heaven is not actually Detroit but a city on it's outskirts called River Rouge which does in fact, smell like ass. That is all :)
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