Tag: GT

Of Cars and Men

therightliberal2 Comments

I drove around 300 miles today and they were some excellent ones.

I took my parents on an Easter excursion to see some great wildflowers up near Los Olivos, CA. The drive from Ojai to there was magnificent, something to really enjoy.

The roads are in great condition and the weather was beautiful, and it didn’t hurt that my mother allowed me to actually drive fast today.

To many, the car I was driving is not one to go fast in, and I would agree. I was driving a 2008 Toyota Camry Hybrid, a car that has taken me many places, a car that already has over 120k miles on it. But if I try hard enough I can get it going and it actually handles pretty well.

I love cars, so much so that some may describe it as a problem. And on my drive today, every time I saw a car, I tried to think of its personality and what kind of person it matched. This doesn’t mean what person was driving, just, if it were a person, what person would it be?

I see a BMW 550i and imminently think of a pompous and obnoxious businessman. I see a small Toyota Yaris and think of a poor college student who is broke. I saw an Escalade smashed into a pole and thought of Mitt Romney.

But the gem of the day was seeing a BEAUTIFUL Ferrari 308 GTS cruising over HWY 154. Such a wonderful and fantastic car. I can’t help but get shivers when I actually see one driving.

I mean sure, I saw new M5s and 911 Turbos but they just have no class when it comes to a 308.

I am not a fan of older cars, I usually think they are slow and not really that good looking, but when you see a car that looks that good with a Ferrari badge on it, you have to respect it.

This is a video of the road (Figueroa Mtn. Road) I was on, although I was going a tiny bit quicker.

Bailout

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I try to stick to writing about politics but sometimes I just feel like there is something else that needs to be talked about which requires me making a pathetically weak connection.

I wanted to talk about cars so I thought, well there has been a lot of criticism aimed at politicians regarding their bailout of the motor industry. And personally, I feel that the complaints are not warranted, and here is why.

Despite the many complaints, we do in fact manufacture much in America. And one of our largest enterprises are cars. So why should we just let the car industry fail when it is so pivotal for our country.

“Oh well that’s not part of capitalism!” You are wrong. Capitalism requires doing what needs to be done to keep your market afloat, and that’s what we did.

But more importantly, look what we have created! We are currently experiencing a renaissance of the American (muscle) car.

ford shelby 500

We have the Chevy Camaro ZL1, Ford Mustang GT500 (and its other variations) and the Corvette (which is getting better and better).

Ford’s whole range of city cars like the Focus, Fusion and Fiesta are all great cars and the Chevy Cruze and Malibu are good too.

Sure we aren’t Italy; producing Ferrari’s, Lamborghini’s, Maserati’s or Alfa Romeo’s. But that has never been what we aim for.

I don’t like many American cars because I like going around corners as much or more as going very fast in a straight line. But we really are getting into the market with cars like the Focus that are perfect little rally racers.

Would I rather drive a Lotus than a Ford? Yes. Would I rather drive a 620 GT than a Camaro? I would imagine so. But are we doing good things in our car industry? Yes.

The next step for the American car industry is getting into the dream market AKA the super car market.

The Ford GT is the last super car we made and it was fantastic. We don’t really have a company here that makes super cars but with our reemerging industry one may emerge.

For now we can be happy with having Hennessy and the other great tuners of the Red, White and Blue.

America has had a long love affair with cars and we must work to continue that and build upon what we have. This is not a plea to buy American because I’m not a person who would. But if you fancy an American car don’t be ashamed, be proud.