Are we car nuts an endangered species? With autonomous vehicles gathering on the horizon, talk of millenials
killing the motor industry and the daily evidence most drivers care more about social status than what their car is like to drive I do sometimes worry.
More on this to follow soon...
Salvation can be found though, and sometimes in the least expected of places. Like the rain-lashed car park of Halfords Huddersfield last Saturday morning, for instance. I'd popped along to discuss head unit options for my newly purchased but seemingly
homesick Forester, the nav still thinking it's living in downtown Yokohama. Sitting in the car with Halfords man Sebastian, rain hammering on the roof as we discussed options, the conversation drifted into the cars he'd owned himself, from a number of Golfs to the little EK4 Civic runabout (on steelies - cool!) parked round the back of the shop. Turns out my near-neighbour with the super cool and pristine Subaru Justy I spotted recently also works there. These are young lads with a passion for cars and willingness to channel all available funds into the habit - all power to them.
Then, as I left, I clocked an orange Focus ST shivering under a 'We Fit' gazebo woefully inadequate for a December day in West Yorkshire. The bonnet was up as one of the Halfords guys grappled with the headlight unit, the owner kindly holding a brolly over him as he did so. Clear enough from the colour coded ducting and other bits and bobs under the bonnet it wasn't standard so I popped over for a chat. And there we were, three total strangers, standing in the rain in a car park, excitedly talking boost pressure, limited-slip differentials and an obsession for obscure Japanese special editions.
In a garage with a V8 Vantage and a Range Rover
The owner cheerfully referred to his Ford as his ASBO Focus, this being the 300-odd horsepower runaround/wife's car to accompany his V8 Vantage and supercharged Range Rover. We talked BMW M4s, his neighbour having owned one, not liked it and chopped it in for a Ferrari 360. It was an utterly miserable day, I was supposed to be doing the Christmas shopping and I was likely headed for a right ticking off once home. But the common bond of being a bit daft about cars was enough to distract us all for an entertaining few minutes of chat.
This, translated to the online world, is of course what we love about this place too. Pondering a strapline like 'PistonHeads - the internet equivalent of a rainy car park in Huddersfield' perhaps reveals why I don't work in marketing. But wherever we bump into each other it's nice to know the reported death of the car nut is an exaggeration.
See you all at Sunday Service!
Dan
Photos: Dan, Sim Mainey, Michael Ward
[Sources: Goodwood Road & Racing,Twainquotes.com]
