Detroit car culture is the greatest car culture on earth, and I say that as someone who has seen car culture all around the world. Rural Australia’s car culture might come close, and obviously I’m going to keep an open mind about LA’s car culture when I move there, but there really is no place like the Motor City (or, more accurately, the Motor Suburb). Proof is in the pudding.
One gentleman who attended this show, which I announced only a day before, towed an Airstream — a freaking Airsteam — to a car show! And, I have to say, I learned that day that campers at car shows is such a clutch move, and something I want to make “a thing” from here on out, because towards the end of the evening, as wind started making standing outside by our cars a bit uncomfortable, we were able to retreat into the soft embrace of that lovely camper:
I also met my former Chrysler engineering colleague Jack, who owns the most beautiful, most tastefully modified FD Mazda RX-7 I’ve ever seen.
Speaking of Jack, there’s this high-schooler named Jack who normally shows up in his Miata, but this time came with his dad in a yellow Mach-E. Jack once came to me during one of these events with a shocked look on his face; “Hey, David, one of the pizzas…it…” “It’s okay, I patted him on the back. Out with it!” “Well, it was blown off your tailgate by the wind. It landed face-down.” “Which one?” I responded. He walked me over to my truck, where we saw the pizza being rabidly consumed by Autopians. Our eyes grew large, we looked at each other. “This secret stays between you and me” I told him. Jack, shown in the photo below, has kept his promise for many months, but now there’s no longer a promise to keep. I hereby release you of this burden, young Jack; there are no more secrets. You are free. (Also, sorry to anyone who ate a piece of asphalt that night).
Anyway, that pizza story is just to say that Jack is awesome, and his Miata is great, even if it did blow its clutch slave cylinder on the way back from the last gathering. Speaking of awesome, the owner of the most perfect Porsche 928 was REPRESENTING:
There was a Little Tikes Smart parked behind a Lamborghini Gallardo parked next to the best Triumph TR7 ever.
The TR7 owner, Joe, was blasting tunes over his Eight-Track player using an amazing aux-to-cassette adapter plugged into a cassette-to-8-track adapter. Check it out:
A post shared by The Autopian (@theautopian) Ford was well-represented, not just car-wise, but engineer-wise. Lots of engineers show up to these Walmart gatherings; the Ti-89 count in that parking lot goes up fiftyfold when we have Autopian meetups. I think, with the combined power of the enginerds in that Walmart parking lot during those two or three hours, we could have designed and built at the very least a decent golf cart. Maybe even a forklift.
This Subaru next to a Polestar next to a lifted Pontiac Firebird Gambler 500 car is exactly what being an Autopian is all about:
We should probably talk about this Yugo, because it is the most perfect Yugo on earth, I’m convinced.
Look at this beautiful brown interior! It was in mint condition, and the vehicle itself had fewer than 100,000 miles on the odometer. Apparently its clutch had gone out in the 1980s, and, though it was later replaced, the car was hardly driven thereafter:
You know what, though? I have to say that, among the cars that I enjoyed seeing there most was this bone-stock Honda CR-V. It’s just an automatic, all-wheel drive CR-V, but it’s basically completely rust free, the paint is in great shape, and the owner, Dr. Buford, digs it (as he should!).
There’s also a Honda Element owner who regularly shows up to these meetups; he even reconditioned his plastic trim ahead of the last meetup just so the thing would look good. I love that.
My new MGB starter arrived today, so I can get it fixed and out a few more times before the winter slumber for that too.
It’s always a great bunch of people and cars and I enjoy the conversation and stories that everyone has. I hope they continue, even after DT heads out to LA.
I once took a 1000+ mile road trip in my buddy’s 90’s CRV during which my friends and I compiled a comprehensive list of everything that sucked about it. It was a long list! But at least it’s interesting.
A near-perfect ’48 Roadmaster, second owner, 14K on the clock A DeTomaso Pantera A TR-7 convertible with factory plaid upholstery A museum-quality ’30 Packard Phaeton with a hood ornament that looked like a child on a water slide A very well-sorted Corvair A ’64 Riviera in some kind of salmon pinkish color I’ve never seen, really lovely, on one of the prettiest cars of its era
Overall, just high-quality stuff, even when it was the predictable fare. A good Sunday morning.
That gentleman might own one, but the picture is a 2nd generation CR-V.
Still, loved the report 🙂
Did you just start a thing?
There has got to be someone with enough space and another someone with a trailer and another someone with a vehicle who can pull the trailer and sweet sweet Optima Battery banners to sponsor the year long build of a vehicle at the Walmart parking lot?????????
The correct answer here is clearly a cassette-to-8-track adapter plugged into a headphone-jack-to-cassette adapter plugged into a portable CD player
