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Sunday, August 1, 2010

The New Chargers, Challengers, Mustangs and Camaros

In a word: yawn

I'm sorry, but there's nothing amazing or impressive about them. They all look alike.  They scream "I am trying to be like every other guy with the same car".  Even the colors are too common.  I can't drive five miles without passing six red Mustangs, six orange Challengers, or six black Camaros.  Bo-ring!

I am 46 years old.  I can remember when people in America relished the idea of being different.  Being unique. Expressing individuality.  Those days are DEAD.  Every guy in his 20's has the same tired barbed wire tattoo.  The same hair cut.  The same piercings and gauging of the ears.  The same everything.  It's worn out!  Tatoos used to mean something.  They used to spark a tiny sense of danger and interest in those that saw them, because they were UN-common.  Now they simply mean the person had $300 and some time to spare.  Period.  The same is now true for cars.

In the 1970's and 1980's every neighborhood had at least two guys that would tear-down and rebuild muscle cars.  They'd put their own unique touch on it.  From the engine to the drive train, the interior and most definitely the paint job.  That is a vanishing art.  The new trend is buying it off the showroom floor.  Factory stamped "custom" crap that feeds an apetite like a plate of hot wings at Hooters.

I saw a Lotus Elise pass me in Town Center, Virginia Beach.  Not the most powerful or fastest car, but damn if it's not sexy looking.  Tangerine orange too.  Not utility truck orange like Dodge uses.  And no stupid-ass black "racing" stripe either.  Just a sweet looking car, and an un-common car at that.  And what really hit me was watching how even the most car-ignorant passers-by reacted to the sight of it by the curb.  Women in particular were just blown away.  I have NEVER seen reactions like that for even a mint '62 Corvette.

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