Re: Packard wins Best of Show at Pebble Beach

Posted by Fyreline On 2013/8/20 16:59:52

I guess I'll have to be in the minority on this issue. While I certainly appreciate an original car (and we all know the mantra, "It's only original once"), I also appreciate expertly-restored full classics such as the Pebble Beach contestants are wont to be. I think of cars like this year's winning Packard, or the Duesenberg Twenty Grand. These vehicles are more art than automobile, and I cannot begrudge their being treated as such. Yes, they are destined to spend their lives in pampered (and largely sequestered) glory, and to many auto enthusiasts that's just wrong. After all, ships may be safest in port, but that's not what ships are for. These aficionados insist that cars must be driven, or they are nothing but giant model kits. Likewise, they should not be "over-restored", although there is plenty of room for disagreement on what constitutes crossing the line. Are the owners of these gilded-lily classics strictly in pursuit of trophies, to inflate their egos and perhaps enhance the value of their cars? Sure, some are . . . But I think it would be painting with much too broad a brush to accuse every owner of a 100-point car of somehow ruining the hobby. Perhaps that word bears repeating; HOBBY. At the Pebble Beach level of competition, is there.any real connection to the "old car hobby", or have these shows transcended the local "show and shine" competitions to the point where the fact that automobiles are even on display is secondary? If that's the case, leave the cars safely home in their hermetically sealed garages and just display your checkbooks. Let that decide the winner.

No, the owners of these regal cars want the cars to be SEEN. Seen, admired, coveted, lusted after. Perhaps their reasons for doing so are best left to the psychologists - but the fact that they DO show them enables mere mortals such as we to see them. And that's worth something, isn't it? The cars may be unrealistic representations of what they were when they were new. They are nicer, cleaner, neater, better finished . . . But are they better? I can see both sides of this issue, but the fact that a few folks with a LOT more money than I have, have chosen to spend it on cars such as these, at least means that I can see both sides of the cars, too. And the front. And the back. And the underside, and yes, you probably couldn't eat off of it from the factory in the 1930's.

But here it stands, in all it's glory. And for whatever reasons, phobias or manias brought it here . . . It sure is beautiful. Thank you for bringing it.