Gratitude
Isn’t it nice to be able to stand back and admire an inanimate chunk of metal? It has always fascinated me how these pressed pieces of metal can evoke certain emotions in us.
How we can nerd out or loose it over a particular set of wheels or a certain arrangement of items…
Why is it that certain parts, stickers, colour combos or engine sounds can give us so much joy. I often feel lucky, or maybe unlucky for getting such a satisfaction out of seeing a good chunk of metal and plastic and fibreglass assembled in such a way that makes you stand back, smile and admire. Its almost like a sickness.
To someone completely outside of the sickness, it must seem completely strange, one who merely looks upon the automobile as a mode of transport, a tool, nothing more nothing less… These people truly think we are nuts.
For example how good a set of Kouki tails look in in an evening loosing sunlight and how someone could prefer these or the Zenki…. These crazy little opinions and options that exist. Why is that? Everyone has something that makes them tick and for probably most of you reading this one of the big ones is the Automobile.
For as long as I can remember I’ve been excited about anything that has wheels and when we fast forward to 28 years later , here I am, standing back shooting some snaps and admiring a well put together 180sx (with the wheel upside down) on a warm sunny evening and right at that moment its exactly where I want to be.
Like many, I have to laugh at the pleasure we get from this stuff, from dodgy nineties graduation seats, the combination of the odd bride and standard seat combo. The OEM aero Nissan offered which is completely timeless… The fact they even offered it…
Like many of you, this passion has brought me to such amazing places in the world has allowed me to cross paths with some of the most interesting humans I have ever encountered accompanied by some of the best times I’ve ever had in my life and yet I never get tired of it. Its no passing phase.
It helps to fill in those blanks in life. We could be out till 2 am and while others are in watching TV or similar. We could be aimlessly driving around and parking up, talking shit and enjoying each others company, endlessly spending our hard earned cash on the things we love.
We could be standing on a dark street junction with our senses at an all time high, the smell, the sounds, the rush of adrenaline as we watch in anticipation for chunks of metal which will scream towards us under soggy dim sodium lights.
These cars take us to unusual incredibly satisfying places. I feel we do take a lot of this for granted. We are blessed with the timing in our lives to have these vehicles to enjoy. A true magical golden period which like everything some day will fade away.
For the fortunate humans who have been infected by this passion for the automobile, we have it good, sure you throw everything at it, time money everything but its those memories you get from this stuff you cant put a price on, the friends you made along the way and that unusual attraction you have with these shaped pieces of metal, plastic glass and rubber.
This stuff we love will eventually be as rare as those old muscle cars and old beetles and MK2 escorts and similar. Slowly but surely this stuff will start to disappear. For the die hards who stick around we will be those old weirdos driving around in Civics and Silvias thirty years from now. Live in the now and enjoy everything thats around you, as Irish people we tend to complain and never really take ourselves out of the frame to look back at all this good stuff we have, there are countries that can only dream of the stuff we can get up to.
Enjoy it while its still somewhat cheap and somewhat plentiful.
There really isn’t a better than now time to enjoy what you love.