Wow, what a year. We've been super busy and we know you have too. It's hard to say that our automotive season would have such a high note. Sure, there are some more events coming in, but on the whole they'll start to wind down and this event signifies that last, just like it signified the first. Cars will start to go into hibernation while others will go into heated storage. Regardless, we have this Bass Pro event to remind us of how great it was and how much better next year will be. We hope you enjoy the coverage and hope you keep coming back for more. We certainly will.
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I was thinking about rights and why some groups, namely gun owners, fought so hard for their rights while internet users, car guys, they all would quickly give up rights or think they deserved to be legislated away. “If it wasn’t for those damn kids,” right? I was listening to a speech from Jordan Peterson and he said you need to understand responsibility. I got to thinking. Sure many people understand their right to free speech, but do they understand their responsibility to free speech? Their responsibility to defend it? This is something that gun owners know all too well. If you own a firearm you have a responsibility to clean it, operate it safely, store it, and so the thought of responsibility to protect that right just comes natural. “No one is going to come save you” I hear my friend say constantly. And he’s right! This is why we have an NRA and every time some new gun legislation comes up your news feed is filled with people scorning and shaming it. They think, “I’m responsible, I don’t deserve to be punished.” That’s when it hit me. If you’re a car guy you see what you do as a privilege. It’s the same as a master saying, “yes, you can do that on the plantation.” So when you break the rules or do something seen culturally unacceptable the masses split and some scream for laws. Because you don’t feel you have a responsibility to the rights you possess! You may even feel you don’t have any! You defend the plantation owner’s position. “All you needed to do is fall in line and the beatings wouldn’t happen.” It baffles me. Aligning with a law only happens vaguely in the gun community. For the most part if you said you would ban something the gun world aligns like a wall and universally condemns any new legislation. Their resolve is astute. It’s their right and their taking their responsibility to defend it, regardless of the gun, the accessory, or position. All guns are good. That’s why I want you to align with your #righttodrive. I want you to take ownership of your community and think any car as a good car (even if it is a Hi-Point! 🤣👍🏻). I want you to think our community and the laws that choke it are our responsibility to defend and let’s change our thinking to be better people so our kids can own this passion just as much as we have and that, more importantly, we’ll have a legacy to pass on. Let's be responsible for our car wold.  Many people ask why car clubs today suck and all the jealousy and infighting and every event is a crap shoot. Well, today we attack that problem and discuss where it's coming from and we cover all the bases! Few times do we go to a show that feels like car shows used to always feel. That is until I went to the OC Car Show. It's a show you've probably seen in the past and one that I rarely miss. Once again it does the job and finds that perfect balance of cutting edge new and old school hot rods. I hope you enjoy.  Photo by DDouglas Media I was having a conversation with someone. It was about keeping things optimal. The best system, the best event, the best everything. To take the time! The person replied, “we don’t have that luxury.”
Think about that for a second. How many times do we get in such a rhythm, such a rush, that we sell ourselves short? We fail to even try to be the best? It’s, “close enough.” Maybe we say we're too selective or we just go with the first thing that comes along. That's the moment we start to fail. So let’s compare. One guy is a tip top brake mechanic, he shares my vision, and he installs the best brakes and he takes a little more time and costs a smidge more. He knows me perfectly and is aligned with my goals. The next guy was the best I could find on short notice, charges a little less and puts on generic brakes in no time flat. I don't know him too well, but the neighbors say he's good, but I personally don't know him and he isn't in any rush to make friends, he says he'll get the job done. With the first guy I drive for 60,000 miles uninterrupted. The second guy I’m back in a week later with squeaky brakes and they only last 40,000 miles. Doesn't mean he did bad work or that he's a bad person. They both probably followed the instructions, but the first guy took the time. He knows it's important and thinks of my car as "his car." He is aligned with my thinking. Both people are good, but one is creating luxury. Luxury to focus on other stuff. One isn't settling for a good review on his social media, he's focused solely on the task. For him this comes naturally. When I want someone working with me I want them to not just follow instructions, but share my vision. People who share your vision don't need constant instruction, they know what you want because you both want the same thing! When you don’t focus on people who share your vision you could run into a guy that doesn’t even put the brakes on right and that could result in a car crash or worse. Now you’re completely out of luck and telling yourself, maybe I should've taken that second, not settled for second best. I want someone to see my baby as their baby. Whether that be my car, my house, my financial planning, or even my actual baby! Take the time to do it right! Take the time to align with people who are aligned with you and we will make a better world for ourselves.  Picture by Central Mass Photography Today someone asked me to define an Automotive Build.
I thought I’d share my thoughts here: So let’s think of it as the context of artwork. The Mona Lisa would be a thorough build where no stone was unturned. On the other hand Picasso may look chaotic and unappealing it is never-the-less art, complete and accepted. If you “build” a vehicle the aesthetics and quality need to encompass the entire process. What goals are to be made? What’ are the end results? Many vehicles have different directions and concepts they want to achieve, so the end result is casually judged by the public for its palpability and ultimate acceptance or not. If you build a 10 second drag car it needs to go 10 seconds, if you build a show car it needs to win at shows, a cruiser needs to be able to cruise and so on and so forth. The problem I find is each person judges each build upon their own goals and experience and not the goals of the creator. If you judged the Peanuts cartoons against Mona Lisa you may say Peanuts as an inferior venture, but in reality the ultimate goal was to be consumed by the public every Sunday morning. In this ideal it excelled at its goal and may be considered more successful than the Mona Lisa. The same could go for a dirty drag car that has thousands of trophies on the wall, a huge following, but couldn't pull in honorable mention at a car show. We need to consider the goals of the build, how the creator accomplished them, then we can judge a build not just on its ability to reach the goal of general acceptance in the community, but it’s ability to generate more support for the ideology. Otherwise we will be lost in our ability to best determine what a build is or why we even use the word. Much of our confusion stems from the #Instafamous car that has only staying power as long as it's continually shared. These builds tend to burnout and fade away quickly because there's no results to go by. You can post pictures all day, but we are ultimately judged by our results. Did it win trophies or races? We don't know. These flash-in-the-pan builds seem to be the one that many new content creators adhere to as fly-by-night marketers spout the success of sharing their empty builds, but it's truly the passion that people come to see, the person behind the camera, not the varied creations they display. Once the journey is over, the car fire dies out. In comparison many hold the litmus test of a build against the Fast and the Furious original film. These cars were considered over blown 10 second drag cars that could crush on the street but also take home the trophy at the car show. They inspired a generation to purchase Supras, Eclipse and Skylines in droves. They had the purpose of show and go, but the ideology is misplaced and unrealistic which eventually brought negative feeback to future generations that followed the "movie context" of upgrading a vehicle simply for looks when it could not accomplish speed, a staple of movie trickery. This created Fake It Until You Make It builds and the negativity stifled their generation's creativity leaving us with drab basic colors and frustrated car guys unable to find direction or a means to stand out above the competition. Our community simply flat-lined into acceptance when it actually strives for flamboyancy. Still no one can argue that the Fast and the Furious opened up many to the broader automotive world through its success and although its flame burns, it does so now dimly. So at the end of the day judge each according to his own success and ability and redefine the generalized words like “build” to mean something more. Let your success be a goal and the eventual longevity or impact be the determiner. Let it be something that will generate success and drive an ever growing community to become involved in our joint car world so that we can build a better community through a solid goal oriented build instead of continually questioning how much is too much and how much is not enough. A question that at the heart of the original question will sabotage our success. In essence, the community should not be the goal, but the goal will result in a community. |
Allen "Primo" Harris
Allen has contributed to HINCity, prolific writer, exotic car event organizer and current Automotive Marketer tthrough articles and videos. His focus is on helping people in the automotive community improve their results and through this provide a better experience for everyone. Archives
May 2022
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