Who is this guy, anyway?

The best car I've ever had.  I miss this one the most. 1988 BMW M3

As a component of my attempts at personal growth and self-promotion, I took it upon myself to establish a personal mission statement.  This required a little retrospection, and turned into this biographical statement about how I got here and how that has shaped my goals as a writer.  So here it is:

A future automotive idealist, taken home from a New Orleans hospital in a silver Volkswagen 411 sedan, my automotive obsession was but a glimmer in my tiny newborn eyes.  A few years later, per my mother’s frequent re-telling of the story, from my car seat in the back of that VW, I was recognizing far off in the distance a car that I knew to be a Mercedes Benz.  Precious, but she pointed out that I couldn’t possibly recognize even the three-pointed star from that distance.  Oh, but I could.  And I had, and it was.  The first treasured moment in the life of a true car geek.

My physician father always appreciated fine engineering, with a penchant for Volkswagens and Audis, graduating from that 411 Fastback through a series of Audis to a very memorable 1987 5000CS Turbo Quattro Avant with a five-speed manual transmission.  My mother spent her teenage years in the great American iron of her high school classmates (including but not limited to a GTO and an Edsel convertible) but her eye was caught by the sports cars of the late 1960s and 1970s.  Her side of the garage reflected that with a 1979 280ZX 2+2 leading the charge that culminated with a 911 Turbo in 1986.  My parents’ automotive tastes fueled the fire of my automotive enthusiasm, and led to a career path I was sure would keep me rooted in the world of the car.

Turns out that a career of selling cars wasn’t quite the answer I was looking for, but it did keep me surrounded by great automobiles.  It afforded me opportunities that I never would have dreamed when I was reading my first car magazines in the late 1970s.  From Audi to Enzo, I’ve driven, ridden in, or at least seen up close and in person many notably significant cars.  My sales career also afforded me a few opportunities to indulge in enthusiast purchases, my Boxster and my E30 M3 standing out as the most memorable.

Somewhere along the line, I found another road to motoring excitement, and it was unpaved.  It was my second Jeep that led me off-road, and the therapeutic value alone was worth the cost of admission.  A few Jeeps and a couple of trips down the Rubicon later, and the practical necessities of life demanded my time and money be allocated differently.

In the last five years, my idealism has truly surfaced.  The purchase of my E30 M3 was enlightening, to say the least.  My automotive inclinations now lean toward the true driver’s cars that seem to have all but disappeared from the showrooms.  My dream garage that once would have contained flamboyant exotics would now contain a Singer 911 and an Icon CJ-3B.  Re-imagined and restored classics from the 1970s, 80s, and 90s are my ideals, the iconic enthusiast cars from my teens and twenties brought back to life, not to collect, but to drive.  The air-cooled 911s, early BMW M-Cars, and Alfa Spiders deserve to be kept alive as souvenirs of an era when these true driver’s cars were crafted.

With this automotive idealism in mind, my self-prescribed duty is to celebrate and encourage the preservation of those icons.  The internet magic of the blog will be my platform of indulgence in this endeavor, now with new focus and diligence.  I do hope you'll continue to check in.