Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 2008/02/03

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Subject: [Leica] My new car, a Morgan OT
From: jbcollier at shaw.ca (John Collier)
Date: Sun Feb 3 07:31:43 2008
References: <C3C98E79.8887B%mark@rabinergroup.com> <F8AF903F-3771-4E88-BC1E-B4D270323ACC@shaw.ca> <p0623091bc3ca8e864bee@[10.1.16.134]>

I guess I am (over)reacting to the bloating and sensation-numbing  
trends of the modern vehicle. Is a current Porsche fast? Of course.  
Does it handle well? Yes again. However, though you can get a heavy  
vehicle to handle, you can never make it anywhere as nimble and  
intimate as a light car. I suppose some of this is due to the  
emphasis on top speed: at 300 kph you have to deaden everything down  
and add mass to make a vehicle even vaguely drive-able by mere mortals.

Perhaps on German Autobahns this make sense. However, I seldom top  
the english ton and I want to have fun at speeds where I am not  
lethal to myself and those hapless enough to encounter me. Give me a  
vehicle where I do the work of keeping the engine on song. I watch  
the road surface to manage my traction and braking. I stive to feel  
the tires touching the road and the vehicle responds almost to my  
thoughts rather than gross action.

I no longer find this intimate connection in four wheeled vehicles.  
It is even getting hard to find it in two wheeled ones as well. So I  
run lightweight, small capacity motorcycles. Right now my favourite  
is a cafe'ed 66 Ducati single with something over 30 hp. If I am  
"on", it is fast, light and nimble; we function as one. If I am  
"off", I know right away as the communion isn't there. I know to slow  
down and wait for another day.

In today's insulated, traction and braking control equipped, mobile  
entertainment centers, you have no idea who or what is on. Heck, it  
takes a half-an-hour of carefully ignoring the road to program the CD  
player.

Getting back to Porsches, I feel they started to lose their way in  
the seventies. When brochures start to emphasize leather interiors,  
heated seats and mirrors, when "features" started the weight creeping  
up, when HP increased just to keep the performance the same, when  
intimacy and control were reduced to make things "safer" at high speed.

Should Porsche drop its current model line? Probably not. Should they  
at least add one real sports car? Absolutely! Lotus makes the  
breathtakingly stunning Elise. Why Can't Porsche? Give me a vehicle  
that is the spiritual heir of the '66 911s, not one that is a gross  
caricature.

Whew!

Well I feel a lot better.

Thanks,

John

On 2-Feb-08, at 2:18 PM, Henning Wulff wrote:

> At 6:54 AM -0700 2/2/08, John Collier wrote:
>> Only Morgan makes sports cars. Everyone else at best makes pimped  
>> out GT cars. Don't even get me started on Porsche!
>>
>
> I'd be delighted to get you started on Porsche! :-)

Replies: Reply from henningw at archiphoto.com (Henning Wulff) ([Leica] My new car, a Morgan OT)
In reply to: Message from mark at rabinergroup.com (Mark Rabiner) ([Leica] My new car, a Morgan)
Message from jbcollier at shaw.ca (John Collier) ([Leica] My new car, a Morgan)
Message from henningw at archiphoto.com (Henning Wulff) ([Leica] My new car, a Morgan)