Re: IML: Gays car culture

["BIGDOG1 \(PHIL J. JR.\)" <BIGDOG1@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

isn't this wayyyyyy off topic!!



----- Original Message -----
From: "Hugh & Therese" <hugtrees@xxxxxxxx>
To: "Imperial Mailing List" <mailing-list@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Sent: Wednesday, December 29, 2004 10:49 AM
Subject: IML: Gays car culture


> Gay car culture exists, which I find fascinating.  I've toyed with
> mentioning this here before and may end up being substantially killed for
> expounding on this thread, but the subject is actually very interesting,
> from a number of perspectives.  It is commonly assumed that being involved
> with cars is one of the ultimate macho activities.  NASCAR dads were one
of
> the most courted voting groups in the last election and the sophistication
> with which they were approached was very enlightening.  The kinds of cars
> involved are the go fast, muscle cars, of course.
>
> Gay car culture, though hardly a monolithic category, has a large element
> dedicated to large, powerful, showy land yachts.  Some Imperials are, in
and
> of themselves, totally outrageous, particularly the 57 - 62 era.  The 1960
> and 1961 are way, way out there, but other years are hardly shrinking
> violets.  At a certain local Mopar car event, probably a year or so after
I
> joined, my wife and daughter actually showed up, and I was surprised at
many
> people's reactions.  I found out that it was assumed by more than a few
that
> I must be gay, since here I was, with this exuberant luxo-boat, a 1958,
> named Mrs. Blueberry of all things.  In any group I am rarely the quietest
> person either, and this, along with a liberal streak wider than the car,
> induced this opinion among fellow club members.  My wife could not care
less
> about cars and I am not the kind of person who is the slightest bit upset
if
> she takes part in my activities.  We are both fiercely independent, and we
> married late as well, so we often go our own way and this seems to work
for
> us.
>
> I once attended an Imperial gathering where I think I was the only
> "straight" person there.  I found this experience to be hilarious as I was
> probably the loudest person there.  I think I was weirding out some of the
> people who came, too.  I have always been a tee-totaller as well.  I
> surmised that other people had to drink just to be able to catch up with
me.
> Of course, this was in my younger, wilder days.
>
> Sometimes, after I post, I get a off-list hate message, from list members
> who at least have the decency not to waste the time of the whole list with
> their bigotry.  I have been called the choicest of names over the years,
> been accused of being comprehensively unintelligent, and any number of
other
> calumnies that might percolate through the evidently less than balanced
> minds of the senders.  Harmless stuff all, since name calling to me is the
> surrender flag of those whose argument has collapsed.  Apparently, to a
few,
> I am pursuing a virulent gay agenda.  I must assume this is something of a
> coincidence, since, like someone else who posted to the list, I have not
> received the memo stating what it is.  On this list, which I cherish, are
> some people I would not care to meet and of whom I feel obliged to have a
> very low opinion.  Disliking someone for their skin color or their
religion
> or their sexual preference seems so strange to me, banal if it wasn't so
> pervasive and frequently dangerous.  Choosing to ignore a common interest
in
> Imperials to focus on perceived differences which are not even relevant,
let
> alone correct, is wasting time and energy.
>
> I am a slob who likes his cars to be suitably ragged.  My role model would
> be Nick Nolte in '48 Hours' who describes himself as a ragtop man and
whose
> cars are one beating away from the scrap heap.  Or Columbo and his Peugeot
> 403.  I am not interested in preening cars in the slightest.  With me, the
> hobby is all about the driving experience.  If it rolls right and feels
> good, I am sorted.  No need to polish and buff and vacuum and shine.  I
> taught myself to work on my Imperial because I could not find anyone who
> could do a good job on it and I figured I could do a better job myself and
> save not only money but the intense frustration of being at the mercy of
> incompetents and indifferent so called mechanics.  My Imperial looks so
bad
> that even I think I should do something about it.  The fact that the seats
> need to be re-padded is something I can no longer ignore.
>
> I am fascinated by the attention to detail that some men go into on their
> cars.  The car has to be just right.  Folks who don't seem to know one
type
> of cloth from another go into rapturous detail over what was used in car
> seats, doors, dashboards, parcel shelves and trunk interiors.  The
subtlest
> difference in paint shades and which is correct fill up intense
> conversations that leave me agog.  Wives and girl friends at these events
> only wish the man in their life would spend a fraction of that enthusiasm
of
> their house or clothing and their own personal appearance.  Apparently, it
> is OK to be so fastidious when its something manly, like a car.
>
> The car hobby, once examined, is far broader than it appears on the
surface.
> It is certainly a lot more than a simple exercise in macho.  It attracts a
> very broad spectrum of people.  If gay people want, in addition to the
> mainstream list, to have a mailing list of there own, what harm?  If women
> want one too, why not?  As the lyrics go in a satiric National Lampoon
song,
> I am a member of the oppressing class, language, race and sex.  If I
wasn't
> so poor I would be obviously be dangerous.  The Imperial list is for a
very
> small sub group of a sub group of a subgroup.  Many of us felt isolated in
> our Imperial enthusiasm before we found this place.  What's one more
> sub-group?
>
> Hugh
>
>
>
>
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