Tag: The American Auto by the Auto Editors of Consumer Guide®

Change Is Constant

Yes, I write about this topic a lot…

 

For years I lived for sports, especially Baltimore sports. I did not watch last night’s Ravens game, preferring instead to do a little reading, watch some of the Mecum broadcast from Las Vegas I recorded and an episode of Transplant I’d already seen more than once. Apparently, though, I missed quite a game as the Ravens rallied from a 19-point deficit late in the third quarter to win the game in overtime. If I had been watching, I probably would have turned the game off late in the third quarter.

While watching the Mecum telecast I was suddenly reminded how much I enjoyed things when I was younger like a new toy or new record. I would sometimes play the same song 10 or 15 times in a row the day I bought it. (Yeah, yeah, OCD…) For the most part, I bought 45s not albums. If it was the school year, during the school day I would think about going home so I could play my new record some more.

Sorry to say that very little excites me like that anymore and certainly not sports. Change is constant.

I do very much enjoy spending time with my wonderful wife, but after 22 years of marriage the enjoyment is more comfort than anything else. I enjoy watching car auctions and some automotive programming, but I can’t say that a new episode of Flipping Bangers excites me to the same degree as a new 45 did when I was 12 years old.

I don’t think my experience is unique, but still illustrates the inevitability of change. Bad changes can’t be avoided by trying to avoid all change. Change is constant.

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While this is not the Cars A To Z “B” post, I can say that I will not use Bentley, BMW or Buick. I have to say that the “A” post, about British automaker Alvis, was not met with the level of interest I had hoped.

My goal is to focus on makes that are not well-known although not all 26 posts will feature obscure companies. Actually, if you lived in the UK then Alvis wouldn’t be obscure to you.

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In his most recent post, Mark featured this book:

 

 

Actually, the cover photo in his post was different as he used the edition published in 2010 and this version was published in 2015. I am especially fond of the car shown in the lower right. I wonder why? Yes, that was a joke…

While I can’t say that perusing this book “excites” me, I can say I enjoy quite a bit. It was this book that has the picture that was the inspiration for my writing about cars:

 

 

I don’t think this picture excites me as much as it satisfies and calms me, which is also a good state of mind.

As always, I welcome thoughtful comments.

 

#ChangeIsConstant

#CarsAToZ

#TheAmericanAuto

#somanycarsjustonelife

#disaffectedmusings

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Slippery Sunday

For those of you who celebrate today as a holiday, I hope the day is infused with meaning and fulfillment. For the rest of you, I hope you have a good day, too.

 

Originally, I was going to show a table of blog views over six-month periods. I don’t know why I think any of you is even one percent as interested in such things as I am, but that won’t stop me from writing about it, even if I don’t show any tables.

Suffice to say that the six months that ended March 31st had the highest average of daily views in the three-plus year history of this blog. The average was 33 percent higher than the average for the previous six months, which itself was 80 percent higher than the average for six months prior.

Blog views for October, 2020 – March, 2021 were 172 percent higher than for October, 2018 – March, 2019. I began this blog in January of 2018; blog views made a quantum leap up in October of that year so I used the six months beginning then as the base period for comparisons.

All that being said, I believe that the last six months will represent the high water mark for views and visitors. With about 20 percent of the US population being fully vaccinated against the damn virus–and with 88 percent of blog views originating from the US–I suspect people will spend less time on their computer or mobile device reading blogs.

Last April, at the beginning of the “lockdown,” blog views made a quantum leap up; remember that the average number of daily views increased by 80 percent for April, 2020 – September, 2020 compared to the previous six months.

I suspect that a year from now I will no longer be blogging. I turned off the automatic renewal of my WordPress account, for example.

My fount of ideas continues to run dry and if fewer people are reading, then I probably will lose my motivation to write. Remember that I have actually been blogging regularly for five years, three-plus with this blog and the last two years I had a blog on the Evil Empire.

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Once again, today’s automotive “topic” was inspired by looking through The American Auto by the Auto Editors of Consumer Guide®. I don’t know why I just realized this so concretely today, but I am a big fan of American cars of the immediate post-fin era, say 1961 to 1965. Yes, I am also a big fan of cars like the Jaguar E-Type, which was introduced in 1961.

Some relevant photos from the aforementioned book:

 

 

Of course, the middle of this period saw what for me is the most significant model year in American automotive history, 1963. In this post I related something that happened during a Mecum auction. Stephen Cox asked the crew if they could have any three cars given to them for free, but they all had to be from the same model year, what cars and what year would they choose. For me, this was an easy answer and here are the three cars from 1963 with photos from Mecum:

 

See the source image

See the source image

See the source image

 

In case you don’t know, [Everyone Together] or even if you do, from top to bottom: Buick Riviera, Chevrolet Corvette Split-Window, Studebaker Avanti. When I published that post last July, many of you graciously offered your own choices. Oh, if you are a car fan I highly recommend The American Auto and Encyclopedia of American Cars, both by the Auto Editors of Consumer Guide®. As far as I know, the latter has not been updated since 2006, but the former has an edition published as recently as 2015.

Once again, and as is always the case, I open the floor to thoughtful comments.

 

#SlipperySunday

#PostFinEra

#TheAmericanAutobytheAutoEditorsofConsumerGuide®

#somanycarsjustonelife

#disaffectedmusings

If you like this blog please tell your friends and share the blog URL (https://disaffectedmusings.com). Thanks.

 

Well, at least the WordPress editor didn’t act up today…