If you have nice clothes, do you need a nice car?

[Mustapha]

Originally Posted by j

I think the condition of one's car says more than the model, make or year, personally.

Is this the 1st time in this long thread that 'condition' has come up?. I highly agree with this. Nothing wrong with any old car but it has to be clean, rust and dent free.

I know of a stylish man with a stylish home but he let go with the car; the panels flapped because of advanced rust.

 

[Mbogo]

I am always nauseated when a car is presented as a fashion accessory or status symbol. It's a machine. Some machines are better built than others, some look better, some are more reliable. But to size up someone's standing in society by their material possessions is shallow, tacky, and puerile. And to strive to impress someone else with your own material possessions is low-class and pathetic. It's also completely lacking in STYLE. That is the name of this forum, isn't it? The STYLE forum?

Status symbol. Yech. If you need a "symbol" to advertise your "status", you're obviously lacking in actual real-world status. Status is achieved by your abilities and accomplishments, not because you did the passive, easy act of buying some gee gaw to impress the yokels. Do you really think that if you drive a Hummer people will think, "Wow! Cool! That guy has this incredibly rugged and expensive off-road machine! He's probably an amazingly successful world explorer just back from the Yukon!" Or do they think, "What a lame asshole, trying to look macho, which he obviously isn't."?

Sure, if you buy a car, you'd like it to look nice, and perhaps be in a style that you find pleasing. But if you upgrade to some perceived status symbol for the sake of your overall "image", you're a tool.

I think people who drive older cool, classic, or quirky cars often get a real kick out them as a hobby. Good for them. I also think that some people who do a lot of driving, and really enjoy it, and really appreciate and understand a superior machine, and can AFFORD IT, may be justified in driving some high-end car. If they don't meet these criteria, they're living in a fantasy. They are buying things they don't need, with money they don't have, to impress people they don't like.

David

 

[Nataku]

Originally Posted by Mustapha

Is this the 1st time in this long thread that 'condition' has come up?. I highly agree with this. Nothing wrong with any old car but it has to be clean, rust and dent free.

I know of a stylish man with a stylish home but he let go with the car; the panels flapped because of advanced rust.

Nah, I mentioned it way back on page 2 or 3.

 

[Mustapha]

Originally Posted by Nataku

Nah, I mentioned it way back on page 2 or 3.


Ah, then I agree with both you and 'j' then.

You know what I would like to see?

SFers posting a pic of themselves and their car. Without blotting out their faces.

I haven't the guts.

It's interesting to see pics of rare vintage cars and their owners on the 'net - almost never you'll see them dressed well. Except at those 'concours' like in Pebble Beach then they get up in those waspy blazers boat shoes and straw hats.

-Moose

 

[JayJay]

Originally Posted by Mustapha

It's interesting to see pics of rare vintage cars and their owners on the 'net - almost never you'll see them dressed well. Except at those 'concours' like in Pebble Beach then they get up in those waspy blazers boat shoes and straw hats.

-Moose
Actually, if you visit many of the high-end car fora you'll see many pics of new or fairly new cars and owners where the owners, in my opinion, don't seem to be interested in their own appearance. In fact, one forum a few months ago had an off topic thread that mocked guys who pay too much attention to appearance.

 

[LabelKing]

It's vaguely interesting to me how people with the kind of taste to appreciate say, a vintage Talbot Lago, dresses in denim shorts, or at best something by Greg Norman.

 

[yfyf]

Originally Posted by Lucky Strike

This discussion is very car-centric; typically, realatively few New Yorkers, Londoners or Parisians have cars, regardless of their standards of dress or financial status. There's just no point, and parking is hell.

Here's mine; it has close to no commercial value, and I got it for free.

The thing is, I hardly ever use it. It's been in a garage without moving for two months now, and I think I used it something like five times in the two-three months before that.

I walk to work, or take a tram if it's raining. That's the beauty of inner city living.

It must have some value, there's a suit hanging in the back.

 

[ortolan]

I'm a consumerist. If you have nice clothes, why not a nice car... of course fitting local fashion, financial, and garage constraints.

As people point out, some regions of the world have the amish/mennonite notion of conspicuous humility. As much as I puzzle about that conspicuous humility belief system, trying to falsify it on underlying axioms, I can find nothing wrong with that. However, if you enjoy thick MOP buttons on your shirts (or maybe even buttons altogether), move away from that region immediately.

--ortolan

 

[ortolan]

Originally Posted by Mbogo

I am always nauseated when a car is presented as a fashion accessory or status symbol. It's a machine. Some machines are better built than others, some look better, some are more reliable. But to size up someone's standing in society by their material possessions is shallow, tacky, and puerile. And to strive to impress someone else with your own material possessions is low-class and pathetic. It's also completely lacking in STYLE. That is the name of this forum, isn't it? The STYLE forum?

Status symbol. Yech. If you need a "symbol" to advertise your "status", you're obviously lacking in actual real-world status. Status is achieved by your abilities and accomplishments, not because you did the passive, easy act of buying some gee gaw to impress the yokels. Do you really think that if you drive a Hummer people will think, "Wow! Cool! That guy has this incredibly rugged and expensive off-road machine! He's probably an amazingly successful world explorer just back from the Yukon!" Or do they think, "What a lame asshole, trying to look macho, which he obviously isn't."?

Sure, if you buy a car, you'd like it to look nice, and perhaps be in a style that you find pleasing. But if you upgrade to some perceived status symbol for the sake of your overall "image", you're a tool.

I think people who drive older cool, classic, or quirky cars often get a real kick out them as a hobby. Good for them. I also think that some people who do a lot of driving, and really enjoy it, and really appreciate and understand a superior machine, and can AFFORD IT, may be justified in driving some high-end car. If they don't meet these criteria, they're living in a fantasy. They are buying things they don't need, with money they don't have, to impress people they don't like.

David

I'm a consumerist. Not everything is objective (0-60, crash reports, etc); buying for a subjective measure such as image is okay with me, too.

--ortolan

 

[ortolan]

Originally Posted by mafoofan

Dandy or not, it's tacky to buy that which you don't genuinely need or enjoy for the sake of presenting a particular image. A guy who buys a Ferrari or Lamborghini merely to 'match' his nice suit, when he'd probably kill himself trying to really drive it or has no meaningful appreciation for the machine, is no different from the guy who buys an expensive awful-fitting Brioni, without any real interest in looking good.

Mafoofan, I love your posts and your clothes, but I have a different opinion on one thing. I would be uniquely impressed by a guy who buys a Ferrari to match his suit.

--ortolan

 

[skalogre]

Is this the twilight zone or is this thread morphing to something analogous to the tradly interchange thingie over there?

P.s. I am with J on the douchebag connotations of BMWs, even older ones. I would probably never buy one for that, although the fact that there are other vehicles far ahead on my list of desirability helps

P.p.s. I find the 850 strange alluring though for some reason, must be something about that scowl...

 

[Mustapha]

Check out one John Klickenhause here. This Ferrari is a one off factory commission just for him. It confers instant class doesn't it? Try not to look at the pants.

 

[topbroker]

Originally Posted by Mustapha

Check out one John Klickenhause here. This Ferrari is a one off factory commission just for him. It confers instant class doesn't it? Try not to look at the pants.

He looks ready for the AAAC Trad Forum, but the car is all wrong.

 

[James Bond]

James Glickenhaus is the **** and can do whatever he wants.

 

[Mustapha]

I spelled his name wrong. I see that he is a movie director of merit. Thanks double O.