Sunday, August 16, 2009

Fluid the world flowed under us (Percy MacKay)

Concours Week concludes in Pebble Beach this weekend with the Concours d’Elegance (literally, ‘elegant contest,’ a term coined mid century (20th) for a parade or contest of classic cars) on the famed 18th Fairway of the Pebble Beach Golf Links. With tickets starting at $150, I’ll have to wait ‘til next summer. The $500 packages includes, according to the Carmel Pine Cone, special parking, full breakfast, buffet lunch and “other amenities.” I want to know what the “other amenities” are; if they have anything to do with Scarlett Johansson, hold me a ticket. (The paper didn’t say which celebrities would be there.) Also today, the Automotive Fine Arts Society is being held alongside the Concours.

 I’ve been thinking a lot about cars this week; about our addiction to cars, our fascination with cars, our identification with cars, our manipulation by the auto industry, our fetishization of cars, and on and on. I don’t have anything particularly profound to say about it, but I am finding it fascinating to be around such luxurious and fantastic (in all senses) automobiles. I waver from lusting after these Tin Lizzie Platonic ideals to waxing philosophic. What else can a poor boy do? For now, I’m content to simply gaze in stunned silence, and dream. 

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