Monday, November 12, 2012

The Hurricane & The Fiat

I grew up in Connecticut and lived for 5 years in Brooklyn, NY.  Recently, as I watched Hurricane Sandy wreak havoc with the Eastern Seaboard my thoughts were of my family and friends in her wake. As the winds died down and the rain stopped I talked to my parents, who had the foresight to install a permanent generator after Hurricane Irene last year, and they were fine. My siblings and their families were getting by without power. My thoughts then turned to one of the regions that was hardest hit, Long Island, NY. This past summer we finished hand building a 1977 Fiat 128 sedan that we lovingly called little Jack. That little Fiat still feels like an old friend, and it's new home was on the coast of Long Island,  right in the cross hairs of the storm. With no word from the owner, due to the wide spread power outage, I feared the worst. Images of the 128 under water or in a collapsed garage haunted my thoughts.


Thankfully, last weekend I received an email with the words I was hoping to hear. We are all okay… and the Fiat is tucked safely away in the garage. Thank god! That little car would be very hard to build a second time. I fear we may have exhausted the remaining stock of spare parts out there to do it once!

Comedians in Cars Getting Coffee

Jerry Seinfeld is well known for being very funny, he is less known for his interest in and depth of knowledge about vintage European cars.

Seinfeld's new web show “Comedians in Cars Getting Coffee” has quickly become one of my all time favorite shows. I appreciate it because Seinfeld so articulately summarizes the experience of driving a particular vintage car at the beginning of each episode. His take on riding around in the old cars that I love and take care of is really unique. First off he’s Jerry Seinfeld. He’s not a bragger, and he’s probably not a boater either. With his characteristic ease, he describes each vehicle in a straightforward manner while also conveying the feeling of the vehicle in a poetic and entertaining way.

I also like that the show is not about the wild world of Mercedes Benz or Porsche. I receive a few of the best automobile publications at my shop. In my opinion, too many of them feature dudes bragging about how much they spent on a caster camber plate for their racer or how little they spent on a paint job in their buddies garage.

The shows premise is refreshingly simple. Jerry picks up one of his comedian buddies in a beautiful old car and they go out for coffee. They talk on the way there, they talk in the restaurant and they talk some more on the ride home. Meanwhile Jerry tells his friend (Alec Baldwin, Super Dave, Ricky Gervais) a bit about the car they’re driving. And he can talk about the size of the engine, he can talk about the vehicles hardware, but he also talks about what makes it unique and memorable.

Check it out on you tube or crackle. It will definitely help you out of your depression.

Just a Lazy Shiftless Bastard - Alec Baldwin - Comedians In Cars Getting Coffee