I hope this message finds you healthy and well. When the Pebble Beach Concours announced last week that this year’s event was cancelled, and nearly all the events surrounding Car Week followed, my first thought was that a long established tradition was broken.
This would have been my 31st Pebble Beach Concours.
Oddly my angst didn’t steer toward the hundreds of automobiles that I would miss seeing. I didn’t fret the exploration of models I’ve never seen, marques I would re-discover, and the smell of motor oil and fuel in the cool Monterey air. What brought a sense of despair was…
Knowing I wouldn’t be seeing my friends from years past.
I’ve learned a lot since creating the Cars Yeah podcast and interviewing over 1,500 Inspiring Automotive Enthusiasts™. The most valuable lesson has been that automotive events are not really about the cars.
The cars are merely the catalyst that makes these events so rewarding.
We’ll all be together again.
Amen to that Mark. It is absolutely true that it is the cars that bring together. But it is knowing that we will once again see old friends and undoubtedly will make new ones as well.
With regard to the excellent work and thoughts with regard to, “Cars Are The Catalyst…” I noted the degree that the You-Tube is impacting the Automotive World, right when we lost the greatest car show on earth in Monterey and Carmel by the Sea at Pebble Beach. As a result of You Tube, as Doug Demuro exclaimed in one of his Vids, the “…C8 is the hottest car of the year. In fact of any year since he’s been doing this…” Anyway, here’s a poem I wrote, for what it is worth with explanation included afterwards:
by Alex Ford – May 12, 2020 –
C8, C8 – My Date With My Vette Will Just Have to Wait
If you want your C8 you’ll just have to wait
All the magazines say its really great
You can build one on line that’s for sure
But you’ll wait in line for what seems like years
I want it; I want it; I want it.
Do you want it; do you want it; I guess I heard you say that you want it.
My friends have Porsche and Lamborghini,
And guys I film have Ferrari’s and AMG’s,
But I don’t care ’cause I want a C8
When I drive my Tuner seems I;m always late
In 2020 BGAP close its gate; seems a virus showed up like Watergate;
Now all I can do is drink some beers, there’s no stick shift but its got 8 gears
And now I’m lonely without the key; there’s no C8 coming to me.
Conti’s still dreamin’ ’cause he’s not driving; Mikes got his but they are out of c7’s;
Bowling Green start again please; I want a piece of Heaven;
The drive’s stil in back but so’s the motor,
Gimme that Vette cause I ain’t no floater,
When my lunch is done, I need my Corvette
Cause I’m ready for action and I’ll take your bet
I don’t need no jewelry for me to have bling
and the Mustang Cobra is no longer the King.
Let me take my two seats out o’ the booth;
Zero to 60 will tell the truth.
On a beautiful day I can run in the tens
But its oh so sad how this saga ends,
Here we are in social lockdown
No Vettes being made with the line shut down;
I gotta have this car, I gotta have one,
With 8 DC Speeds she can really run.
6.2 Liters and we’ll be havin’ fun
The cash in my pocket is burning a hole
and the PDR shows I struck a mean blow;
Please, please God take the virus away
for comin’ soon will be the day
I’ll be on the track and racing for the cup
and on the turns I will pass ’em cause my 8 hooks up.
Brink of Speed shows me what its like;
And Speed Phenom drives while I just hike;
TJ’s mods are so very cool
But when I get my 8 I’ll take’m to school;
My drivin’ shoes are on but it’s just not great.
Cause to get my Vette I’ll just have to wait
I’ll just have to wait; I’ll just have to wait; I’ll just have to wait.
###
A poem by Alex Ford during the 2020 Quarentine at Home. The Stay at Home Orders and the Social Distancing during the Pandemic of the Covid-19 virus, fnally spurred my, “creative,” side. I’m not altogether sure where this will all go but for the sake of everyone in the world, reaching out some how to do something that gets their internal fires going, while at the same time I hope that the world’s combined ingenuity can get to the bottom of the truth about the origin and the cause while at the same time I’m hoping for a vaccine or cure or better yet, prevention. It is my fondest hope that we all learn something from all of this.
Alex Ford (I realize that this isn’t great poetry, but it is only supposed to be for a bit of amusement and a change of pace. I’ve never been a poet of any kind, although a couple of times in my life I’ve written lifestyle poems or, “period of life,” poems and 50 years ago or more my stuff was something like the type of stuff one reads above.)
Alex Ford