[Shotimes] SEMI OT SHO replacement and my Ramblings on the subject

[Ron Porter]

Nice post, Dave.

There is just one misconception that a lot of people seem to have. To wit,
there are folks who buy new cars, and there are enthusiasts of those same
cars who join clubs.

All of the comments about BMW/Porsche/MB/Lexus owners is not really valid,
and it pointed at a lot of the purchasers of the new cars. Hell, there were
a lot of new SHO owners who were also not very friendly, and really didn't
care what kind of car that they had!

All of the folks that I have met in clubs have generally had slightly older
cars (but not always), and have always been great folks. And, they also
currently own/used to own other performance cars, so they are not a snob for
any one make. In fact, the "snobs on a single make" attitude is more
prevalent in the SHO community, but I chalk it up to youth & inexperience
with having driven/owned other fine performance cars.

The folks in my PCA (Porsche Club of America) regions have been great, and
in general are more into track work than the SHO folks. Also had met the MB
club both in KY & MI (they do stuff with PCA), and they are nice folks. Same
with the BMWCCA folks (who also join PCA for events), and a few of my
friends who have owned BMWs for years (and yes, do their own work) belong to
BMWCCA. It was also a ball hanging out with the Fiero folks at their
National Convention that was here last year!

One common thread with the other clubs is that the "club car" is not their
only vehicle, and they have other vehicles for daily drivers and/or
collections. In case folks haven't noticed, this is also happening with the
SHO owners, and many, if not all, of the older owners do not use their
SHO(s) as daily transportation anymore, and have other nice vehicles.

Most of the "SHO snobbishness" I see is from the younger folks who have the
SHO as their only vehicle. That's fine, most will grow out of it and get
smart.

This is not a knock on SHO folks, as I will most likely continue to hang
with SHO folks even during the upcoming times when I don't have a SHO. In my
mind, the SHO is already moving into to collector/toy car status for many,
and when we speak of "replacement" cars, we speak of vehicles that are
needed to provide the reliable daily transportation that the SHO is getting
less capable of doing.

Ron Porter

-----Original Message-----
From: shotimes-admin@autox.team.net [mailto:shotimes-admin@autox.team.net]
On Behalf Of DAVE
Sent: Friday, July 30, 2004 3:42 AM
To: SHO
Subject: [Shotimes] SEMI OT SHO replacement and my Ramblings on the subject


With all the talk of SHO replacement out there and the POS threads etc it
got me to thinking of SHO replacement. 
And all I can come up with is the car may be replacable but not the people
who own them. When I owned my orginal SHO back in 94 and it got totalled I
was pretty much done with the 4 door thing. I was single and the Mustang was
my only desire. Now 10 years later with a wife and two kids seems my
passions have turned from the Mustang to what alot of people call and
outdated car. And that's fine it's outdated and I guess I am too. 
But in the 8 months I've had the 90........I've met some incredible people
that can't be replaced no matter what your driving. When I did Lapeer in May
that was my first real SHO outing. Met Ron Porter Hell of a nice guy great
all around. Kirk and Fred Anyone who drives to Lapeer from where they did to
run that craphole track for fun. Well that's not really about the car is it?
That's about the people involved. Rick Glass has got to be one of the
funniest people I've ever met. Everyone that came out to Lapeer that I met
were great. You guy's that don't go to the Forum are really missing out on
Bill or his user name SHOBill. This guy is a blast and between His 95 and
his Son Chris' 90 those are two of the NICEST SHO's around. I hope they both
make Indy next year. Then Bill talked me into the BBQ for Chis last Saturday
met some more people To bad Chris is leaving there is a wealth of
information lost for those of us in Michigan. I wish I could have made
California. and knocked!
 a few
 people off my list of who I want to talk to face to face. George Fourchy is
one of them. Anyone who has that much passion for a 14 year old car has to
be alright maybe not in the head but are any of us who own SHO's? Kris and I
have been tossing insults at eachother for months now and If I don't see her
and Andy out here at Lapeer I'm gonna have to crash Sheboygan WI.Might do it
before then.
So my thinking here is yeah you can buy a BMW and deal with those egomanical
aholes. Or a Subaru or anything else you can think of as a "replacement"
car. But the real soul of the SHO is the people that own them. George said
once the Lexus had no soul because it was an Automatic. I wonder if the
Lexus has no soul because the typical Lexus owner uses it as a commuter car
to and from work and around town etc. Where the typical SHO owner has a
passion for the car and the rush of hunting down that last 14 year old part
to make the damn thing perfect and the people you meet along the way?
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