Gulliver's Travels

Jay Laifman (Jay_Laifman(at)countrywide.com)
Fri, 10 Jul 1998 08:54:10 -0700

I would just like to go on record as saying that this idea being cooked up by Tiger owners to register and tag all Rootes cars (or really, Tigers and everything else) is preposterous. Sure I've done lots and lots of work on my car, and all sorts of special stuff to the engine. But, I sure as hell am not going to put some g-d damn plaque on my car so that Tiger owners can be comfortable that no one is going to mistake my car for a Tiger. Moreover, I have no doubt that no matter what "procedure" or "method" they dream up, someone wanting to get around it will have an easier time at it than the work they put in building their car. Lastly, we are not talking big bucks here, maybe $10,000 difference between the two cars. We are not talking about those multi million dollar Ferraris, Aston Martins or Bugattis with the amazing race logs. Your basic family sedan costs more than a perfect Tiger.

All that being said, if I were to buy a Tiger, I would do what I could to make sure it was a real Tiger. But, this "holier than thou" Napolean complex is just too much. Besides, I own a Porsche. And, you know what one of the car magazines said about the new 911 back in the 70's? "All the horsepower of an American V8 at twice the cost."

Lastly, the one thing that I have found with Porsche owners, that is even stronger with Tiger owners, is that they think they are "better" people than others simply because they own a Porsche or Tiger. Actually the same thing goes for sports fans who think they are better people than the people who rooted for the losing team. Some people really need to take a deep breath and enjoy their cars, not themselves.

Jay Bentbeam (I'll drop the King Dick reference for this one) P.S. The Gulliver's Travels is a reference to the "Little Endians" and the "Big Endians" that went to war over a disagreement as to which side of the egg should be cracked open - the little end or the big end. This is really the same sort of fight over something that at the end of the day means nothing.