Confession Fph

Confessions of a former car lover

“EVERYTHING IS

SOMEWHERE ELSE

WHEN YOU GET IN

YOUR CAR.”

-Pedestrian Pete 2015.

Paraphrase of E.B. White

1938 HISPANO SUIZA H6C DUBOMET*XEMA*COUPE

Like Most Americans, Pedestrian Pete once had a love affair with the car, in fact with several cars, over many years!

By Peter H. Brown

In the 1990’s, me and my last car love broke up. It wasn’t an abrupt parting of the ways – by necessity I still owned a car, several cars in fact, but the luster, the romance, had worn off, like a familiar girl-friend who didn’t interest me anymore. So unlike most car-dependent Americans, certainly Houstonians, my relationship progressed from lust to near loathing. The proliferation of cars and our “car-culture,” the once “miracle machine” had become a curse on civilized life.

1937 ITALIAN 135 M ROADSTER

The romance all started with my fascination with finely engineered gasoline-powered machines, mostly cars and speed boats. Even in high school, it was about speed, power and control. Like my son 25 years later, as a teenager owning a car was a non-negotiable social necessity. Without a “kool” car, my social life with girls would wither, my reputation would be spoiled, and I would be stuck with the humiliation of one of my parents driving me and my date to a dance or a prom.

.

A very “kool” car!

-Pedestrian Pete (Love those white walls!)

1960 Ford Galaxy

Among the guys – it was fiercely competitive – which stud had the most impressive, stylish car? Who could brag doing 110 mph on a straight run? Who had the loudest tail pipes? Who best figured out how to really soup up their engine? Looking back, among my peers, we shared an obsessive mania about cars.

This also caused a lot of conflict between me and my parents. Sadly, my first car was a mini-mobile, my hated Crossley (by the refrigerator makers), followed by a Ford Model A (slow,...