An Open Letter to Car (and Bike) Enthusiasts

My Fellow Enthusiasts,

We are part of a wonderful subculture. We are united by the wheels that propel us and that's about where the similarities stop. We love motorcycles, trikes, and cars. We love two-strokes and four-strokes. We love flats, inlines, Vs and the occasional H or W. From Citroens to Corvettes, Hondas to Huayras, someone loves it. So why is there so much friction between the different groups?

There are people who love stance but hate donks. People who love hot rods but hate low-riders. The problem isn't that we can't agree on how to modify our cars. A car should be a reflection of its owner. The beauty of the car community is that there is a style for everyone's taste. To me, no one style is superior to any other (although i do think my modding style makes the most sense to me). We're all looking for different experiences out of our cars, so we modify them (or don't) to suit that. Of course, not everyone shares my outlook. But why should we fight among ourselves so much? I understand that you don't like X style or Y mod, but why do you need to tell the owner that? We should all be trying to appreciate each other's uniqueness.

Now i'm not calling for some giant car show in the middle of some field where we all hug it out and start chatting each other up. That would be asking far too much. And of course we can't just say "well you have to tolerate everything". Mods which are unsafe... not cool. I'm sorry. I personally am against crappy quality of work too. I'm only human. I can appreciate a great build no matter what category it falls into.

The internet has been the best and worst thing to happen to our culture. Now we can all find hundreds of people who like the same car/bike/racing series/what have you. But this has been a double edged sword, of course now it's easier than ever to find people who do something we don't like. Our opportunities to comment on these cars are now infinite. So here's a crazy suggestion: When you see something you don't like, just let it go by. Better yet, try to appreciate whatever makes it special. I'd never drive a stanced car, but some of these cars look great in pictures. I wouldn't build myself a low-rider either, but you've gotta give them credit for making a car dance. Offroaders get up to some crazy driving out where we can't even see them, so maybe think twice before calling that lifted truck in the parking lot stupid. If you like daily driven cars, don't hate on the garage queens. The Concours hosts some beautiful cars and helps protect automotive history. Road racing fan? Nascar and the NHRA still have some serious competition and engineering at work. Auto-crosser? those drag guys have got skills too, just different ones.

The simple fact is that no matter what you love about cars, someone else loves it and someone else hates it. The general public doesn't get us, because if they did they'd be a part of us. The car culture gets a bad reputation for a lot of different things. I can't say i'll stand up for street racing (i don't condone breaking the law) but I will support my fellow car and bike brethren  The communities of our culture are as varied as the people in them, sometimes you just have to look at the big picture and realize what a wonderful and crazy world it is.

So while we will always have our groups and crews, let's try to be a little more united. At the end of the day we all love the same thing. We all are searching for the same thing. The perfect drive, the perfect car or bike, the perfect combination of upgrades. And you've got to love the dedication.

Keep it classy,
Brian