You walk through row after row of cars at the latest show with your friends, pointing out your favorites. You come up to the "stance life" cars. We've all seen them by now, it seems it's the latest craze in the automotive scene. A look relatively inexpensive to achieve and available to any car that you can "slam", stanced cars are typically as low as they can go with an excessive amount of camber that is easily recognized. In order to ensure their cars will not be missed, the owners will usually adorn their vehicles with large window banners sporting slogans such as "low and slow" or "slow life" with drivers sporting industry clothing adorned with similar slogans and pictures.
Now, this is not an article aimed at attacked the stance enthusiast, actually quite the opposite. Car enthusiasts in large are cannibals. They fiercely defend the automotive form most familiar or favored to them and viciously attack those that are outside of their norms. Calling each other "posers", "not true enthusiasts" or other much more vulgar names, they tear apart the very culture they are a part of. Even on more broad spectrums such as the age old imports vs. domestics groups, many people and groups stand hard against the other in proclaiming "it is their way or no way".
Why has this become the norm in the automotive enthusiast industry? Even in a car group dedicated to one make or model, you can observe members attacking others who don't build their cars the way they think they should or style them in a particular way. Instead of being able to have large, any make, any model, and any style car shows, the industry has become segmented and polarized against one another. As someone who has dedicated the past few years to running non-profit car meets, I have seen first hand these trends. While there is always shows or meets that can be the exception to the rule, it is far from normal to see a widely varied automotive meet. With government regulations and drastic changes in new vehicles that look to completely change what and how we drive in the near future, doesn't it now make sense to start bonding together in the automotive enthusiast scene over all vehicles?
I won't say that I love all cars or car styles because I don't. That doesn't mean I don't have respect for them. If there is one thing I have seen that gives me hope in this regard, it is the enthusiast scene in Japan. Enthusiasts in Japan enjoy a wide range of vehicles and modifications and still largely respect one another and one another's rides, frequently taking note of the work and personality that has gone into vehicles rather than tearing apart the style for not being their own. This is a thoughtfulness that we should strive to recreate outside Japan, in the U.S. and abroad, because in the end, we all share the same passion, so why not act like it?
This is dummy text. It is not meant to be read. Accordingly, it is difficult to figure out when to end it. But then, this is dummy text. It is not meant to be read. Period.
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