The streets of X'ian, China are a maelstrom of transportation contraptions, from hand-drawn oxcarts laden with unopened, boxed color televisions to brand-new Mercedes S-class sedans. While the Chinese may suffer from a lack of political freedom, in terms of motorized conveyances, they are Joan Claybrooke's worst nightmare. The rule of thumb seems to be, if it rolls, use it.
During our brief time there, Cindy, Alexandra and I rode in Jeep Cherokees, Korean mini-vans and rickshaws powered by both humans and motorcycles. Since the totalitarian Chinese government decided ten years ago to encourage various forms of capitalism, their country, with its population of 1.2 billion, has exploded into a frenzy of entrepreneurism.
The streets are teeming from 6 a.m. till past dusk. Deliveries need to be made, and ingenious ways of making them are apparent. Bicycles converted to three wheels, with a luggage platform behind, laden with bedsprings or live chickens, are a common site. But for me, an itinerant tinkerer, the draw of all the motorized things being worked on by the side of the road was almost irresistible.
Those of us forty years old or more grew up when cars could be fixed by turning screws and tightening bolts. When you saw someone disabled by the side of the road, the chances were better than 50/50 that you could offer them some assistance that would actually get them going.
While a student at Reed's fine college in Portland, Oregon, I ran a small, mobile auto repair service. I made most of my money in October, when the combination of corroded battery terminals and cold weather turned many otherwise decent cars into non-starters. Loosen the terminals, scrape them clean, tighten them down and voila! I pocketed my $10 fee and moved onto the next needy victim.
But today, the mechanicals of our cars are hermetically sealed, as they need to be to be able to run 100,000 miles between tune-ups and to meet stringent emission regulations. Sadly, many manufacturers have adopted the motorcycle-created style of covering their engines with plastic cladding, adding another billable half-hour or more to the operation whenever the engine needs to be accessed.
By contrast, in China, as I prowled the strips where auto repair shops were clustered, engines that I could understand were being worked on. Cable-operated brakes on the motorized rickshaws were being adjusted, plug gaps checked, heads removed, valves ground by hand. When I return there, I'll bring along my supply of ancient suction-cup manual valve grinders and grinding compound to donate to the cause.
There's no doubt that whooshing around in a Mercedes S-class is safer, dryer and faster than putt-putting down the road in a motorized tricycle in X'ian, surrounded by the thin sheetmetal of the hand-built conveyance. At the same time, the sheer pleasure of seeing all the mechanical bits at work in the primitive vehicles was enormous. If, instead of yellow cabs, Manhattan had motorized rickshaws, we'd probably use less fuel, have less pollution, and certainly see more conservative driving. After all, when your belt buckle is your front bumper, it causes you to look at things differently.
JUST AUCTIONS
If you're reading an issue of Sports Car Market for the first time, chances are that you picked up a complimentary copy at one of the auctions that occur in January in Arizona. SCM thanks Barrett-Jackson, Kruse International and Silver for making our magazine available (and Bonhams & Brooks at their Cavallino Classic in Florida during the same time). We have always believed that informed bidders are good bidders, and appreciate the help of the auction companies in getting the word out.
This is our 13th annual trip to the desert. We first came in 1988 when SCM was born, as the 8-page, mimeographed Alfa Romeo Market Letter. We've gone from covering as few as three or four cars at Barrett-Jackson (that's all the Alfas there were one year), to having a team of ten experts looking at more than 1,000 cars at the various auctions.
While the auctions during the Monterey Historic weekend may have the highest dollar totals, without question, the Phoenix/Scottsale events, headlined by Barrett-Jackson, provide a near out-of-body experience for gearheads, with literally thousands of cars crossing the block in a two-week period, and without the distractions of vintage racing or concours. It's just auctions, ma'am. Nothing more, nothing less.
The SCM experts will be out in force; if you're a subscriber, please say hello. While ethical considerations keep us from making value judgements about cars about to be sent across the block, we will endeavor to answer other questions you might have, as best we are able, before you raise your bidding paddle.
ON THE COVER
"Mint" is an appropriate title for the striking bright green interpretation of a late-model Porsche 911 illuminating our cover this month. Depicted in sunny Palm Beach, Florida by artist David Chapple, the sleek sinuousness of the car provides an apt contrast with the fronds of the palm trees behind it.
Chapple, who lives in Grand Blanc, Michigan. has painted cars from a Ferrari Testarossa in a golf course setting to a'59 Chevy Impala cruising downtown Las Vegas. His first car, which he still owns, was a 1969 Beetle that he and his father restored in 1985. He began painting and drawing VWs and old Porsches when he was eight years old, growing up in Marshall, Michigan. He graduated from Hope College in Holland, Michigan, with a Bachelor of Fine Arts, in the spring of 1991.
His work has been featured on the cover of Car Collector Magazine, Old Cars Weekly, and Dupont Registry, along with the cover of Herrington, a mail-order catalog of high-end car accessories. Chapple was the featured artist at the Indianapolis Concours D'Elegance in June 1999.
"Mint" is available in a 14 x 9-inch Giclee print on canvas, in an edition of 295, at $425, or in a 24 x 32-inch artist's proof lithograph at $225. View more of the artist's work at www.autoart.com. Contact: 810/606-0763, [email protected].