THE AUTOEXTREMIST
Tuesday, April 3, 2012 at 09:25AM April 4, 2012
A New York state of mind.
By Peter M. De Lorenzo
"New York... just like I pictured it... skyscrapers and everything..."
- Stevie Wonder, "Living for the City."
(Posted 4/3, 9:30 a.m.) New York. Ensconced in New York this week for the New York International Auto Show, a lot of car people wonder out loud why New York even has an auto show. After all, isn't this the land of cratered streets and hordes of yellow transportation devices with lights on their roofs? Yes, it is. It's also the national park of urban congestion, a kaleidoscope of crisscrossing streets teeming with taxi drivers of widely varying skills careening around unfettered and unbowed and for the most part, lacking the ability to give a shit about anything, especially pedestrians.
But those are the usual stereotypes, and even though they are, for the most part, true, it doesn't define or even come close to explaining the rabid enthusiasm for cars and motorcycles in this town. Really, you might ask? In New York? Yes, indeed.
I am always stunned by the motor enthusiasm in this great city. It is not uncommon to see some of the finest high-performance and luxury cars in the world here. You name it, from the latest Ferrari and Lamborghini super cars and Rolls-Royce and Bentleys, to the newest kid on the block - the sensational McLaren - you see absolutely everything here. Being driven. On these streets. And in this traffic. It's pretty incredible when you think about it.
But that's not all. Yesterday I saw a Citroen Maserati, parked, on 29th Street. A perfectly restored Baby Blue '61 Lincoln Continental rolled by, with the top down. A red (of course) Ferrari 458 Italia. Then there was the Ducati being ridden by a properly-clad rider on Park Avenue. Really? A motorcycle? And you see motorcycles being ridden everywhere, mostly expensive ones too. That's commitment, folks.
What's refreshing about New York is that when you see these automotive visions rolling by you realize that despite the seemingly overwhelming challenges facing these enthusiasts - the traffic, the tolls, the taxes, the mean streets, the unruly and irreverent drivers - they're still willing to drive and ride and even flaunt their enjoyment for all to see.
And that may be confounding to the virulent anti-car people who are raising their pitchforks higher by the day, but it perfectly encapsulates why the love affair with the automobile and freedom of mobility isn't going anywhere anytime soon in this country.
Every time I come to New York I have to take my hat off to the enthusiasts of every stripe who revel in enjoying their chosen machines here. From where I sit these are the most committed motoring enthusiasts in the world.
Which is why the New York International Auto Show is a pretty big deal, and why the manufacturers spend a ton of money to make a good impression here.
I'll have more from the show in our "On The Table" column. In the meantime, that's the High-Octane Truth for this week.
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