We ran a piece about the inclusion of new cars at shows and ignited World War Three in the process.
The issue was largely about whether new cars and trucks should have a place at car shows, and the feedback was significant from our readers.
Some felt we played favorites and gave the nod to the old guard in this issue.
They were probably right since our mission at MSCC is to celebrate the past when it comes to vehicles because we built our game plan on a bygone automotive era-plus we are old guys in the greater scheme of things.
We have an enormous amount of respect for the new rides because they are the evolution of the automobile as we get used to the 21st century. The new cars are faster and better handling machines than anything from the past, but they are not from the past.
One person (presumably a woman judging by the fake name) took a broadside at old car guys, including us, and their (our) narrow-minded approach to new cars at shows. I could not completely disagree with her assessment, except we did point out the value of new cars at shows.
That brings me to another point: we did include reasons why new cars have an important role to play in today’s world because they are the dream cars for a new generation-not unlike 60s muscle cars for us old guys when we were young guys.
If new cars have the same effect on a new generation of car guys, then they will have done a service to all of us who want to see the car guy culture survive into a future world where self-driving cars will suck the life out of the driving experience.
However, the auto-drive cars will give a new generation of self-absorbed nerds more time to play with their e-toys while the car drives them from Point A to Point B in a soulless new age of automotive advancement.
At least the visceral appeal of the new muscle cars is still wrapped around the old idea that drivers control all of the fun with their right foot and two hands.
The MSCC article addressed the value of new cars at shows near the end of the piece and maybe some of our readers failed to read the article to its conclusion. We live in an era of massive exposure to written content where most of the information comes in small digestible bite-sized pieces.
Personally, I was given a blunt lesson in article size many years ago when I first started as a freelancer after I complained to an editor at a daily newspaper about how they had cut up my articles for size. His advice was straight forward: write shorter articles and get to the point sooner.
He suggested less than 700 words to hold on to readers long enough for them to read the entire article. That was back in the 80s-he would probably suggest about 100 words/article would be a maximum limit to hold today’s readers.
However, we still like to write articles that are longer than tweets and shorter than War and Peace (1225 pages in its original form). Our advice is also pretty straight forward: read the whole article to get the big picture.
We are unapologetic fans of the old iron, but we respect the value of new rides as a great way to keep the car hobby alive and well in the future.
Jim Sutherland
ps-here’s the link to the original MSCC article for anyone who missed it.
CLICK HERE to Like us on Facebook
CLICK HERE to Follow us on Twitter
CLICK HERE to Follow us on Pinterest
*Re-post if you like this MSCC article…thanks.
