What does it mean to be a car enthusiast?

Photo by Camilla Calnan Photography

Being out on tours, we hear a lot of different comments about our dear 1923 Ford Model T Mabeline. Comments range from "I like your car, but I'm not really a car person myself" to "What kind of engine/transmission/rear axle gear ratio does that have?" In this month's blog, I wanted to explore a lighter take on our traditional historical blog and ruminate on the various ways I feel that anyone can relate to antique cars. In all my time with the antique car hobby, I have felt like it is one of the more inclusive groups, evolving much over the last twenty-five to thirty years.

One of the traditional views I would like to dispute is that you have to work on your own cars or be a "gear head" to be a true car enthusiast. I although I personally enjoy working on my cars and do so out of necessity, not everyone does or can. There is more than just mechanical work that defines a car enthusiast! This is just our view and not breaking any new ground, but merely wanting to include more people in the antique car world. Come along and let's explore some of the different ways to be involved with the antique car hobby!

1. Working on your car/being a gear head

   The more traditional school of thought around automotive enthusiasts involves learning to work on your car. For most of us, we started with basic maintenance of our cars. This may have involved learning to wash a car with a parent and later learning basic maintenance like checking tire pressure, changing a flat tire and checking vital fluid levels such as gasoline, coolant and oil. Later, we would learn things like changing oil, spark plugs and air filters. As our interest grew, we may learn how to do a tune up (changing spark plugs, spark plug wires and adjusting engine timing) to make our cars run smoother and perform better. Most of us started with an older car as our first ride, that most likely had deferred maintenance from a previous owner and was not in optimal running condition. These were considered basic life skills when I grew up in the 1990s and early 2000s, being taught in school, Boy Scouts or other after school clubs.

   For those of us that were really into cars (and speaking of my generation - millennials), when Fast and Furious came out, we began to want to learn how to modify our cars. Different wheels, brakes that had more stopping power, items to increase the horsepower of our engines, including louder exhaust, etc. It was all about making your car reflect your personality and having a car that was so unique, any time someone saw it roaming the streets, they knew exactly who was at the wheel. This could be good or bad, depending on if you were doing something you were not supposed to do!

2. Cleaning and Detailing

There are many people that may not enjoy doing mechanical work, but really enjoy the process of cleaning or "detailing" their car. This involves washing your car and cleaning the interior in a very methodical way. On the exterior of the car, this may involve multiple levels of surface preparation to make sure any old grime or environmental contaminants are off of the car. For the interior, it may involve vacuuming, steam cleaning and many different products for cleaning glass, leather and plastic surfaces. For me, this has always provided a sense of calm in the chaos of the world and a real sense of accomplishment at the end of the job. I can get lost in the tedium of polishing trim pieces and cleaning all the surfaces of the car. It can even make the car feel brand new again and greatly extends the life of your car. Typically, if you can keep your car looking good, it also is motivation to keep it in good mechanical shape. Letting little dings, scratches and grime build up over time also tends to make you neglect other areas of your car. When I was growing up, this was a normal task that you typically set aside a weekend afternoon for (cleaning your car) among other tasks. This may be different for other people as time has progressed.

Isaiah Rice Photo Collection, Southern Appalachian Heritage Archive, UNC-Asheville

3. Automotive History and Family Connections

Almost everyone I have met at the Estes-Winn car museum and on tours has a story about a family member or car they remember vividly. It doesn't have to be a car of historical significance and most of the time it is generally something ordinary. Those memories of road trips, a drive to air out our thoughts when working through something difficult or the feeling of accomplishment after we drove it off the lot are something we carry for a long time. Personal transportation is just that - personal.

Over time, these vehicles become more of a time capsule, being covered in stickers from travels, glove boxes filled with mementos or old service records and paint marks/worn off paint that tell a story. They can also become a time machine, where they transport us back to another era with their sounds, smells and view out antique glass. When you can experience one of these cars, it can inspire a sense of reverence and respect for the people that kept them going and used them in everyday life. There aren't many experiences in life, where you can interact with an object, as someone else did, 50, 60 or 100 years ago! It can also be a connection with a family member we never knew, but might have driven the same car. It's a little piece that helps us understand just one aspect of their life.

Interior Harry's Cadillac-Pontiac at 68 Haywood Street, downtown Asheville, North Carolina

4. Automotive Design

Another aspect of antique automobiles that can be appealing to many people is their design. You don't need to know what kind of engine size or tires it has on it, but maybe you just like the color. From a design perspective, these cars are so different than modern cars because they were designed to make you feel a certain way. Many of the designers of these cars were artists at the start of their career and not engineers. That is why there is so much detail on the cars, ranging from the exterior to the interior. They also reflect broader design concepts from their eras like Art Deco, Mid-Century Modern and military styling to conspicuous consumption in later decades. Because of their influence on industrial design, some influential cars have even ended up in art museums like the Museum of Modern Art in New York City. Because there was so much more human involvement in their design rather than computers, I feel like they reflect the personality of their designer more. Typically, these designers would make a life size sculpture out of clay to finesse the proportions of a car and every other element of the car may have hundreds of hand drawn figures before a prototype was even created and driven on the street.

Let us know what you think! What are your memories of cars that were special to you? What does being a lover of cars or their history mean to you? Come along on a tour with us and explore Asheville's automotive history through the many communities that have made up our city over time!