Martin Pease

Spring sprang last week, finally, after the Winter that Wouldn't Quit, and we are blessed with some of the nicest days of the year. The bright green foliage has yet to darken, and so the world feels fresh and new. Perfect weather for some top-down motoring. For the last 9 years or so, I've pretty constantly had a convertible of some sort in my garage, for days just such as this. This is the biggest luxury I indulge in, from a monetary standpoint, because it really is unnecessary except for the pleasure it gives me. Most "luxury" cars are really just expensive cars ; most people need a car, and so the ownership of one is not a luxury. A third car such as a roadster or convertible* is a true luxury car, even if a particular one is not expensive. My first roadster was a horrid 1974 Fiat 124 Spider. I bought it for $1,000, and it was broken in the way that most Italian cars of the period are- every. It leaked and burned oil, the top was torn, the transmission was dy...

A refreshed Lincoln Continental might get suicide doors! The best Continental ever First we heard that the slow-selling Continental might get the ax after only a couple years on sale; but then this news comes out, indicating a completely new body structure to support rear-opening "suicide" doors. It's hard to believe both things are true; unless the Continental is leaving the US market and staying alive in China. That would really be a sorry state of affairs.

When you see someone drive a Range Rover down the street, what do you think about him? Is he wealthy- yes, obviously. How much does he earn- is he a lawyer, pulling down $350k in his 5th year of practice? Or does he make $3.5 million a year as a hedge fund manager? Or is he in fact one of the super rich, the sort of person for whom money has lost all meaning? I say he could be any of these, or perhaps even a drug dealer or football player. Or both! The fact is that a Range Rover both reveals and conceals the status of the driver. You know he is a man of some means, but how much? It is a mystery. He could have a garage full of super cars; maybe the Range Rover is his only car. But the car intrigues the passerby all the same. Not being a shadowy oligarch rolling in Bitcoin millions, I bought this 2012 Range Rover in Luxury trim (yes, really) used. "Certified pre-owned, Standish, not used!" I say to my butler, as he irons my Dockers. There is only really one option you ...

Well played, good sir, well played.

My wife screamed a loud, sharp, “STOP!” I jumped immediately on the brakes, just as a phantom Chevy Tahoe emerged from nowhere and crossed our path from right to left. The driver gave me a sidelong look with a clear indication of his opinion of me. Of course, the Tahoe had been there the entire time, yet it was all but invisible to me. Computer aided design, wind tunnel and virtual aerodynamics modeling, and NTHSA safety ratings have caused what I believe to be a minor crisis in automotive design. This rigorous process of fuel economy and safety rating maximalization dictates a generic blob, which the car companies then “style”. In the search to make their blob stand out from everyone else’s blobs, the incidental surface decoration of many cars is becoming increasingly bizarre, e.g. everything Toyota is producing currently. But this relentless march to the regulator’s tune has a secondary, and worse, effect. More and more cars are just too damn hard to see out of. Let us list a...