Avoidable Contact #88: It was easy to love exotics when we didn't know who was driving them | Hagerty Media

[Hagerty]

"No man is a hero to his valet." This proverb is older than its most common attribution and is likely as old as the profession of valet itself. It should go without saying that I'm speaking here of "valet" in the traditional sense, that of gentleman's assistant; the equivalent profession in the military was long known as "batman", after a long-obsolete usage of "bat" to mean "pack" or "luggage".
https://www.hagerty.com/media/opinion/avoidable-contact/avoidable-contact-88-it-was-easy-to-love-exo...

[Flashman]

Okay, Mr. Baruth. I've put up with your outrageous comments for lo these many months with barely a rejoinder, but when you slag Showgirls, you've gone too far!

BTW, my friend with a 944 Turbo calls it a 951.

[Bmike]

"Fire you nose-first into a ditch" had me scrambling to Google to find the classic R&T PS: photo "Good tires, but certainly not great tires". Good times. Also liked to Radio IMSA hypothetical. That'd be me as well. BTW, FvF was a great movie.

[Germanicus]

I get the feeling. My desire to own a fancy watch evaporated when I came across the online watch community, which is an insufferable world governed by Worthington's Law.

[Olddavid]

I want the Bentley version for its stealth ability. Owned one in 1999 for six months until a margin call On eToys wiped that recent windfall out. Would repeat the process in a second.

[Olddavid]

I was fortunate to have a Father who saw the intrinsic value of Patek, Tudor, IWC and Tissot in the late '30's and left them to me at his passing.

[Jack_Hagerty]

I'm not saying I didn't like watching it!

[Jack_Hagerty]

Sir, you have a point --- but think of the Biltmore that Jeff Bezos could construct, were he of a mind to do so!

[el_zato]

Uh, What "concentration of wealth"? That would imply that the number of wealthy people is decreasing while their personal wealth would be increasing, and that's far from the truth, today the number of millionaires and billionaires is actually increasing, it is higher than ever, and the "disappearing middle class" myth in the United States is probably due to the fact that so many of them are actually moving -higher- in the social scale becoming part of the upper class. (The actual numbers are not hard to find, they are in the US Census) and accusing every single rich person on YouTube to be undeserving of their wealth is unjust at best.

As for supercar owners, uh, I don't know why singling out PewDie Pie, he's not a supercar owner, and for what I've seen, 1) Social Media influencers aren't the #1 supercar buyers, although they're probably the loudest and 2) I have no idea who are the 75 lucky guys and gals who bought a McLaren Senna, they're totally anonymus AFAIK, the same for the 100 lucky buyers of the GMA T.50 who specifically requested it to have a manual transmission (!) and those who have bought track-only specials from Aston Martin and Ferrari... you get the idea. These people are far from loud social media rich kids, and to me, they represent the modern supercar buyer, different but slightly less annoying than 1960s and 1970s douchebags Enzo Ferrari hated so much.

As for me, if I won the lottery tomorrow, well, I completely and utterly refuse to drive an automatic supercar (except MAYBE the new Ford GT) If I had enough money I wouldn't go for the GMA T.50 either because that car scares the crap out of me, same for old manual supercars I love like the Porsche Carrera GT, so I'm basically out luck, I've never gotten the appeal of luxury cars... so my rich "kid" garage would likely consist of a C7 Corvette, a Ford GT, a 992 Carrera S (manual, daily driver) and some car that teaches me to drive fast like a Subaru BRZ. And they'd be all over Instagram and YouTube. Ha.

[el_zato]

I love high-end watches, but since I've seen you can have 90% of the looks and experience for 1/100 of the price, I turned away and never looked back. My most recent purchase is an Invicta Diver watch for $90. It's a Swiss brand but not Swiss-made, it has a Japanese-made Quartz Movement mechanism. I love it, I'm planning to get a Stuhrling mechanical watch (less than $100) and in the future another Invicta Aviator model (which costs a lot more, like $2,000)

[hyperv6]

I find it odd how many vilify and decry people of wealth. If it was earned legally then more power to em!

To be honest when someone has gone from nothing to much they often have things we can learn from them and habits that can prove success is with in reach.

But having wealth is not always easy street either. They have their own temptations and fears just as anyone else. Many die from drug abuse, some fear things they have no control over like their health. I have seen some held prisoner to it.

Envy is just as bad as anything they are doing.

As for the cars I enjoy seeing them and reading about them. I will never likely own an exotic but never begrudge anyone that does own one.

If not for even some folks who buy them for the wrong reasons they create a market do the cars exist and we can see what really can be built.