About danhise

danhise

It worked. Thank you always.

danhise

I miss John Phillips, but Mr. B is at the same high level. A perfect mix of great comic timing and a certain grumpy savoir faire. "I lost my sense of irony in a childhood accident"! Such a fine coinage that I almost believed it.

danhise

Hey, Sajeev. Just trying this to see if it allows me to post a just-rejected comment.

danhise

Cool interview with Walliser. Great snark from the digitali. Thanks again, Mr. Sam.

danhise

You nailed it, sir. It still bothers me, but I now have the primo metaphor. This guy Siegel gets the Grand Prize for chutzpah. But maybe we can stop hearing about Bangle.

danhise

Wow, Sajeev! You got a mighty theme, and produced a mighty article. I'm not going to be getting a truck, but I can still appreciate this one vicariously. Some wonderful comments from the F-150 World.

danhise

That was great fun, Sam. I am aware, of course, that I booted up here to send some frightfully overdue email responses. But first, Mr. Sam. Always. @thatsamsmith is a delicate, middle-aged fellow with dangerously enervated self-regard; he must be boosted! Sacrifices must be made. The emails will wait.

danhise

Trombone for me. A tad embarrassed at the amount of spit that would puddle beside my chair. I tried to think of the puddle's size as a measure of my devotion to the brass section.

danhise

"Squicking"! Lewis Carroll would love it. ThatSamWordsmith at it again.

danhise

I read along back in the day, as the bricolage progressed. Still astounded at the commitment of his friends. I don't recall seeing the wonderful photo of Ben. "This is what I do. Now look me in the eye and tell me what you do." Game, set, match. The photos from the road stir me to get moving for long distances. For one thing, it's a surefire way to de-tribalize. Get out amongst the people, all of them, the coat of many colors.

danhise

Having registered to buy a GR Corolla, it's good to see the experts make positive comments about it, but could you please dial back a bit from "bat-**bleep**-wonderful"? At that rate, the "market adjustment" will be in six figures. Just asking, ma'am. Ok, pleading.

danhise · ‎13-04-2022

I've paid the deposit and got on the list, but my early excitement has been severely undercut by the knowledge that production will be limited, so my dealer in Mississippi may not even get an allocation, but even if a car or two is available, the "market adjustment" will be enough to kill my chances at driving one home. I can hear Ms. Ronstadt in the background: "We never really made it, baby,/ But we came pretty close." This is where the cowboy walks away.

danhise · ‎12-04-2022

Trolling? Inside joke? C/D has Ezra Dyer, Elena Scherr, "Backfires," and a great new editor, Tony Quiroga. As for R&T, they went astray soon after John Phillips "retired." Fortunately for JP fans such as I, he has a new book out, as covered by Sam Smith here.

danhise · ‎08-04-2022

Good one, Mr. B! I especially loved the riff on mid-life Stuart aka "Style." I happen to have an octogenerian friend who drives a Sienna, whose nickname since college frat days has been "Smooth".

danhise · ‎01-04-2022

Just called and got on the waiting list. I have a 2014 Focus ST and did not expect that anything else would ever come along to match or overmatch the joys I've known in driving it, but now it looks like it's going to happen. I'll turn 80 in November; it would be a helluva birthday present to myself.

danhise · ‎30-03-2022

Am I the only one who was taken aback by the phrase "golden rain"? Not that I have any experience with its X-rated version. Just trying to be helpful, Jack.

danhise · ‎29-03-2022

Never thought I would envy a UPS driver. As most here will recall, Phillips was a favorite target of the often dim-witted folks who wrote letters to C/D "Backfires." I now regret not writing to express my gratitude for his refusal to compromise his gifts as a person who writes for a living. He wrote wonderfully.

danhise · ‎26-03-2022

I'm confused about the pricing. You could buy this Mark IV in 1976 for $1,525?

danhise · ‎25-03-2022

I'm not a bike guy, so I haven't been following the trends, but this bike looks like it's been flayed. Ah, Mr. Sam, I do love it when, like an Anglo-Saxon warrior at a mead fete, you "unlock your word-hoard." And the P-51 simile is priceless.

danhise · ‎15-03-2022

" . . . a robotic tree trunk sacrificing its life . . . ."? Is marijuana legal in Michigan? Not that there's anything wrong with that.

danhise · ‎11-03-2022

Uh, Mr. Sam, your exchange of pleasantries with Mr. Jack are a delight to the readership, but be careful. As my Celtic ancestors would say, "Do not tickle the dragon's nose."

danhise · ‎08-03-2022

Classic device: the protagonist and a foil character. I think of King Lear and his Fool, for example. The Fool has more fun, like the Great-Great-Granddaughter here, mocking the oldster. She echoes the Fool's best line: "Thou should have been wise before thou hadst been old." Yep, Mr. Sam, you and Bill Shakespeare, brothers by another mother, or something like that.

danhise · ‎27-02-2022

In short, an EV is a toaster and I'm a Pop Tart.

danhise · ‎25-02-2022

The most common theme across the world of journalism is "apocalypse now."

danhise · ‎18-02-2022

That was a lovely piece, sir. Could you please run for President? I am definitely not joking. I have a friend named Andy. As Bette Midler said of Karen Carpenter (paraphrasing), "He's so white he's almost invisible." Not fair to Andy, or to Ms Carpenter, but I think you get it.

danhise · ‎08-02-2022

Primo Smith. I can't stop thinking about those Krispy Kreme doughnut holes.

danhise · ‎06-02-2022

I'm always happy when you have found a subject truly worthy of your talents. Stay hungry! A few years back I traveled to Bozeman on a solo fishing trip, and found myself in a Town Car rental. I toured around a bit whilst I was there, and it was a strange experience, struggling with the mountain curves. I wished I was running along near the Canadian border on US Hwy 2, where I could feel like a railroad engineer bringing the prairie to its knees. "More coal! More coal! Damn your eyes, man, more coal!"

danhise · ‎28-01-2022

First time I've had a look under the hood of an EV. Not bad looking. But no stick shift.

danhise · ‎17-01-2022

It looks godawful. It embodies the narrator's taste in men. If she likes that car, she cannot be trusted at any level. Man, Mr. B, you have been in some dark places.

danhise · ‎17-01-2022

Thanks, JEL395. I have to add that my anxiety level did rise when he referred to doing bits over the kitchen sink. One wonders what might be the equal and opposite reaction.

danhise · ‎15-01-2022

"Smith" is maybe the most important root word in English, as in blacksmith, locksmith, silversmith and on and on, including wordsmith. It denotes a master of a craft. A true smith is humble in a humorous way, reluctant to take credit for his or her gifts but never to the obsequious level. You, Mr. Sam, are a true smith. from lacquering to leaning into the curve to lettering your deepest commitments. We are embiggened by your presence.

danhise · ‎08-01-2022

Trees opening to let the road through! I wish I had come up with that one. Dang. At least I can steal it henceforward. I wasn't planning to get into my car today, but after this, how could I not? Plus, I need to get some ground chuck for pasta tonight, and some "Michael's of Brooklyn" putanesca sauce. First the winding road, then the Fresh Mark-up. Sam Smith, Mr. Source of Inspiration.

danhise · ‎01-01-2022

Primo as usual. You did well by Greg, which speaks well for you. My son works with children on the spectrum; it's impossible not to admire the sort of commitment that requires. I also read the "Hellcat" piece. Was there really a "Motor Vogue" magazine, or is that a parody mock-up? You're a man of parts, as they say. Your inventory of parts must be missing the "Hold My Beer" electro-zapper, which would have gone off at defcon 1 when you were at the skate park.

danhise · ‎01-01-2022

Feliz y bendecito ano nuevo, compadre! I'm glad that you confirmed that the cover of The Horseless Age really does have an image of horse business on it. And I hope that Hagerty never locks the gate on its considerable library, including this article. Now it's time to test the censors: On your shelf is a copy of "Sport Trucking." Is there anyone else out there who is unable to suppress a smirk?

danhise · ‎25-12-2021

What Adrian said. Point by point.

danhise · ‎25-12-2021

Great piece, Sajeev! When I got to the pic with father and son strapped in, I thought, "That is one lucky kid." It turns out that that was also one lucky father. Good object lesson for those pondering a kit car adventure. FWIW, that would not include me at this late stage, but I deeply regret not having the expertise.

danhise · ‎22-12-2021

Holden Caulfield grew up and changed his name to Jack Baruth. No one goes after the phonies like Mr. B. "B" for "Best".

danhise · ‎22-12-2021

Wow, this is so meta! Sam must have known that this could backfire, but our Sam is bad to the bone! Any of us can see that Ellington Scott is Jack Baruth. Totally transparent!! But Sam knows that Hagerty could not dare risk losing a million subscribers if it dares to touch King Sam. Bazinga! Hagerty goes down. Bam! Come on, Ellington Baruth, I dare you to censor me. Dare you!

danhise · ‎18-12-2021

Oh man, Jack, you can recreate with the best. I assume that there may be a stretcher or three, but the world you take us to has no improbabilities. You satisfy the Aristotelian prerequisite as nicely as one can. It was a beautiful piece. I thought of my favorite car salesman, Willie Thornton, who has lived long and seen much, and is the most authentic human being I've ever known. Baruth. Is that from "Bayreuth"?

danhise · ‎09-12-2021

Good health to your family, and to your extended family gathered here. Long life, Mr. Sam; we need you to keep us happy, as you always do.

danhise · ‎05-12-2021

That would make more sense. LOL. And I wasted a precious minute looking up the spelling of "carburetor". I grow old, I grow old. It was a 1970 Dodge Dart, our first family car because we had just added a third family member.

danhise · ‎04-12-2021

With a nod to Hemingway, I would affirm that you have the "aficion," the "passion". (See "The Sun Also Rises.") Having the Beethoven soundtrack is cool, especially the Gould version. (I did not immediately wonder if you had made up the delivery guy's name, but it occurred to me later. Or did you choose Gould to match an eponym?) But if we build on the German composer motif, what strikes me more and more is that much of your writing, especially this piece, makes me think of the "Great Horn Theme" in the last movement of Brahms' First Symphony, which is about as elegiac as a work of art gets, other than maybe "Siegfried's Funeral March." At this point, something big is ending, moorings are lost, and the choir that was supposed to sing the "Ode to Joy" has moved to Texas. I suppose I care about cars too much, but dang I'm melancholy about things. Of course, I could have stopped caring when I could not keep up with the technology and could no longer set points or rotate the carburetor as I studied the chalk marks under the timing light. Not as good as sex, but in a similar dimension of joy. You have captured more than the measure of a car; you have captured (one last German bit) the zeitgeist.

danhise · ‎04-12-2021

How about a little change to your text: ". . . never disappoint." Is that not what you meant to say?

danhise · ‎17-11-2021

A wonderful piece by an old pro and a young one. My father bought a '48 Cadillac, which caused my mother to give him "up the country" for being a spendthrift (he was still in the Air Force after the war, teaching ROTC at Colgate, and clearly not making a ton of money). Sadly, he was killed in a freak plane crash shortly afterwards, and my mother had to sell the Caddy and buy a Chevy. It gave me special pleasure to see the photos of a car much like ours. And I grieved. Maybe I'll get a Blackwing in his memory. But a stick, not a Hydramatic.

danhise · ‎10-11-2021

Saw an ad today, featuring the phrase "Fortune favors the bold." Nonsense. Fortune (chance) favors the prepared mind. (Thanks, M. Pasteur.) Kudos for your going into detail about what "prepared mind" means in the real world before a significant achievement occurs. What I liked even more was the interplay 'twixt husband and wife, and your natural respect for her as a fellow car guy. You define effortlessly the vast distance many of us have traveled since "My wife. I think I'll keep her." I bow to you.

danhise · ‎09-11-2021

I'm not sorry. I would not spend any amount of money on a car that will go down in history as Bucky Beaver. The front end is an Edsel Class mistake. You finished that assignment with your dignity intact. Fortune will reward you. Good Duchamp reference. A cut above. A cut below.

danhise · ‎06-11-2021

Thanks, Sajeev. I may have tried to get into the store before opening time. Truth is, I have rented some space on a satellite housing a device that sends me a text in real time as soon as Hagerty posts The Stuff of Sam.

danhise · ‎06-11-2021

Fantastic! Many thanks, and safe driving. Mostly. I'll check it out. I'll bet that Sam has been on it.

danhise · ‎05-11-2021

Ok, that's better. On my annual trip to Western NC, I usually enter the state from the south off I-85 onto SC State Hwy. 11. Not much to see, but the gasoline is cheap. Then State Hwy. 28 out of Walhalla, which has a couple of nice esses and some good views. Then comes Hwy 107 into Cashiers, and whoa Betsy! (Or Becky, or whatever. 107 doesn't have a name that I'm aware of.) I do know that it can be a dog's mother. Just when you think you're Sam Smith, you are in a curve that approaches hairpin status and you are shocked back into your true ineptitude. And like the Tail of the Dragon, it has natural beauty three seasons out of the year. But as Sam says, there are similar stretches all over what the NC Tourist Bureau calls the "Western Plateau." (Mountains everywhere, and they call it a plateau?) My 2014 Ford Focus ST3 ($28000 new, and currently valued at around $22000) loves nothing more than driving 8 hours from Jackson MS to Cashiers NC, assuming I average 85-90 mph out of Atlanta, which means you're normally matching the speed of the vehicles around you. I kinda like it myself. Thanks, Sam, for carving another jewel.

danhise · ‎05-11-2021

I thought I was commenting first on the last SS entry, but my comment would not post. If this test message posts, I will find a way to keep writing. If not, Sajeev is the go-to.