COTD: Dapper Like Harry S. Truman Edition

I helped my sister move into her dorm in San Francisco the better part of a decade ago and I only packed two CDs with me: Harvest by Neil Young and Paul's Boutique.

So I spent a few days wandering around, imagining myself driving scenes not altogether unlike what Block did in Gymkhana 5, listening to a shit ton of Beastie Boys. "I once was lost but now I'm found/the music washes over and you're one with the sound," was me for a weekend.

So every time I'm reminded of that album I think of San Francisco.

::engaging stream of consciousness mode:: powersliding USS Harry Truman — "Always go out dapper like Harry S. Truman" — Shadrach — San Francisco — Gymkhana 5 – hooning in SF — Bullitt — heaving, wallowing muscle cars.

And that brings us, in a rather roundabout way, to today's best conversation. It started early when we started talking about the new Dodge Dart, and it ended with a thorough discussion ofwhat it takes to be a hot hatch, what we like in our cheap powerful cars. Though it wasn't exactly expected, Festering Neon Distraction ended up describing how we don't really want muscle cars anymore. Read through the whole discussion, because it's detailed and nuanced, but feel free to debate if this line points out that the old school muscle car isn't the lust object it used to be.

Well the Caliber SRT4 was faster than the MS3, and right at that price point. It was also a Caliber. Point is you gotta have a good base car, and if you bring forward inherent design flaws and compromises, you just end up with the same shitty little car, only with a big motor and a big price tag relative to the base model.