Into the lions' den ...

Hello all,

I write for Amazon Car Lust, and specifically I wrote the Fiat/Bertone X1/9 post that Jim D. mentioned in here - a post that was received with not a whole lot of enthusiasm.

Here's Jim's post: http://www.network54.com/Forum/12159/message/1214679772/
Here's my offending X1/9 post: http://www.carlustblog.com/2007/10/fiat-x19.html

I don't necessarily have a lot of honor to defend, but I am worried that I caused offense where I meant none with people who I probably have a lot in common with, so I'd like to try to explain. And if you'd prefer to shout me down and pelt me with rotten fruit and other solid objects, I can certainly understand that too.

Here's the thing - I actually thought I wrote a pretty loving remembrance of the X1/9, so I was startled to see the response. Until I actually reread my post and I think I understand the problem.

It might be helpful for me to give some context, and answer some of the questions along the way.

> I am amazed that he can be allowed to write an article and post/publish it about a car he has never even driven.

Well, the downside of the Internet is that any idiot can post an opinion on the web, and as mischance would have it, I'm one of those idiots. I have opinions on cars, and I write them. I may have the name "Amazon" on the blog, but at the end of the day I'm just another idiot posting his opinions on the Internet.

In my defense, I try to make clear up front the fact that I'm not operating as a journalist here, but just as another blogger. My profile on the blog reads thusly:

"Chris Hafner is a former automotive journalist turned full-time car addict. Without concerning himself with fairness, objectivity, or expertise, he nevertheless feels strongly about just about every car made. His tastes in cars are, to be charitable, quirky. Be cautious; if you would like to avoid hearing him drone on about Saabs for countless hours, it's best if you avoid eye contact and back away slowly."

I've been a journalist in my career, engaged in fact-checking, etc., I'd get test cars for evaluation and all that, but this is a whole different ball of wax. On this blog I write about cars I like and dislike for whatever rational or irrational reason; I've posted daily for nearly a year, about hundreds of cars now, and if I limited it to cars I've actually driven I wouldn't be able to write about all kinds of cars. I'm not declaring fact - I'm having a conversation with other enthusiasts who also lust after a wide variety of cars, many of which they probably haven't driven.

For what it's worth, I try not to be a complete ignoramus. There's usually a reason I have an opinion on these cars - I've either driven one, or known somebody who owns one, or have just read many road tests (or one road test many times!). But again, I'm not declaring myself to be the world's expert on every car I write about.

I can see why it came across as overly negative, though, and maybe some context would be helpful here. I write about cars I like (and, rarely, cars I don't like). Those cars tend to be very quirky by the standards of the outside world. Meanwhile, my readership is, at best, generalized car enthusiasts who know the cars they drive and the big names like Ferraris and Corvettes and that kind of thing. At worst, they don't know anything about cars. That kind of audience is, at best, likely to look at a Fiat X1/9 and say, "Wow, it's tiny. Didn't those rust easily? I remember those being really slow." At worst, they're likely to look at it and say, "Huh?" Their frame of reference is going to be to compare the X1/9 to a 1996 Civic. So this is my audience.

My style tends to be self-deprecating. And when I'm writing about cars that I like, I tend to be self-deprecating about them. Typically I say something like, "Okay, okay, so it's slow and expensive and blah blah blah, but here's why it's great ..." That's the formula I used in the X1/9 piece as well. I'm honest about my opinions, but with cars I like I typically start slow and end fast.

I don't think it's wrong to say that the X1/9 wasn't a great classic car - it isn't legendary for its performance, it didn't change the automotive market, and it wasn't sold here in great numbers. And I don't think it's wrong to say it wasn't fast (in a straight line, anyway - its handling is a glaring omission here). But then notice that I then go in and build it up - it's gorgeous and totally desirable. I want one.

I try to write these with a loving tone, as if I'm saying these things with a smile on my face. It doesn't always work, unfortunately. But if you guys read some of my other posts on cars that you don't necessarily have an emotional connection with, I'm hoping my style and what I'm trying to say becomes a little more clear.

The general population thinks I'm a way-overboard weird car lover, too unrealistic about the commonly known faults of the cars I love. But then the ironic thing is that when I try to be balanced about the cars I like, the true believers think I'm being way too critical. An example is the AMC Eagle - I said, in essence, that it was ugly but totally endearing and fantastic. The Eagle fans heard that I thought it was ugly and took umbrage.

Either I'm doing something fundamentally wrong or I'll never be able to please everybody. Or it's just a natural outgrowth of the fact that I'm something of a car generalist and don't focus my energy on one car, so we communicate about it a little differently. But I can say with great confidence that I have more in common with you guys and the Eagle guys by far than the general Joe off the street who thinks the X1/9 must be garbage.

> Where did he get this quote? "Nowadays, you can find ratty old X1/9s behind gas stations, parked in alleys, and in fields--their marvelous designer lines left to slowly (or rapidly, as the case may be) rust away into nothingness"

Actually, the whole idea of an X1/9 article was prompted by a car I saw rusting away behind a service station in Sturgis, SD, when I was out there visiting family. The cars in Sturgis tend to be pretty vanilla, so I was really struck that this fantastic boutique car was left to rust behind a service station. It was pretty, interesting, and a bit sad. Since then I've kept my eyes open and seen more in a sad state of disrepair. They're not unique in that way - I've seen all kinds of fascinating 1970s cars in a sad state of disrepair that ignores their glory when they were built.

My point wasn't that all X1/9's are rotting away somewhere, or that all X1/9's SHOULD be rotting away somewhere - just that some are. I think that's interesting.

> One friend commented that it was scary when you think that we are reading this and we know how wrong it is because we know about the subject matter ourselves

This could certainly be true in this case as well. I try not to give the impression that I'm writing the end-all-be-all reference document on a car; rather, I'm writing more of an opinion essay. Hopefully an accurate opinion essay, though. I do one of these every day and don't get paid anything extra to do it (and don't get to do the rest of my job less well) so I'm a bit limited on the fact-checking I can do. As I say, I've been a journalist, but I just can't write this to that standard. This has to be a different animal.

> I also would mention that a Brake master cylinder in a 4000 dollar used Class mercedes will run you 850 parts and labor where you could get that done for less than 150 on an X/19.... Where does he come up with the expensive maintence?

This is another case where everything depends on context. The X1/9 might not have expensive parts and labor compared to a used Mercedes, but that's a pretty expensive context. Mercedes are not cheap for either parts or labor.

Keep in mind that much of my readership drives what I'll call (for a lack of a better word - no offense) normal cars. By this I mean boring, everyday cars that make up 90% of the cars on the road. In that context, speaking to that audience, owning a Fiat is not a cheap proposition.

That sentence was about me, by the way. Among other cars, I'd love to have an X1/9 (or a Fiat 124 Spider - I'd be torn), but compared to your average car I think it'd be an expensive proposition. I'd love to be wrong about that, by the way.

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This has turned into a book, but because I like the car and I didn't mean to hurt any feelings here I wanted to be as clear as possible in what I was trying to say. And thanks to all who have invited me to the X1/9 get-together in Centralia/Chehalis - if I can make it (I have a young daughter, so all bets are off on future planning) I certainly will. It sounds like fun, and you deserve a chance to take a swing at me in person if you'd like. And if anybody is foolhardy enough to allow me to drive their X1/9, well, I'd love that too. And either way, if I attend, I'll write up a post about it. Fair?