Father, Cars, a Carolina BMW, and E.B. White

Autoliterate has a tiresome theory, first deployed in the essay Love Cars, explaining why many men are wildly attracted to the cars their fathers drove. The theory comes down to the sheer imprinting-on-boy-mind power of seeing dad's hands on the steering wheel; boy sensing that wheel was the center of power and control, & the most masculine object imaginable---boy yearning to get his own hands on the wheel and replace the old man. Later this is mixed with a powerful need to hold on to the old man, too. 
          Anyway, it's a theory.
         Meanwhile Autoliterate is pleased to post (below) some wonderful notes on the father/son/car theme by Bowman Gray. I first saw Bowman' 1972 BMW 3.0 CS (model series E9) in a grocery store parking lot in Maine, where it stood out on account of its handsome maroon paint, its fitness of form, and its North Carolina plates.
             First, some notes on the car from Bowman: "Originally equipped with a three litre dual carb six, producing about 180 hp. I stuffed a 3.5 from a 1989 635CSI with headers and a Schrick street cam to make about 250 hp. Also converted to a 5 speed from an automatic, changed the rear diff to a 3.64 vs the 3.46 and added the CSL front air dam (BMW only made 475 of the CSLs and somewhere around 11,000 of the CS and CSi coupes). The list will surely grow."

"When I was young, my father had a 1969 Bavaria in the same color scheme: Malaga with tan interior. Just before he died in 1985 he and I rode in a silver 3.0 that belonged to a friend. I fell in love. Imagine my surprise when a neighbor in Minnesota opened his garage one spring morning to expose a green tarp hugging very familiar lines under a stack of boxes. It had literally been there since 1985 when his dad bought the car from the original owner. Summer of 2005 we decided to move back to North Carolina. My most wonderful and intuitive wife looked at me and said "You know, if you don't buy that car, you will never forgive yourself." So, I bought it and she hasn't forgiven me since. Despite her graceful lines and pleasing purr, this car is rolling nostalgia. When I have my son with me, to borrow some of EB White's sentiment, I am not sure if I am my son  as a passenger or if I am my Father behind the wheel. It is truly amazing how these things become a part of who we are."  --Bowman Gray

It's interesting, and appropriate, that Bowman references the late E.B. White in his notes. Apart from authoring 2 children's classics, Charlotte's Web and Stuart Little)  E.B White was one of the great American essayists and prose stylists (read his collection One Man's Meat), and a long-time resident of this Maine peninsula. 

      Which reminds us of an exciting event happening on our peninsula on July 28th:

      To support and celebrate the Peninsula Montessori School, 
                                                 5 authors 

                                                 Melissa Coleman

                                                 Jonathan Lethem

                                                 Ben Marcus

                                                 Bill Mayher

                                                 Martha White

                                                    will be 

                                           READING THE WHITES

on Thursday July 28, 7pm

at a private residence

700 Falls Bridge Rd (Rt 175), South Blue Hill, Maine

drinks & hors d'ouevres

suggested contribution $25/pp

for more info: phbehrens@gmail.com