Hello and welcome

I'm an unabashed car lover and have been so since I was a young boy. But it's a bit of a leap from lover to blogger, so let me fill you in on why I feel so leap-worthy.

For most of my child, adolescent and adult life, I've lived the auto-interest lifestyle vicariously through others. Growing up in an east coast inner city, car mags and muscle car spotting first off – interspersed with hundreds of thousands of hand-drawn personal designs in the back of the classroom. Later, watching and listening as friends and associates pulled funds together to purchase autos of interest. A 2002tii, a Hemi-Cuda, a Citroen ID19.

It wasn't until quite recently in life that I had the funds and the inclination to move from watcher to participant. More about that transformation in a bit. But it's that long delay from admirer to owner that's enabled me to construct what I hope to be an unusual and compelling soapbox from which to cite and share observations with the rest of you all in the auto-phile community.

So, here's some of the building blocks of my platform that will support our discussions. In no prioritiy order:

I'm a geek and work in the high tech field. So I do, or at least pretend to have a decent take on the technology side of the auto world;

I'm a business executive so I'll do my best to factor the demographics, buying habits, industrial politics and economic realities of the industry;

I'm a Northern Californian, perhaps the best place on earth to be involved in auto-mania. Perfect weather for any type of vehicle. The land of individualism where some of the oddest and appealing 4 (plus or minus 2) wheel devices turn up. And enough discretionary wealth here and there to see some rolling works of art otherwise reserved for the web, magazine, or museums.

Finally, I'm the father of some young adults. So I've got my own built-in opinion shapers of another generation from my own.

A final word about it all. There are two types of bloggers. Those who want to blast their opinions across cyberspace and reaction be damned; and those (like I) who welcome the dialog. Like what you read? Tell me. Think it's all wrong? Tell me. No, rather, tell us all. Add all of the color and discourse you can think of.

And finally, enjoy it all. Lets face it, there's transportation and then there's the love of all things automotive. The visceral pleasure of our passion is what keeps us coming back to it. So join me in making this a good time.

Verde