{"id":12701,"date":"2013-04-22T11:15:02","date_gmt":"2013-04-22T18:15:02","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/giuliettas.com\/?p=12701"},"modified":"2013-04-22T11:15:02","modified_gmt":"2013-04-22T18:15:02","slug":"ramble-3-the-serendipity-distraction-collection","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/rufushamilton.com\/giuliettas\/2013\/04\/22\/ramble-3-the-serendipity-distraction-collection\/","title":{"rendered":"Ramble: The Serendipity Distraction collection"},"content":{"rendered":"

I have a classic vehicle collection: three cars, two of which run, and 10ish motorcycles, two of which run \u2013oh, and two bicycles, both of which ride.\u00a0 The other day I was trying to get the hood to latch correctly on my Lancia Appia series 2 sedan, and failing, I sat back and looked the car over \u2013a charmingly subtle if mousy little sedan in metallic gray\/green.\u00a0 I didn\u2019t seek this car out \u2013 it sought me out.\u00a0 I happened to swing by a friends shop and a guy there mentioned he had an Appia for sale.\u00a0 You know how the rest goes down. It cost me an afternoon, a little money and a measure of my hopefully replenish-able serendipity.\u00a0\"IMG_6485\"<\/a><\/p>\n

This is a really cool little car. \u00a0Yes, I have that hubcap. \u00a0Anyone want to buy it? \u00a0Comes with a good parts car! \u00a0I’m about $8000 into the campaign…<\/strong><\/p>\n

The sun was shining a bit more aggressively than I\u2019m used to that day, so I went into my shop to find some other screws to turn while I had a wrench in my hand and spied my Honda Trail 55.\u00a0 My dad called me one day; his neighbor had a really clean little old Honda for sale\u2026 you know how the rest goes down.\u00a0 Or maybe I should swap the rear fender on that Scrambler my friend basically gave me when he was moving out of state.\u00a0 At that moment I realized, I didn\u2019t seek any of these vehicles out, they just showed up like hungry mouths to feed, and I figured I had enough chairs and soup.<\/p>\n

\"IMG_6489\"<\/a><\/p>\n

How could I say no??<\/strong><\/p>\n

I started thinking about my collection, my friends and their collections and then collections in general.\u00a0 I wondered how many were, like mine, made up of a bunch of stuff that fell into the lap of the collector.\u00a0 A lot of life is lived in this default \u2018whatever the universe throws at me\u2019 way, so it makes sense a vehicle collection would follow the same rules.\u00a0 You happen to be born in such-and-such place, into such-and-such religion, grew up watching such-and-such sports team and your dad drove such-and-such kind of cars, so of course it\u2019s easier to just stick with these things than go seek out something new incase it might suit you better.\u00a0 The more time that passes, the less likely you are separate yourself from them \u2013forgetting even that they are the default factory settings.\u00a0 It\u2019s like never having adjusted the seat in your car to see if you could be more comfortable.<\/p>\n

The problem with the acceptance of these \u2018gifts\u2019 from the universe is they tend to distract from the path one ought be traveling, like how working a job gets in the way of developing a career or following a calling.\u00a0 At the time I gave in with a sigh and resigned myself to Appia\/Trail 55\/Scrambler ownership \u2013I had admired each of them in one way or another over years, but not necessarily as an acquisition target.\u00a0 Each was realistically the next thing to come between me, and whatever I had been actively looking for at the time.\u00a0 I don\u2019t mean to be gift horse mouth looking here, but I wonder if I would be happier\/more contented overall if I passed on this low road stuff and ascended to the thing I\u2019d been chasing.\u00a0 Maybe this is why I don\u2019t keep stuff very long \u2013it\u2019s just \u2018stuff\u2019, not \u2018the thing\u2019.<\/p>\n

I suppose the Appia could (should?) have been a Land Rover 88, the Trail 55 might be a Mitsubishi Silver Pigeon and the Scrambler a fancy dinner somewhere, but then, I might be a writer living in Rome or a famous actor.\u00a0 I\u2019m not saying you should run away when your neighbor offers you that MGA coupe for $2000 that just needs a little this-and-that to be roadworthy; only that you think about the implications of accepting it if you\u2019ve been dreaming of something else, a TR3 or \u201985 Isuzu Impulse Turbo perhaps.\u00a0 Life is short and probably all there is \u2013at least I\u2019ve never found a Veglia gauge that indicates otherwise, so acquire deliberately if possible!<\/p>\n

How many of you have collections with cars that sought you out?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I have a classic vehicle collection: three cars, two of which run, and 10ish motorcycles, two of which run \u2013oh, and two bicycles, both of which ride.\u00a0 The other day I was trying to get the hood to latch correctly on my Lancia Appia series 2 sedan, and failing, I sat back and looked the … <\/p>\n

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