So I am sitting here feeling very old. You see I am watching
the MTV Video Music Awards (VMA) with my family. It is bad enough that I called
Drake – Blake, and I could not remember Joseph Gordon Levitt’s name to save my
life. Man it is getting harder and harder to remember this stuff. OK, I got
Lady Gaga, Katy Perry, Macklamore + Ryan Lewis, JT and a few more, so maybe I have
just a tiny sliver of the pop culture mojo going here. But really, when did
Hanna Montana grow up and go all nasty on us? The new Miley Cyrus, it looks
like she is trying way too hard. And the Teddy Bear thing was just wrong.
Seemed to give the venerable Teddy a bad rap. And just what the heck it
twerping? Oh, it twerking…my bad, my wife had to correct me. And Taylor Swift?
She has no recent celebrity breakups to write about…so I guess that means no
new hit songs. Maybe she can just rush up on stage and b-slap Kayne West during
his performance. Wow, that would get some tweets or tweeters or whatever the
heck it is called stirred up.
I gotta tell you though, I am very happy that I have had my
dose of pop culture. I think I am OK for at least another year. That way when I
am at a party (with non-gear heads, because you know what we talk about at
parties), and One Direction comes up, I can hold my own. They are Brits right? Or
when someone mentions twerking, I will not make the mistake of thinking they
said twerping. Nothing shows ones age faster than miss identifying current pop
culture phenomena. Although I think that twerking is really just Dirty Dancing
for the new millennia. Man you will get called out very quickly and labeled as
an old dude and not too hip. That’s just wrong…#OMG #LOL.
So what does this have to do with Porsches? Absolutely
nothing, but it has me thinking about the growing old part. I am just wondering
where the next generation of Porschephiles are going to come from. It seems
that the world is slowly but surely starting to turn to hybrids, diesels and
electrics and with the exception of Grand Theft Auto 5, our kids seem to be more
interested in cell phones and social media then cool cars. I cannot tell you
how many times I have asked my boys if they want to turn wrenches on our fleet
of cars. But I usually get a roll of the eyes and the look that says that
getting fingernails dirty is not their cup of tea or flavor of Red Bull or
whatever they are drinking these days.
So I end up doing the wrench turning on my own. But the way I
figure it, as cars get more computerized there will less wrench turning anyway.
It is just a module here or a module there. Plug and play. Me? I like getting
under a hood and trying to figure stuff out, even if usually get it wrong a
time or two. My boys love cars, just not the working on them part. So I wonder
who those enthusiasts will be. Will that passion extend past this generation
and keep fueling the dreams of kids? Will that Lamborghini Sesto Elemento or
Ferrari LaFerrari get posted on a wall, or a home screen or at least maybe a
tweet or two? It’s hard to say.
When I look at the landscape of magazines and websites and
TV shows they certainly know who their target marketing is, they know who buys
their waxes, polishes and classic car insurance policies. And yes, they tend to
attract an older crowd, meaning folks my age. And as evidenced by the recent
VMA’s, we are not getting any younger. I just hope that our kids pick up our
passion and keep the love of all things automotive going. I sure hope my boys
do and maybe someday, if I am really lucky and blessed, I will get to spoil my
grandkids and get them started down the path to being the next generation of
gearheads. That is if electric, hybrid and steam powered cars don’t take over.
We just need to figure out how to make sure that the next
generation loves Porsches the same way we do. At this rate, there will be a
bunch of older Porsches and nobody to drive them. Hmmm, maybe if I live long
enough there will be a glut of old Porsches on the market at rock bottom
prices. Good old supply and demand. Yeah! You old guys keep buying them and
young car guys like me will be waiting in the wings…
And on that exhaust note, see you all next time.
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