City of Angels (& Ferraris)

As you’ll read later in this issue, I spent 24 hours in LA recently with the drop dead gorgeous Aston Martin Vanquish. Now I’ve had the good fortune of spending more than a couple of years in the City of Angeles – but never like this!

It’s a land seeped not only in A, B, and C grade stars, face-lifts, silicone, script writers, surf and sand, but also in a car culture like nowhere else in the world. The car is not merely a toy, status symbol, and expression of wealth, but also very much a necessity in LA due to the absolute lack of public transportation whatsoever. That’s why the 405 is less freeway and more public parking lot during rush hour.

Despite traffic that would make you consider amputating your left leg if you drove a manual, I was fortunate to drive a beautiful (in my eyes) 1988 Porsche 944 Turbo during my time there. And while it was a machine that I treasured, the flip-up headlights on that child of the 80’s wouldn’t so much as raise a Chihuahua’s left eyebrow (Paris Hilton’s, or otherwise) in the jaded hills of Hollywood. In fact, the valet would run from it – lest it break down en route to the parking garage. Little did they know that Porsches don’t break, but that’s another story.

You’ll be surprised to know, however, that valets in Beverly Hills today have a similar reaction to Ferraris. I’m not sure where I heard recently that they actually hide Ferraris as fast as they can – save for the few already on display at the porch – for fear of the Prancing Horse appearing too common. No, I’m not joking – there really are an over abundance of new Ferraris in the greater Los Angeles area. And you can add Lamborghini to that list as well. On Rodeo Drive and Sunset Boulevard, they’re no longer eye candy – just a noisy distraction. You now need an MP4-12C at the very least to turn heads in Hollywood. Or an Aston Martin Vanquish for that matter – having it in bright red doesn’t hurt either.

And this is a very real risk facing iconic brands like Ferrari and Lamborghini at present – one that’s undoubtedly accentuated in the plastic (yet strangely soulful) mini-universe that is LA. Put simply, these icons of motoring have become too commercial – they’ve put their logo on too many baseball hats over the years. In fact, their cars have become too perfect as well – if you can fault them for that. They’ve lost some of their individuality – their personality. And, as a genius of Hollywood, Quentin Tarantino, communicates via Pulp Fiction – a movie that captures the peculiar essence of LA – personality goes a long way!