Great article on R&T site - This Stupid Car Saved My Marriage

Some of you know Zach Bowman from Autoblog, from R&T, from the Ugly Horse project, from the Million Mile Miata, from giving a 250cc middle finger to the government shutdown, from Racing the Rock, whatever. He's a fine writer who's rapidly getting better.

I think this is one of his best. It's a car article, but it's about what we do with cars. Worth the read.

http://www.roadandtrack.com/car-culture/a25448/this-stupid-car-saved-my-marriage/

Great read. Thanks for the link

Zach is, in my opinion, the finest auto writer today. He's a gifted story teller.

Thanks.

Lesley wrote: Zach is, in my opinion, the finest auto writer today. He's a gifted story teller.

There are a lot of talented writers in the field, but he's sure up there. I'm a fan of Sam Smith as well.

I think the atmosphere at R&T is really doing him good. He's got more time to put into his prose than when he was at Autoblog.

Great story. I may just pick up an issue of R&T, been awhile since I thought there was anything worth reading in there..

R&T underwent a reboot in May 2013 with an almost complete change of writers. The new kids were hired for writing ability first and foremost. It's taken a bit of time to settle down into the new format, but it's well worth a look. There are good long form articles in each issue besides the usual comparo of three mid-size SUVs that seems to happen every month.

Zach's had a couple of stories in the book recently, including the current cover if I'm not mistaken.

That is an excellent piece of writing. Thanks, Keith.

In reply to Keith Tanner:

They talked about the R&T reboot and especially the latest issue during the 12 hours of Sebring when they had an interview with the Editor.

I've subscribed since their reboot and its pretty good, IMO. Its no GRM, but then what is?

Great Article, thanks for that Keith

Wow, that hits close to home.

Great read. Thanks.

Wow, what a great read.

Thanks for sharing

Helluva read.

I hope this fragile marriage survives parenthood, though.

gamby wrote: Helluva read. I hope this fragile marriage survives parenthood, though.

Simple: Sell the Miata and buy a 4-seater convertible. Mrs. VCH and I honeymooned in a 450SL on the BRP, and had the time of our lives. Now, with a rugrat in the mix, we're selling the 450SL and putting seatbelts in the back of our Corvair droptop....and installing disc brakes on it.

My favorite line from the article: "...she was raised on a parade of faithful beaters that were big on character and short on things like air conditioning or reliable fourth cylinders"

The writing was great, but something about the story really rubbed me the wrong way. A long term unstable relationship where he was a significant cause of instability, and then his solution was to go buy a car and get her to fall in love with his pasttime. The whole thing reeks of a self centeredness that makes me sad that there is gestation going on.
Guy has a way with words though.

My wife was always kinda "meh" about cars and even more so about driving.

Although my Miata was rough, hard and looked liked hell, she loved it. She enjoyed driving it, enjoyed being seen in it, and enjoyed just being in the thing.

I can't wait to get one in Arizona.

Clearly there is something wrong with me.

I made it to the 5th paragraph before I was so completely uninterested in his high school sweetie relationship that soldiering on just to see how buying a Miata saved it seemed pointless and annoying.

Turning a phrase well is different than telling a good story... or some E36 M3 like that.

I was excited when I saw the thread title and opening post. My wife isn't that into cars, but I like to hand her well written, funny, engaging pieces of writing to keep her up and into my hobby. Then I read the article. I'm with Deuce and GPS here. Not only is it hard to like either of them for their high school melodrama, it just wasn't that engaging a piece of writing. I will take peoples word for it that he's good and seek out other pieces of his to try though.

It's also encouraging that R&T seems to be staging a comeback I used to subscribe to both R&T and C&D but gave up on both about a decade ago. They seem to be pure add fodder and I'm not convinced of their relevance to the industry anymore either. But, I've seen a couple of good articles on R&T online recently that is giving me hope. Next time the Girl Scouts come selling magazine subscriptions I may consider dropping $10 bucks for R&T, an amount I've not considered worthwhile spending in 10 years. Sad that it got to a point that I considered the price of three cups of coffee too much to spend on 12 months of a car magazine. That shows how low they sunk.

In reply to Adrian_Thompson:

I let both subscriptions go awhile back. But lately I've been receiving $7 subscription offers in the mail. So based on what I'm hearing maybe I'll give them another chance. For that price one only needs to read a couple articles per issue.

I'm kind of in the middle- I rather enjoyed the writing about the drives and experiences they had in the car, but the backdrop of it with regards to the relationship drama just kind of left me (as a recently re-married guy) shaking my head a bit.

idk..his writing was okay..the beginning melodrama just dropped off after his new found "love for another" emerged... I wasn't a fan of the ending..just left you out there hanging in the California sunshine like a grape on a vine. I kept scrolling, looking for the arrow to the next page..

not trying to bash his style..not saying I could write it any better...but I don't think I'll be running to the newsstand for the next edition..

Place me in the "like" category with the caveat of reading pass the melodrama. The car didn't save his marriage. Sounds like the wife did . .

Anyway, I tuned out all of non-car and non-travel related stuff . . .

The next part was the huge Miatas at MRLS event, press stuff for Mazda, then a bomb across the country to get home. And FYI, the baby carryin' car is a Focus ST.

I like the writing. He has a gift for phrasing and evoking emotions through imagery.

There's the personal criticism that this young relationship has a long way to go, with lots of work required on both sides - they're extremely naive, so maybe it's tough to identify with the narrator. But the writing is good, there's really no argument there.

Relationship needs plenty of work yes, but the writing is quite excellent and painted a vivid picture. Definitely think I might check in to R&T again.