peter egan

Peter Egan has retired as a monthly columnist from Road & Track magazine. His last 'Side Glances' is available from the R&T site. I kept my subscription to that magazine for an additional decade just for that column.

Peter is the inspiration for many of my own automotive dreams. He's part of the reason I bought a BRG Miata as a winter driver. His philosophies are also part of the reason I will move on from the same reliable, trouble-free Miata this fall. Life is short. The Miata is at least the second best car I have ever lived with. I need that space in my driveway for a disastrous adventure with a Land Rover, a turbocharged Swedish wagon, a Renault Fuego, or some other inappropriate vehicle.

My choices will be tempered by desire to not orphan my children, also my desire to to give them a whiff of excitement and volatile hydrocarbons. I think most choices now will have a seat for both kids. Perhaps a Matra Murena?

I used to read Jalopnik regularly when Murilee Martin blogged in residence. As a lark, Jalopnik maintained a reader-moderated 'fantasy garage' with fifty spots. I think my fantasy garage looks a lot more like Egan's actual garage -- a place where rafterage for disassembled cars must be as important a commodity as floor space. I saw tents for sale in REI this summer with footprints as large as my fantasy garage.

I live in a place where emissions inspections have taken half the fun away from 1974+ cars and where urban congestion has removed fun from cars of all ages but old cars especially. I know that all it takes is one breakdown on a shoulderless walled highway to be a guy responsible for a mile long backup.

I lived near Baltimore for a time in the 1990's. Southwest Airlines then offered a promotional fare of $19 to Cleveland. I wondered what it would be like to give up on East Coast motoring all together and rent a garage near the airport in Cleveland and visit every weekend.

Side Glances is available in anthology.