That's the provocative headline of a recent story published by Slate.com. It sounds like some screed by a coal industry lobbyist, but the gist of the article is slightly more logical.
Author Joe Eaton, a self-described hot rodder who grew up in the suburbs of Detroit, makes the case that collector cars are great, as long as you balance their use out with some form of public transportation.
He claims that the day he sold his car and started using all public transit was also the day he started a Porsche fund with the money he saved on gas, insurance, etc. He would take trains to work during the week and tool around in a late 60s 911 on the weekends he figured.
Sounds sensible enough actually, although the fact that he lives in Baltimore and commutes to D.C. makes the whole idea a little easier. Probably wouldn't work so well in the other 90% of the country.
Still, any kind of logical argument for preserving collector vehicles seems worth discussing, if only to keep the conversation off the idea of getting rid of "those old gas guzzlers" entirely.
Slate: How a Porsche can be better for the environment than a Prius
arm51 says:
04:25 AM, 11/ 2/09
I take public transit each day to work and have actually set up a '911 Fund' for myself. It's nice to see that this idea works!
starbird says:
07:58 AM, 11/ 2/09
Except of course, he's living in Baltimore and working in DC. It would be a lot greener if he lived closer to where he works. Otherwise its like saying I work in Hong Kong and live in New Zealand, but because I don't have a car, I'm green, despite the weekly flights between HK and New Zealand every week.
DLu says:
10:16 AM, 11/ 2/09
LOL @ starbird
If he walked or biked to work, not only will he have zero emissions (well, no promises after bean burrito night!), he will also weigh less after all that exercise and, when he does drive his Porsche, use a bit less gas and go a little faster!!!
This is what I don't like about the Northeast when I moved here -- people are short-sighted but think they are so cosmopolitan. People think that their 1/2 sqare inch of neighborhood is the best there is, never having stepped foot outside it. They have no idea what the rest of the country is like.
mlh says:
12:40 PM, 11/ 2/09
I do this but ride a bike to work and drive an old Benz on the weekends.
desmolicious says:
01:25 PM, 11/ 2/09
I'm doing my part. I just bought an old Moto Guzzi 850 Lemans III. So it's kinda like the motorcycling version of this story.....
stephen987 says:
05:45 AM, 11/ 3/09
Unfortunately public transport is essentially nonexistent where I live. So I do the next best thing--I drive the hell out of a Honda Fit through the week, and stay home on the weekends.