How the car became a cult object again

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The comeback of the car as a cult object

How the car became a cult object again-cult

Editor-in-chief

How the car became a cult object again-became

There is no more status symbol: Accelerate from zero to 100 in 2.4 seconds in the Porsche 918 and know at the traffic light next to the old Golf Diesel with anti-nuclear sticker that m…to (if you wanted to) could easily use up only a third of the consensus mobile.

Source: Porsche

Forest dying, traffic jams, carbon dioxide emissions, speed 30. The car was already deregistered as a status symbol. Now it is evolving away from the mere means of transport and is coming back as a cult object.

D.he car has been a racing monument of uncompromising confidence since it was invented over 125 years ago. Few of the achievements of modern technology have such a powerful symbolic overdrive that interconnects the car with both the energy of freedom of movement and inner independence.

The dusty myth of the western and its covered wagons, which made uncivilized stretches of land flourish, drives the car just as much as the everyday life of a world where there is a division of labor, where people commute, shop and travel. Up until the 1970s, progress was already tangible for little boys (and a few cool girls) playing with the car quartet on a daily basis.

The cars got faster, stronger, more beautiful, more exciting, more crazy. Then came the oil crisis, the Club of Rome, the Greens, 30 km / h zones, traffic jams and even more traffic jams.

The bevel doctor at work

How the car became a cult object again-object

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Peter Pohl at a milling machine in the basement of his house, but here he is not machining a vertical shaft motor, but the block half of a Steyr-Puch motor.

Source: Christian Burkert

How the car became a cult object again-status symbol Curves solitude Pyrenees

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But of course there are also vertical shaft motors in Pohl’s workshop, such as this type 587/3 for a Porsche 904 GTS.

Source: Christian Burkert

How the car became a cult object again-status symbol Curves solitude Pyrenees

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Pohl himself still has four vertical shaft Porsches, including this wonderful convertible …

Source: Christian Burkert

How the car became a cult object again-object

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… 356 A Carrera 1600 from 1958.

Source: Christian Burkert

How the car became a cult object again-object

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But it doesn’t always have to be Porsche: Here the engine expert controls a Steyr-Puch TR from 1968, the body unmistakably comes from the Fiat 500.

Source: Christian Burkert

According to the populist cultural critic, the car has had its prime. And then the problematizer, often recognizable by his meandering lines of worry, pulls a few studies out of his hat that show that young people no longer strive for a driver’s license as the official document of their maturity, but rather a smartphone with an opulent flat rate. Information superhighway instead of winding country roads, surfing the Internet instead of drifting around the corner.

It’s true: some young people adore their mobile phones, others pimp their bikes, and others pupate in their melancholy. But that’s not that bad, on the contrary, there are fewer young people who are into cars, but all the more “blatant”, to stay in the jargon.

The love for the car is also growing because the problematization and also the hatred of the car make it an exciting cult object again for unadapted young people. Never before has there been such a differentiated, avant-garde, sometimes stylish proliferation of car subcultures, the focus of which used to be on brands and battles such as “VW versus Opel”, icons such as “GTI” or “Manta” and, finally, lots of vintage cars -Friends who meticulously restored historic sheet metal to its original state.

Dacia – a car is more important than a status symbol

Today there are lowriders, art car fakers, German chapters of the R group, Audi 80 skateboard hipsters. You don’t understand what we are talking about? No problem. It can be summed up in a nutshell. Every quirk finds its community, every passion like-minded, every insanity imitator.

The auto industry is slowly learning that the importance of the car is shifting away from means of transport and towards becoming a cultural asset. Even those who buy their car to get themselves and their families from A to B painlessly choose a Dacia and thus a brand that is a kind of antithetical status symbol. The Romanian Renault branch has its testimonial Mehmet Scholl proclaim that "a car is more important to him than a status symbol".

"Curves" and the solitude of the Pyrenees

How the car became a cult object again-became

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The Porsche 911 Turbo is a rare guest in the Pyrenees edition of Curves magazine, actually …

Source: Stefan Bogner

How the car became a cult object again-again

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…the pictures look like this: empty of cars and people. The Porsche is only available in an extended edition that is sold in Porsche shops. Now and then you can find him too …on the next pictures, but have to look very carefully.

Source: Stefan Bogner

How the car became a cult object again-became

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One of the most famous passes in the Pyrenees is the one over the Col du Tourmalet, which is the first high-mountain stage of every Tour de France.

Source: Stefan Bogner

How the car became a cult object again-status symbol Curves solitude Pyrenees

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However, Bogner did not find the encouraging words on the road at the Tourmalet, but at the Col de Pailhères further east. This mountain is also over 2000 meters high.

Source: Stefan Bogner

How the car became a cult object again-object

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Bogner always drives the routes described in his magazine personally, but does not stage himself, but the landscape – who wouldn’t want to drive a car here?

Source: Stefan Bogner

How the car became a cult object again-object

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A special feature of “Curves” are photos taken from the helicopter, which first rises to 600 meters and then continues to sink, to give the photographer aerial photos from different angles… to enable

Source: Stefan Bogner

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The type of image processing is also peculiar: the photos are always very bright without being overexposed, the colors appear powerful and desaturated at the same time.

Source: Stefan Bogner

How the car became a cult object again-object

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Stefan Bogner describes the curve as the most realistic connection between two points. It’s like in real life, because everything doesn’t go straight ahead.

Source: Stefan Bogner

But this advertising goes much further: it denounces the archaic status behavior of the nouveau riche and big puke. Dacia is thus successfully surfing a wave of understatement in which the consumer world is developing new distinction codes. Low-budget vehicles communicate the renunciation of automotive pomp, often a glance at the owner’s or driver’s cashmere sweater or Rolex watch is enough to see that this understatement is being used deliberately.

It gets a little more sophisticated with lovers of classic vehicles. They are the success and boom story of the moment. The connoisseur drives cars that are sometimes valuable and almost always an aesthetic counterpoint to the wind tunnel-dragged all sorts of current sheet metal. Whether it’s a rusted Peugeot 203 convertible, a perfectly restored 911 coupe or Grandpa’s Mercedes, which will soon become a classic, all of these vehicles are moved with love and soul.

Anyone who receives an H license plate pays less taxes and can significantly reduce the running costs compared to a normal vehicle with a smart old-timer insurance. Often enough with the consequence that the vintage lover makes a second foolishness.

The myth of two is revived

A recent survey by TNS Infratest found out a few weeks ago that old and youngtimers have the highest status as status symbols. Almost half of Germans perceive them as such.

This also explains why more and more car brands are exhibiting their tradition in museums – rolling as well as classic – and sometimes squeaky historical comparisons when presenting new cars, such as the Bavarian Motor Works with their new 2-series, which, under the catchphrase "Mythos Two", with the legendary 2002 -Coupes are mentally screwed. Manufacturers whose archives are large and full of exciting details make use of the fact that origin means future. Different, brand new brands are going different ways.

Lovingly dismantled and assembled Porsche

How the car became a cult object again-again

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A passionate screwdriver: Matthias Hoing (right) and Torsten Hanenkamp in their workshop in front of a Porsche 356.

Source: Roman Raacke

How the car became a cult object again-status symbol Curves solitude Pyrenees

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The Bahia red Porsche 911 T, built in 1970, before it was dismantled into its individual parts.

Source: Pressebild.de/Bertold Fabricius

How the car became a cult object again-became

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The cockpit is fantastically beautiful.

Source: Pressebild.de/Bertold Fabricius

How the car became a cult object again-again

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Off to the lifting platform…

Source: Pressebild.de/Bertold Fabricius

How the car became a cult object again-became

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…and get to work with relish: Hanenkamp and Matthias Hoing with the rear engine removed.

Source: Pressebild.de/Bertold Fabricius

How the car became a cult object again-became

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A passionate inventor: Matthias Hoing.

Source: Roman Raacke

Tesla, for example. They move with their presentation areas to elegant shopping streets such as Ku’damm in Berlin or the Grobe Bleichen in Hamburg to market their speedy electric limousines as that luxury product that wants to harmonize glamor and ecological conscience. Such efforts fall on rather fertile ground in Germany, which is irradiated with natural romance.

As a status symbol, the electric vehicles almost come close to the classic cars. In bourgeois neighborhoods that like to choose black and green, carports with solar roofs in front of listed Art Nouveau villas are no longer uncommon. The Tesla, optically a mixture of Jaguar and Lexus, takes on the classic status symbols of Audi, Mercedes, BMW and Porsche, which are mostly parked. The zeitgeist means well with him.

The dream of flying awakens above all in monstrous cars

How quickly that can change again was flashed this week in Dresden, when a plant was inaugurated there that can convert CO2 into green fuel – and that under economical conditions. This would serve the environment and the god of petrolheads: the internal combustion engine. Should this innovative technology from Germany become ready for series production, the defensive representation of proud twelve-cylinder Gran Turismos and big block engines could once again turn into a relaxed performance show of what is technically feasible.

In the big and monstrous cars, people have always dreamed of the old Icarus dream of being able to take off, dance and fly. When Ferrari builds a discreet GT with the F12 that has as much horsepower as the Formula 1 car, this is only celebrated in conspiratorial circles. The approach taken by Porsche with the 918, which costs almost 800,000 euros and, thanks to a hybrid drive, has a total of 887 hp and yet consumes just three liters in the standardized mix of thirds, is different. No propaganda. Bold reality.

The author of this text was amazed to find out during a tour through the Swiss Alps. More status symbol is not possible. Accelerate from zero to 100 in 2.4 seconds and at the traffic light next to the old Golf Diesel with an anti-nuclear sticker to know that (if you wanted) you could easily use only a third of the consensus vehicle. The era of the car as a status symbol has not really started yet. It will be even better.

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