Heard melodies are sweet, but unheard memories are sweeter. It’s for me the same about cars. Of course, style, design, technology and even performance are interesting. But the truly fascinating stuff is mysterious: the people and places cars take you to in the imagination. I enjoy the shape, noise and the occasional tingling of the pineal gland. But even more I enjoy the dream world you enter in a classic (or even just an ‘old’) car.
An example. One of my Cinquecento, a mere 19.4km up the ‘scenic’ SP19 from Taormina to Savoca in Sicily – the village’s extremely atmospheric Bar Vitelli is where Coppola filmed memorable scenes of . There was something complete about this drive: nothing needed to be added to or taken from the experience to make it better.
