Originally posted by ChattavegasSE:
Tim-respect for the pics! Wish I coulda made it down.



Hell yeah! There are some great shots in there.

One thing though that leaves me sort of troubled...

"Showcaseing"

Ok, there is nothing wrong with that. I am one to really talk here since I just made the commint in one of the Zetec forums that to get the CD4E where we want it, we have to do all this. But DAMN!

Looking at the pics of NOPI Nationals Hotlanta has really made me rethink all this stuff. My thinking... (and mine only, this is of noone's brainwashing)

My thinking is this, "Do we really have to paint up our cars like that, just to gain some respect from an aftermarket that really could give a crap?" Ok, so is that what I really meant when I said that we have to get our cars out there so that something can and will be done to resolve our current situation? Hell No!! When the conversation came up between Kremit and N2Deep, it really made me think alot about all this and this is what I came up with...

Anybody's car can sit still, but not just anyone's car can turn heads at the track.

Isn't this what a lot of the import screen has come too? Who can make there car look more like something you would see on Speed then someone else's? Sure it has! But most CEGers look at their cars as cars that can hold their own without paint and graphics. One thing though... The FIA WRC has had a larger impact then we really think. Hopefully this will bring some sencerity to what is goin on in todays world of aftermarket cars.

Another thing. The Contours were never Sport Compacts anyway. So why should we try to be? We are a whole other breed of car altogether. So why should we think that we should have all the same products out there on the market like all the other Sport Compacts? Keep in mind, the Contour was brought to The States at a time when the truck was turning King. The Contours life was shortened by the fact that Ford had to make some dough. That is the goal of any business and we cannot hold that against them. But the fact remains, the truck out-sold the car hands down during all the years that the Contour was in major production. The turning point for the Contour was in 98, when the SVT was introduced. I think this was mearly a way for Ford to push a car that they believed in despite the overwhelming opisition with The Truck market. Needless to say, it failed. Is it because of the Contour? Hell no! It was only because most people at the time wanted a Hummer and could not afford one. Everyone wanted a truck or SUV. I fell that Ford felt that Mercury could do a better job of marketing the CDW27 platform, since Ford was so consumed with the F150/250 line. Hince the Cougar came into play. Only problem with the Cougar... It was a legenday body style that was play with way to much (I personally think it was the right move now, but at the time it was introduced I hated it!!) and the fact that all it took was a little perswadeing from the Ford side to make the finance charges a little better looking for a truck. That is one reason that my wife and I bought a Ranger in 2000 and not a Cougar or Contour.

That brings me to the whole "CEG way of thinking", if you will...
We are the lovers of a dying bried. Call us the fans of the Misfits way before Danzig was ever formed. And you know what, that along with the car itself is what keeps people coming back and most poor people feeling like they own a million dollar automobile. It is in this sacrite tradition of "loveing a car" that we are all bound! Sort of the samething as why I will not let my two girls enter pagents. I know that they would win or give the competion a run for their money, but I have nothing to prove... I have to beatiful girls and a lovly car... What else could man ask for?

Phillip Jackson `98 Mystique LS 262K+ and counting... ATX rebuilt @ 151K "This storm has broken me, my only friend!" RIP Dime