We grew up in Sacramento, a town which didn't care about aping its classy, PC neighbor to the southwest. Screw SF, we wanted to be Los Angeles. Which is why, to this day, we're saddled with a ridiculous San Fernando Valley-uptalk speech pattern. We refuse to call you "brah," but we'll say "rad" fifteen times in a 20 minute conversation. So if LA had such an influence on a group of hosers only 400 miles up the 5, one can only imagine the impact the California myth had (and still has) on people across the nation.
And we admit that while the rivers and hills of Central Texas inspire us deeply, and the misty mountains of Northern Ireland fill us with awe — especially in May when the bushes bloom gold — SoCal is really a pretty goddamn incredible place; almost as if it shouldn't exist. Which makes it perfect for designing vehicles both outr and not-so-outr . Everything's here, maybe in slightly imperfect forms, but it's here. Mountains to the east, coast to the west, desert, snow, etc. Plus, rust happens slower, so there's a huge well of cars of all stripes to draw inspiration from. And the water's warm enough that a kid who grew up bodyboarding in Sonoma and Santa Cruz surf can go out and do it on New Year's Day without a wetsuit.
SoCal had to be made, so they made it. William Mulholland, Phineas Banning, Brian Wilson, Dutch Darrin, Samuel Goldwyn, Greg Ginn and Vic Edelbrock all sprung from that heritage. And that, friends, as much as we love Detroit; as much fun as Munich is; as weird and cool as JDM Japanese cars are, is why Los Angeles is the once and future king of the automobile. Backstory? Click on the LA Times piece.
Is that a car or a Gobot? [LA Times]
Related:
Tuesday! Tuesday! Tuesday!: Audi's Design Tuesday at the Los Angeles Show [Internal]