Question Of The Day: What Vehicle Best Represents…The Good Life?

Steven Lang
by Steven Lang

Scott Nearing was not trying to become a pioneer.

Back when the auto industry represented the equivalent of today’s dot-com companies, Dr. Nearing was a highly successful economics professor at a program that would later be known as the Wharton School of Business.

He wrote about a wide variety of economic issues that were vigorously debated at a time when differing opinions were not often tolerated in the world of academic discourse. Benefactors, like today’s corporate sponsors and tomorrow’s Ceasers, expected their due (ck) in exchange for funding and ‘exclusives’.

Anti-war. Anti-child labor. Anti-trust and ‘anti’ everything political in the end, Dr. Nearing soon found that his sole victory in court would only yield a blacklist from academia that would last for decades.

So he bought himself some land, a pickup truck, and moved to the Green Mountains of northern Vermont.

Scott and his wife Helen (ck) would build their own version of ‘The Good Life’. They built several houses, cottages and sheds out of stone using the Flagg method (ck). To accomplish this, they owned a long series of pickup trucks and kept them to the point where rust and age made them unserviceable.

After several years of getting acquainted with their new life, they began collecting maple syrup (ck) at a time when modern agriculture still allowed a family farm to prosper. The two of them wrote books and self-published. Performed classical music thanks to Helen’s training. They gardened, cooked, canned, sewed, built, tilled and adopted to a life that became ever the same, and ever different.

It was an idyllic world. Often romanticized and never perfected to the point where others could easily emulate it.

In time, they even adopted many of the conveniences and pleasures of their past and loosened up on a few of the old disciplined habits. However one thing that never changed was their use of pickup trucks. It gave them the means to move mountains of stone, and the freedom to visit family and friends… but it was a tool. Nothing more.

The pickup truck best served and symbolized Scott and Helen’s version of the good life. I would say that my little 2001 Honda Insight serves mine at the moment.

What vehicle best represents the good life for you?

Note: If you see (ck) on this write-up, it means you can safely click on the link next to it and learn a bit more about the subject I just mentioned. Consider it a low-tech wink that will help you get more out of these articles. All the best!


Steven Lang
Steven Lang

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  • Carfriend313 Carfriend313 on Jul 24, 2012

    My Vauxhall Corsa. Not exciting, bought as a stopgap that I can't bear to lose. It just chugs on and on economically, without fuss. I couldn't ask for more.

  • StatisticalDolphin StatisticalDolphin on Aug 04, 2012

    Pile of rocks in the sticks doesn't appeal. Pretty sure Thoreau was playing an elaborate prank with his Walden schtick. To each his own, I guess. The good life would be comfortable homes in London, Tokyo and NYC. With the means to move easily from place to place, and interesting friends and acquaintances in each city. In London the vehicle of choice would be a Jensen Interceptor. In Tokyo a pristine 928, meticulously maintained by the best P mechanic in town. NYC would be home base, an orange H1 would help to abide the traffic. I'd let the MIL drive, she'd scatter those doofus hipsters like bowling pins. H hath no fury....

  • ToolGuy Once again my home did not catch on fire and my fire extinguisher(s) stayed in the closet, unused. I guess I threw my money away on fire extinguishers.(And by fire extinguishers I mean nuclear missiles.)
  • Carson D The UAW has succeeded in organizing a US VW plant before. There's a reason they don't teach history in the schools any longer. People wouldn't make the same mistakes.
  • B-BodyBuick84 Mitsubishi Pajero Sport of course, a 7 seater, 2.4 turbo-diesel I4 BOF SUV with Super-Select 4WD, centre and rear locking diffs standard of course.
  • Corey Lewis Think how dated this 80s design was by 1995!
  • Tassos Jong-iL Communist America Rises!
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