USA today

By whatever systems of display, self-promotion or publication, the Yanks just nail it every time. Defining cool and having a damn good time in the process. Hell, it might just be one massive front... impressions of grandeur and shiny white teeth. As soon as the cameras are off and the tripods packed away they’re back to a far more dreary character, but somehow I don’t think so. Thumbing back through some of my older copies of the mag its obvious that the yanks ability to stand out is no new thing. If it’s not about how much cheaper cars are out there [apr/01] then it’ll be some other weird twist on the current politic.

Could it be their fantastic climate? Us brits seem to have a national adoration for talking about the weather, even when it only ever seems to be a variance of bad or god damn awful, but our friends across the pond don’t seem to have such a problem. This image that carries over to us, it will be a sort of twisted fluke wont it… living out the American dream, romantics of the vw way. Speeding flat out through the book if invention, with no real care for the great, good or well rehearsed. Wide visionary eyes, a natural talent if you will. Just look at the likes of the WFSU boys. Was I the only one who felt they were a great ambassador for the good times. Care-free dubbing in its purest form. Jesus, most of them confessed to have only been in the scene a number of years. Another example being Sean Landregan from Jacksonville, Florida. Builder of what has to be one of the baddest corrados of all time and at the tender age of twenty one. I just can’t think of a UK equivalent. Enticed by images of the internet, red flags to the bull, I wonder if we, the UK and Europe can muster just enough cool to create such a drive towards originality. Maybe so, but at the minute I feel were just a little way off. But hell, who am I to preach on the social capital of our own UK scene. Madness, surely...who is this lampooning fool, and what is he talking about.

This American way then; It’s not an attitude or stage or mentality that I’m asking you to like or enjoy. It isn’t my place to tell you what to love or loath, it’s a take on the scene that I have come to really appreciate and enjoy. Since our American friend Mr Moore visited for edition38-08, I seem to have become completely wrapped up in a whole US slant. Not so much in a physical sense, though I do catch myself scouring ebay for one of those illusive US mk3 ‘trunks,’ but in the attitude and scope. Grand depictions of a unified front. It’s something I hope to experience firsthand at H20i 2009, a trip which, if it stands up to anywhere near the show Si has described it being, im sure will be one hell of a ride. Though, ive got a good few months to wait yet... talk about keen.

Thankfully though, this mildly concerning love affair has been made possible by a whole generation of online dubbers, blissfully jotting down the details of every imaginable thought process, and conundrum. Good times...

Good times? One thing that does stand out though, from our online age, is a certain hideously complacent mentality. If you don’t like something move on. ‘After all, we're not savages’. It’s reassuring, however, to know that we are not alone in suffering this ‘lord of the flies’ style momentum, this anarchic tinge. It is a trend that carries across all manner of online communities, be them football orientated forums or general past-time club sites, the strange public attitudes of some carries on throughout. Arguments in empty rooms and all that. But without jumping on a plane to h20i, Brokedown or any of the other major US shows how else would you know who won ‘best wheels’ at WaterWerks or ‘Car of the Show’ at Yarrowsport’s Primer event without picking up the phone. Yet is remains a resource that is taken for granted by some, and hated by others.

It’s funny though. Speaking to our Dave just a couple of days ago in preparation for him to puzzle together mine and Chris’ feature, I realised just how short a time id been involved in the whole scene. Without knowing the culture before internet forums, where the world of the vee-dub is rite at your fingertips, it’s difficult to picture a time when the show reveal was king and last years event was the source of this year’s ideas. Arriving at Schoenefeld airport just south of central Berlin and strolling into the local paper shop only confirmed this to me when more than a few of the cars featured in the spattering of vw oriented magazines were recognisable. Surely something unimaginable in a day before the ‘/forum’ age.

So what’s in store for us in 2009. This is a serious business, man. Plans and ideas... secret whisperings. Hell I don’t know. Who really does. All that’s certain is it’s got the makings of a truly great year. Maturing shows and swelling club stands. Look out for me though, I’ll be the one in the corner, waving my starry flag. Inspired by the latest stateside write up... bleary eyed and clutching a one way ticket to Boston.