So we are hitting the end of 2020 already and what do we see. Not just as part of the human race, but as car enthusiasts in this pandemic.

On one hand we have a lot of confusion.

A lot of uncertainty.

And honestly, a lot of pain and anguish.

On the other hand, we’re seeing a lot of movement of cars. Daily transportation vehicles might be hitting some all time lows. But guess what? Fun cars are moving.

Porsche is only down 5% globally as of now, which is astoundingly robust given the economic forecast.

Our local BMW Motorcycle dealer had their best month, ever, since they started over 13 years ago.

People are buying fun cars. People are buying play trucks. People are buying vehicles that they can camp out of. We are hearing stories and seeing stories of people buying father and son first generation Miatas as projects, motorcycles as a way to take the family trip.

It’s funny, because a lot of our problems supposedly are caused by the facts that we are in such a global economy, that we move around so quickly, that we are used to having things immediately.

But at the same time, a lot of people are getting through this pandemic specifically because they now have access to products from all over the world.

People are buying car parts and watch straps and computer equipment and basically special interest stuff from wherever it is available.

And this is all because of the technology that many people say is the problem.

We can now buy and ship mainstream but even somewhat niche products easily through portals like eBay, or Amazon, or Lazada, or AliBaba.

But a lot of car guys and tuners and such, are in a slightly different, more unusual position. They (ok, we) want to buy things like mag wheels, or axles, or engines, or hoods. Not exactly something you can go to the mainstream cloud for.

But there has even developed a modern gig economy solution, an internet system that handles the shipping for just things like that. So you can hunt around for your own particular piece that may well come from a specific tuner, or junkyard or repair shop or even fellow member of an internet or social media chat group. For that, you have people that are somewhat more crowd-sourced than your usual freight forwarders or couriers. You can for example move your car parts using services like shiply.com. An unusual combination of old-school work and modern crowd-sourcing. Basically kind of Uber for your stuff.

So we are, as we have all been saying, in a changed and changing world.

And it’s not going to throw back to what it was decades ago, or even a decade ago. But it’s also not going to go forward in the same way that we may have expected.

It’s going to be a hybrid, a combination. It’s going to be a compromise,

We as a people are working more with our hands, but we are also learning more about our neighbors, and learning more about the environment, and yes taking fuller advantage of what modern computing and communication enables. In, actually, a more personal way than ever.

Hopefully after all this, we will have a renewed appreciation for all the things we took for granted, while still being able to take advantage of modern efficiencies that are hopefully more environmentally friendly than what they used to be.