"Flavien Vidal" (flyingfrenchy)
02/22/2014 at 09:37 • Filed to: None
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"Flavien Vidal" (flyingfrenchy)
02/22/2014 at 09:37 • Filed to: None | 14
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I enjoy driving. I enjoy cars, but not all of them. I like cars with personality, that make my face grinning. It doesn't matter if it's slow, fast, good or bad, as long as it has that special something. But who can I share this with? One day, I discovered this website.
Let me make things clear, I love my wife and she loves me. It's just that... well... I can get a bit too much into cars sometimes and she is THE one person who has to deal with that passion the most, on a daily basis. You know, these monologues you can have sometimes, about what happened today while you were driving or how you can push her to get a manual Volvo V70R wagon, because "it's practical too!"... I quickly end up alone, while she pretexts reading or watching something, telling me to shut up. Sure I have friends, but very few are into cars and the ones that are into cars don't seem to be remotly on the same page as me when it comes to talking about them. Talking about Corvettes, Mustangs and other american muscle cars, ok. Talking about how that last rental car was crap, ok. But going a bit deeper, starting to watch Group B rally videos for hours and arguing about whether or not AWD vehicules are what really ruined the fun in rallying, that's another story.
Point is: In my daily life, I'm alone in my car-related geekiness.
I have projects, envies, memories to share that have my head running all the time from early morning to late at night and they always involve a car some way or another. But I don't necessarily have someone to share them with the way I would like to.
Then a couple months ago, I discovered Jalopnik. I knew about it already and was reading the occasionnal article, but never really gave much thought about writing. I noticed that oppositelock seemed to work as a portail, some kind of a forum/blog for car geeks... I asked for writing permission and to my surprize, got that right away. Sure lots of things are posted on Oppo, and what I would write would quickly get burried under tons of other things, but who knows, maybe some people will find what I write, and even maybe think it's interesting? No?
So I gave it a try. Started by posting about the Montreal Autshow and then by sharing my hate of diesel engines... got lots of hate on that second one, but I didn't care... I had people to talk to, to debate with about cars and it really made me have a great time! So I kept writing, and even, to my surprize, got published on the front page a couple times. Sure, I emailed the link to the editors, hoping they would somewhat like them, but I did not really expect to find someone to actually publish them!
So I just wanted to say thank you to you guys and to Jalopnik for allowing me to find people who would actually read what is normaly the kind of monologue I have at home and that my wife has to deal with! I'll try to keep writing articles as interesting as possible, and hopefully more public to read me. I noticed Jalopnik gets a bit less articles on the week-end (damn you, lazy editors for not working 7 days a week!) so I will mostly post on saturday/sunday, secretly hoping to get a spot somewhere on the front page of Jalopnik.
Thank you again Jalops around the world! I have tons of things in mind and I hope you will somehow enjoy them :)
Drawing of the Mini by Erik Gauger from !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!!
iDriveCode3
> Flavien Vidal
02/22/2014 at 09:41 |
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You are truly amongst like minded people. I was up most of the night and put pen to paper myself, in what I hope will be Oppo worthy articles (as soon as i recover a pic from work to add to the story).
Agrajag
> Flavien Vidal
02/22/2014 at 09:42 |
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Likewise.
Lekker
> Flavien Vidal
02/22/2014 at 10:01 |
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Serious question, is the teddy bear taken?
All joking aside, this community truly makes for a great friendly place (most of the time) to share our car stories, thoughts, dreams, hates, wants and lets face it, a lot of Volvos. I've only just recently gained authorship on Oppo and I've discovered how great it is to be able to share thoughts and ideas to those who not only care, but most of the time also have constructive criticism if you're asking for help. It makes one so inspired to see people on here being passionate about the same thing I am, we are. I sound like a damn politician now. So on that note, good reading you sir. And remember, stay classy San Diego.
JACU - I've got bonifides.
> Flavien Vidal
02/22/2014 at 10:03 |
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Living where I do, I don't get much opportunity to discuss or express my love for things automotive, much less my somewhat peculiar sense of humor. I've found OPPO the perfect (ahem) vehicle to do that.
You're among friends.
oldirtybootz
> Flavien Vidal
02/22/2014 at 10:21 |
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I'm in the same boat as you, as I'm sure most of us are. My girlfriend will listen to me, but I know she's only as intetested as I am listening to her complain about co-workers or what happened on Teen Mom. I love her and would spend the rest of my life with her because it's not all about sharing the same interests, but I do need someone to talk to about cars. My friends will all listen to me as well and they're more intetested than she is, but I know alot of what I say just goes over their heads.
That leaves you guys as the only people who will listen and understand. I'm no stranger to forums, when I first got into cars I found Autoweek's Combustion Chamber and started posting there. They eventually closed it and most of us migrated to Motor Trend's forums. I learned alot by posting there, and I quickly realized that these were the only people I could really talk to about cars. Even now, I work at a dealership as a lowly detailer but I still have more general car knowledge than anyone here, not mechanical knowledge, but models, history, specs, and the industry.
What it comes down to is that in real life, no one cares nor understands what I mean if I say I saw, say, a Toyota Cressida with a 2JZ swap in a parking lot. But you guys do, and you'll even complain that I didn't take any pictures. And for that I thank you all.
desertdog5051
> Flavien Vidal
02/22/2014 at 10:30 |
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I have one friend who shares most of my feelings about auto related stuff. But this site allows you to post random thoughts about anything and everyone recognizes the weirdness we all possess.
McMike
> Flavien Vidal
02/22/2014 at 10:40 |
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It's a big deal when your wife/girlfriend chimes in with some insight. We have created the wife wisdom tag for when that happens. It doens't happen often, but when it does we all say at once, "OMG, you've been listening this whole time!"
Whether she sees a Crosscabriolet and says " Ewww, what the hell is that thing," or drives a rental car and says, "Who the hell doesn't put a keyhole in the passenger door SO FRUSTRATING!" It's special, and worth noting.
I too have lots of friends, but have no one to talk cars with. I work in IT, and definitely have no one to talk cars with there. I tweet Crosstours every time I see them, and noone gets it. I complain about model bloat, and people think I'm a fan of eating disorders on the runway.
No one gets my automotive jokes, and I comment here to relive them before I get home. Mrs McMike is happy Jaloppo exists, because she doesn't care how many platforms BMW is currently downing us with.
Post on!
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Flavien Vidal
> McMike
02/22/2014 at 10:46 |
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haha, yes when it happens, I'm in heaven!! :)
These past couple months we are looking for her to get her own car (considering the Corvette is the only car I own and nope, she's not driving it in the snow) and she wants... a 1989 Mercedes W123 Wagon!! Manual at that! I just hope she reaches the pedals as she's 5' only lol
Damn, do I love her! :)
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Flavien Vidal
> Lekker
02/22/2014 at 10:50 |
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The teddy is taken... Didn't you read? I said I'm married! :)
ozkar0rtiz
> Flavien Vidal
02/22/2014 at 10:57 |
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I kind of feel the same. Where I live everybody seems to be into muscle cars (which I also love, but hate drag racing and prefer muscle inspired rally cars) and nobody is open minded as I am about cars. My dad who is a mechanic, does not get my passion for old Benzes which I already have two. Finally when he got to drive my 300d he kind of understood what is it about Mercedes I like .
HFV has no HFV. But somehow has 2 motorcycles
> Flavien Vidal
02/22/2014 at 11:21 |
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This is exactly why I like oppo. Now if only I could post new stories. :(
evil2win
> Flavien Vidal
02/22/2014 at 11:50 |
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There's more that one person here with a similar story. Occasionally my wife starts talking about landscaping and I imagine what she feels like when I'm talking about all things automotive. Now I've learned to recognize a pittosporum, and she's learned to spot the occasional Alfa, but I can't get excited over seeing a pittosporum, neither can she about the Alfa. I wonder if there's a web site like this for landscape geeks?
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Lekker
> Flavien Vidal
02/22/2014 at 13:51 |
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Lol. That made me chuckle good. Nice one
TinFoil Knight
> Flavien Vidal
02/22/2014 at 17:07 |
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" what I would write would quickly get burried under tons of other things, but who knows, maybe some people will find what I write, and even maybe think it's interesting? No?" I have often said these very same words myself. I couldn't stop myself from writing this morning and then was like omg what did I just do?
DasWauto
> HFV has no HFV. But somehow has 2 motorcycles
02/25/2014 at 15:03 |
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And now you can.
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HFV has no HFV. But somehow has 2 motorcycles
> DasWauto
02/25/2014 at 15:09 |
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YAY. I'll use this power wisely. well I'll try to.
