OPINION

PHILIP MARTIN: The price (and cost) of things

Maybe you heard about the guy who got stopped in Georgia for doing 155 miles per hour in his 2017 McLaren 720S.

It's a pretty cut-and-dried case. Around 3 a.m. Nov. 12, an Alpharetta patrol officer was passed by the British sports car doing about 105 mph. She turned on her lights and siren and gave chase. It was about five miles (which took about two minutes to cover at those speeds) before he pulled over, and by then she's clocked him on radar.

For me the most impressive thing was her police-spec 2015 Chevy Impala--it was originally erroneously reported as a Dodge Charger--reached 143 mph during the chase. That's not bad for a 302-horsepower V6.

Anyway, the Atlanta businessman driving the McLaren failed a field sobriety test, so he was charged with drunken driving in addition to speeding, reckless driving, failure to maintain lane, and driving with an expired tag. Maybe worst of all, the police officer's dashcam video went viral. After she pulled him over and asked where he was going in such a hurry you can hear the chorus of "Feel It Still," the recent No. 1 hit from alternative rock band Portugal. The Man ("Ooh woo, I'm a rebel just for kicks, now/I've been feelin' it since 1966, now").

While we can all agree drunk driving is inexcusable, it's not my intention to shame the McLaren driver, so I'm not going to name him, though most of the Internet accounts of the incident did. I did want to find out what I could about him because I wondered what sort of guy has the wherewithal to own a McLaren (not a credit item) but isn't together enough to keep his car tags up to date. And while I wasn't surprised that the dude locked down his social media after his arrest, I was surprised that as a professional journalist who has done plenty of skip-tracing and people finding over the years, I couldn't find out much about him. Aside from driving his McLaren 155 mph--and to be fair, what's the point of having a McLaren if you're not going to do that?--the driver doesn't seem to have led a particularly flamboyant life.

Which makes sense only once you realize that there are a lot of quietly advantaged people. In his invaluable book on American manners, Class, Paul Fussell wrote about the really rich, who he called the "top out-of-sight" because of their invisibility. Most of these people were old-money types who lived relatively modestly and drove old Pontiacs, in part because they remember what happened to the aristocrats in France during the Reign of Terror.

A new McLaren 720S is not an old Pontiac. It's going to run you $288,000. (That's the base model, but I imagine it comes with floor mats along with the 710-horsepower twin-turbo V-8. The top speed is reckoned to be 212 mph, which means the Georgia driver was running at only 73 percent of his potential.) Around here, most houses cost less than that. It's not a vehicle designed to run to Kroger and back, or for the daily commute. It's really a very expensive toy for very rich people who either want to advertise their wealth or genuinely enjoy drifting around private test tracks. Mostly it's a machine designed to incite the envy of others.

And that's OK, for people can spend their money any way they want to. They can buy Jackie Robinson's ball cap or a $1,000 bottle of gin if they want and if it makes them happy. I know how things can make us feel, it's not necessarily a bad thing to develop a relationship with them. For years, until it was stolen, I wore my father's Rolex, and while I've no desire to go out and buy a new one, I appreciate fine machines for more than their utility. No one needs to wear a watch anymore, given the ubiquity of mobile phones and other devices, but I like the weight of a good watch on my wrist and on those rare occasions when I don't wear one I don't feel quite dressed. Or quite whole.

The watches I wear now are modest compared to what I used to wear--which was a modest enough example of its kind, a stainless steel Air-King with a slight smaller case than most--but unnecessary if not ostentatious. And every once in a while, I will go online and browse the pre-owned watch sites, just to look. (I'd never order a replacement Rolex, but a Cartier Tank like the one JFK wore or a James Bond-ish Omega Seamaster? Maybe someday. )

It is OK to like nice things and not necessarily a sin to collect them. I have friends who can't play a chord who keep expensive guitars in cases. The big American guitar companies--Gibson, Fender and Martin--recognize that there exists a market for extraordinarily expensive instruments, detailed reproductions of Rory Gallagher's Stratocaster or Peter Frampton's three-pickup Phenix Les Paul. Last year Martin issued a limited edition D-200 acoustic inlaid with a watch motif that carries a suggested retail price of $149,000. (The street price was, as usual, somewhat less; you should be able to get one for around $119,000.)

And people buy them. While running errands on a recent Saturday morning I encountered two brand-new Maseratis in different parts of town.

There's probably a McLaren somewhere around here; maybe I'd see it if I spent more time driving at 3 a.m.

I know that some people aren't materialistic and prefer the live lightly on the planet, consuming only enough to sustain them through their adventure. My wife Karen is like that and I admire her--she gives away books after she's read them; she gives away DVDs before she's watched them, she shakes her head (but says nothing) when she beholds my own guitarsenal of good (but not expensive) instruments. I can only play one at a time, but they do possess varied voices and serve different purposes.

Besides, I made a little money on a musical side project this year; the guitars have justified their place in our house. At least that's my story. Maybe they're my McLaren. Which, for the record, I do not want.

I might want to take a look at that Chevy Impala, though.

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Philip Martin is a columnist and critic for the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette. Email him at pmartin@arkansasonline.com and read his blog at blooddirtandangels.com.

Editorial on 11/21/2017

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