Wabi-sabi 侘寂

[Petrus]

or more precisely the sabi; the imperfections created by the use of an object; the aquired proof of usefulness; scratch-n-dent on a well used car.

I mentioned it in the thread on the Japanese car culture; that the scratch or dent can be seen as a badge of honour as well as an imperfection.

´From an engineering or design point of view, wabi may be interpreted as the imperfect quality of any object, due to inevitable limitations in design and construction/manufacture especially with respect to unpredictable or changing usage conditions;
then sabi could be interpreted as the aspect of imperfect reliability, or limited mortality of any object, hence the phonological and etymological connection with the Japanese word sabi, to rust (錆, also pronounced sabi).
Although the kanji characters for "rust" is not the same sabi (寂) in wabi-sabi, the original spoken word (pre-kanji, yamato-kotoba) is believed to be one and the same.´ 
Source - Wikipedia.

In extrema sabi becomes the ´patina´ of a vintage car, created by decennia of exposure to the elements.
A fake rat look by perfect wrapping matt black on a Porschâh is úncool; sun aged and the odd trace of brushing a wall drifting the thing is 

My ´Kikker´ aka Southern Belle was not perfect when bought and has over the past year acquired more... character      and I appreciate it.
When partaking in an activity of the Marbella based classic car club the difference in attitude could nót be greater. Several members own and take out truely wónderful, real historic ralley/race cars. Every single one has most or all of that history removed by ´restoring´ it to factory spec with  a level of finish it never had when leaving said factory. But then those cars are serving an exhibition purpose for the owner.

There is no right or wrong ofcourse in this, only personal preference. What is yours?

[SV-3]

or more precisely the sabi; the imperfections created by the use of an object; the aquired proof of usefulness; scratch-n-dent on a well used car.

I mentioned it in the thread on the Japanese car culture; that the scratch or dent can be seen as a badge of honour as well as an imperfection.

´From an engineering or design point of view, wabi may be interpreted as the imperfect quality of any object, due to inevitable limitations in design and construction/manufacture especially with respect to unpredictable or changing usage conditions;
then sabi could be interpreted as the aspect of imperfect reliability, or limited mortality of any object, hence the phonological and etymological connection with the Japanese word sabi, to rust (錆, also pronounced sabi).
Although the kanji characters for "rust" is not the same sabi (寂) in wabi-sabi, the original spoken word (pre-kanji, yamato-kotoba) is believed to be one and the same.´ 
Source - Wikipedia.

In extrema sabi becomes the ´patina´ of a vintage car, created by decennia of exposure to the elements.
A fake rat look by perfect wrapping matt black on a Porschâh is úncool; sun aged and the odd trace of brushing a wall drifting the thing is 

My ´Kikker´ aka Southern Belle was not perfect when bought and has over the past year acquired more... character      and I appreciate it.
When partaking in an activity of the Marbella based classic car club the difference in attitude could nót be greater. Several members own and take out truely wónderful, real historic ralley/race cars. Every single one has most or all of that history removed by ´restoring´ it to factory spec with  a level of finish it never had when leaving said factory. But then those cars are serving an exhibition purpose for the owner.

There is no right or wrong ofcourse in this, only personal preference. What is yours?

I saw a tv programme recently where Seinfeld certainly seemed to be following the sabi philososphy.
He had acquired, if my recall is correct, a very rusty/ratty Porschagh! - and had no intention of altering its condition - indeed revelling in the patina of the car.

[Petrus]

In essence rat-bikes of car world.

Personally I like the vehicle to be in as good condition as possible, with personal touches. I dislike dents, scratches, rust or other stuff like that, to me they've always been the sign of neglect, abuse, lack of pride and care and poor ownership. I'm simply the type to find pride in ownership of a vehicle that is in good nick, so could never understand intentional destruction/ruination of a vehicle to the point it looks as if pulled out of a junkyard or a forest.

Well a rat car is an extreme. It has its own charm but it is not either detailed or rat is it.

Furthermore scratches or the odd dent is not the same as neglect. Stains and scratches in the interior too; not the same as a ripped up interior.
Good nick as in well maintained does not equal every blemish resprayed nor does sabi equal rust bucket. What sabi most definitely is NÓT is fake patina, the deliberate ´aging´. Thát ´rat´ look aka urban camo is a style, a fashion statement, not the hard to earn, honourable proof of a useful life.
There is a wóld of diffrence between a perfect matt black wrapmon a new Panamera, a deliberately ´aged´  911 and a well used unrestored one or a ditto 356.

I rinse & dry my car véry regularly and maintain religiously, mod beyond extremist religion. For the rest I prefer spend the budget on mods rather than looks. If a scratch goes to the bare metal I wil apply rust inhibitor and that´s it.

Mind you I can intensely enjoy a detailed car like Jason´s. Can admire, secretly envy, both the patience and result. That does not mean that I need/prefer it on míne. My previous daily told me a story, was a tangible collection of memories. The car needed to go for technical/economical reasons, miss it that the memories are now only fleeting: The car physically represented nearly a decade of intense living; CSI would have had a system overload!
It told about a tree that nearly ripped the door off, of a flood that went over the bonnet, of half a dozen lovers, of a wild boar that nearly killed me, of a bed that flew off a truck, of drifting grazes, of... múch more.
Nevertheless it was in such well maintained good nick that I got a good price for it.

[Dexter101]

I know this is frowned upon for resurrecting old posts, however I had to comment as I think I saw a similar post you made on someones build thread and loved the philosophy behind it!

Nothing is perfect, nothing is finished,  nothing is forever. 

Perhaps the argument is how the "imperfection" came about?  cracked bumper from epic drift session is perhaps more positive and something to be embraced than stain on car seat from child being sick...

Likewise,  to freeze something in time allows us to appreciate for what caused them (Top Gear cars are an example), to then continue to use the car would make us yearn for it to be fixed. 

I think everyone probably can agree that although people try and enjoy to create the perfect car,  it will never exist.

[Petrus]

Change is an inevitabe constant and for an object of use it wíll leave testimony.

The sabi side is very well explained by using the crystal of a watch as example: As long as reading the time is not impaired, it is not a defect but proof of use, testimony of the functionality.

Néxt comes the perception of that object of use. If seeing the Rolex as a status statement most will need the ´crystal´ to be unblemished, hence the advent of mega hard materials even when that means more brittle, more refraction of light. As such acrylic has nearly disappeared despite it being fúnctionally superior.

My car has acquired parking damage. I am hóping it can be repaired with a wink: Like stabelising the tear in the bumper skirt with a glassfiber patch on the inside. Next drill a series of holes on either side. Then after (possibly) painting, pull a shoe lace through the holes, ty a nice loop knot above and fix that with a drop of glue 


 

[shnazzle]

My car carries battle scars. 7 years or so of being ragged around the country.
I've still got pictures of it when I used to polish it, wax it, clean it religiously.
At a certain point, the amount of battle scars made cleaning to such a degree a bit of a farcical exercise.

From on extreme to the other; it now gets washed about once a year. But god it's a hoot to drive. Never ever fails to put a smile on my face and so damn reliable. Other than the damn alternator, but that's mostly my mistake other than the first failure.

Everything about it makes it "mine" and has memories attached to it. Even the fact that it has no carbon canister anymore, because one of the mounting bolts snapped on my last alternator install. It's still a memory.
A dent in my TTE brace from a brilliant run in Scotland many years ago.
Rear bin door with stripped bolts bevause I had them in/out so often when I was tinkering with the piggyback ecu.
All good memories.

[Zspeed]

My car is a masterpiece of damaged and scratched panels, but it looks great from a distance and from the drivers seat where it matters.

I hope to improve it but I have already decided that it's not important. Panel swaps are easy but it appears that despite there popularity silver facelift in good condition are very hard to come by.

Drive on, look forward, listen to the engine whine.

[Ardent]

I would love to have mine resprayed. But cannot bring myself to part with the £s.

I do like a clean presentable car. The sheen and colour do hide a multitude of sins. But up close and if scrutinised it easily reveals the 125k+ miles of stone chips.

But it's honest.

[Dev]

From what I was told it is a crime by some to repaint or take some dents out of classic race/ street cars from the past. It is the dents that have history behind it. It would be the equivalent of trying to restore the Sphinx or other ruins from antiquity.
   
I also heard there are points deducted on the concourse if items have been restored or replaced which is different than preserved.
 
 My car is bastardized mutt so it really doesn't matter only that it looks good to others.

[Ardent]

Sabine scrubs up well for a 128k miler.

[Petrus]

From what I was told it is a crime by some to repaint or take some dents out of classic race/ street cars from the past. It is the dents that have history behind it. It would be the equivalent of trying to restore the Sphinx or other ruins from antiquity.
   
I also heard there are points deducted on the concourse if items have been restored or replaced which is different than preserved.

In the classic scene there is imo quite a lot of lost tracks.

There is imo a  huge difference between a one off ´work of art´ and a ´consumable´. Even the work of art car though still is a cár;  meant to be driven, raced et al. Not quite the same as a réal work of art like a painting with the original brush strokes of the painter.

With ány car there is the obtuse of conserving, repairing, replacing consumables and all touches upon OEM or aftermarket, remanufactured.

The point is that if a car is used, there wíll be wear with all the consequences of that.
Nót using a car, well, that is conserving and bar exceptions not the goal of the manufacturing.

[Ardent]

Not the goal at all.