“Follow That Car!” Mobilities of Enthusiasm in a Rare Car's Restoration

Abstract

This article follows one object, a rare car, through its life cycle and in so doing engages the literatures in cultural geography on mobilities, materiality, and enthusiasm to show how all three are linked in the restoration of this one automobile, a Czechoslovakian-built Tatra T87 from 1941. Through archival and autoethnographic research, we trace the history of the Tatra company and then follow the production, sale, and subsequent ownerships of this one particular car through two wars and across two continents. We detail its restoration, tracing a geography of automobile enthusiasm that brought this rusted hulk back to life, one facilitated internationally by the Internet but that nevertheless demands extraordinary mobilities of cars, people, and parts. In following this one thing, we join other scholars in complicating the commodity-or global-value chains so often described as linear, to uncover instead complex entanglements of reuse, repurposing, and restoration. Because the car in question is our own, we mobilize our experiences with the car to reveal how the geographies of enthusiasms (automotive and otherwise) involve sustained and profound emotional engagements-emotional engagements often left out of academic accounts where, we suggest, they might be desirable as well.Este artículo le sigue la pista a un objeto, un carro raro, a través de su ciclo vital, y al hacerlo nos involucramos con las literaturas de geografía cultural sobre movilidades, materialidad y entusiasmo, para mostrar cómo todas las tres se entrelazan en el proceso de restauración de este particular automóvil, un Tatra T87 modelo 1941 de fabricación checoeslovaca. A través de investigación auto-etnográfica y de archivos, reconstruimos la historia de la compañía Tatra y luego documentamos la producción, venta y subsiguientes transferencias de propiedad de este particular carro a través de dos guerras y de dos continentes. Detallamos su restauración, dibujando una geografía del entusiasmo automovilístico que resucitó este oxidado armatoste, facilitada internacionalmente por la Internet pero que aún así demanda movilidades extraordinarias de carros, gente y repuestos. Al hacer el seguimiento de este proceso, nos unimos a otros estudiosos en la tarea de complicar las cadenas de valor global o de mercaderías muy a menudo descritas como lineales, para descubrir en vez de eso un complejo enredo sobre reúso, reacondicionamiento y restauración. Debido a que el carro de marras es el nuestro propio, movilizamos nuestras experiencias con el carro para revelar cómo las geografías de los entusiasmos (automovilísticos y de otro tipo) implican continuos y profundos compromisos emocionales-compromisos emocionales dejados de lado en los recuentos académicos donde, sugerimos nosotros, podrían tener también merecida lugar. Palabras clave: cadenas de mercaderías, entusiasmo, seguimiento, cadenas de valor global, movilidades, Tatra T87.

The Devotions of Restoration: Materiality, Enthusiasm, and Making Three “Indian Motocycles” Like New

“…As with other enthusiasms, those who practice restoration as enthusiasts undertake their craft for the pleasure of it and out of a love for the objects of their enthusiasm. Because they earn no pay and need earn no profit, they may undertake excruciatingly painstaking restorations, devoting years to master the tiniest details (Dannefer 1980;Revill 2012;Geoghegan 2013;DeLyser and Greenstein 2015). These three worlds are not sealed from one another.…”

“…For some, it begins in the home, with a father's car, or a father-son project (machine restoration is, and always has been, overwhelmingly gendered male; see Dannefer 1980;Haring 2007;Baime 2014;DeLyser and Greenstein 2015). For others, restoration is spark ignited; material intimacy can just as well occur in public.…”

“…Over time, the availability of skilled mechanics and makers, along with old stock and eventually reproduced parts, led to the current situation: Today very few parts are truly not available-with the advent of eBay (which, by the turn of the twenty-first century created a worldwide venue for used parts; R. M. Ellis and Haywood 2006;DeLyser and Greenstein 2015) and parts remanufacturers, it is now possible to build a completely new-made, but "old," Indian motorcycle from parts.…”

“…Enthusiasms are geographical phenomena, for although enthusiasts might labor alone, they find community with like-minded individuals: They are linked through networks of enthusiasts articulated spatially through club and society meetings (e.g., of car clubs), public outreach events (e.g., architectural tours), and other gatherings of those who share the passion (e.g., specialty swap meets), as well as through online forums and collecting practices (R. M. Ellis and Haywood 2006;Haring 2007;Geoghegan 2013;DeLyser and Greenstein 2015).…”

“…All things are made or manufactured, most see maintenance and repair, some see conservation and even modification, but few ever undergo restoration (Pirsig 1974;Dannefer 1980;Laurier 1998;Graham and Thrift 2007;Crawford 2009;Gregson, Metcalfe, and Crewe 2009;Edensor 2011;Strebel 2011;Warren and Gibson 2011;DeLyser and Greenstein 2015). In this article we use the restoration stories of three Indian Motocycles (without the r, made in the United States, 1901States, -1953 to reveal restoration as a dynamic aesthetic and political practice that links skilled restorers to communities of enthusiasm centered on the agentic materiality of the things they restore and to labors of love and devotion.…”