Paleo Retiree writes:

A few weeks ago my wife and I attended a modest outdoor show of classic cars. It was a very happy experience for me. I was a car-crazy kid for a number of years … and here were some of my favorites in the flesh: from sexy Jags and Cobras to adorable Studebakers and woodies. A few California hot rods punctuated the grounds with their fantasy and wit. I explored the show feeling like a boy getting a chance to meet his sports heroes one on one.

I was far from being the only person walking around wearing a giddy smile. It was a happy crowd generally — in fact, squeals of delight were often to be heard as people encountered magnificent machines.

And the crowd wasn’t made up just of the curious. Many of the people who owned and maintained the cars were standing proudly by their vehicles, happy to converse with fans and answer questions. Wives and g.f.’s assumed glamorous poses in front of gorgeous cars for the benefit of their men’s smartphones and cameras. Local owners of classic cars cruised back and forth on the street bordering the show, smiling and waving — pitching in to the festivities in their own way.

It was a remarkably un-museum-like, un-art-gallery-like scene. You weren’t just there to admire, marvel and learn. You were — to the extent you chose to be — part of the event. It was participatory culture at its finest.

After the show, my wife and I visited a local steakhouse where, over an Old Fashioned (a classic in its own right), I found myself wondering, “How do I feel about thinking of this not just as a fun car show but as the best art show I’ve attended in years?” I couldn’t come up with a reason not to label the experience that way.

A couple of questions for you: Will the future look back on some 20th century car designers as some of the greatest artists of the 20th century? If not, why not?

• Donald Pittenger, who blogs at Art Contrarian, is a knowledgeable, appreciative and eloquent lover of automobile design.
• Great to see that Donald has pulled many of his thoughts together into book form. Buy his new book here.
• Camille Paglia argues that industrial design is a far more vital aesthetic field than contemporary fine art.
• I’m looking forward to Camille’s new book. Here’s a recent interview with her.