The happy smile on the person pictured is the result of being on a beach at sunset with a refreshing cocktail. Most of the middle-aged male Americans believe that this may be the state of grace!

Joe Potts is a middle-aged male American. He is the father of three sons, the grandfather of five beautiful children, happily married to Judy for forty years, a former investment banker and current college professor of finance and management. His politics are liberal, he is a life-long democrat (small D), believes that America is not off the track. It was never on the track to begin with! His favorite writer - fiction, was Tony Hillerman; his favorite political writer is Robert Kaplan; he would like to have dinner with Stanley Fish and Parker Palmer or Jimmy and Roslyn Carter; he is passionate about management education, food preparation, red wine, the Red Sox and while dreaming away hours - the motorcar.






Dream Machines I have Known and Loved In: My Affair(s) With the Automobile!








As a young man I was the proud owner of many, now classic, automobiles. My first vehicle was a Henry J. There are, in all probability only a few human beings still alive that remember this buggy. My Dad owned Nash automobiles. Nash became part of the mismash of companies that became American Motors in the 1950s. Imagine the utter humiliation of attending the coming of age event of the 1950s, the senior prom, in a three-tone (maroon, black, and white) urban assault vehicle, a Nash Ambassador! The Henry J was manufactured by Kaiser Industries. Henry J. Kaiser built Liberty boats at his shipyard in California during World War II. These ships were cargo carriers that provided floating targets for Nazi U-Boats. The casualty rate for these tubs was in the 50% range. After the War Kaiser Industries continued to build boats, cars and planes. It used the same set of blueprints for all of these. The Henry J had set me back a whopping $50!





After the the Henry J, I moved up in class. In my dreams I drove the classic vehicle, the Jaguar. I became the owner of a 1952 Jaguar XJ. It was regimental red with leather interior, mahogany trim, black soft-top, straight eight engine with twin Weber carburators , truly a machine. This Dream Machine took me across to LA and back one early Summer. I even cruised Route 66 before those two Bozos who ended up with a TV series! I kept the Jag for two or so years and sold it to a fellow masochist. I say this without remorse or prejudice towards English vehicles. A very cool and beautiful English Lady was the XJ...but very difficult to warm-up. When the New England winter blanketed the landscape with damp and finally divorced the cool English Dame and married another warmer English import - an MG! Between English engagements, I drove a 1956 Mercury Monterry hard-top - stick shift, Philo radio and speakers, the envy of my friends

Bond....James Bond!

The Beauty of Motoring!

The Dream Machine......

The MG, now mind you, was not your average MG roadster. This was an MG Magnette. Only produced for two years - 1957 and 1958, truly, a unique, one of a few, rarity. This beauty was a four-door sedan with leather interior and knurled hard-wood trim; four-on-the-floor; Lucas lanterns; road performance! This was followed by the most utilitarian vehicle of all-time, the Volkswagen Bug! Great mileage, extremely cold in Winter, but basic transportation.



I drove this buggy for almost two-years. I then met my wife and we purchased the real dream machine - a 1969 Mercury Cougar XR7 hard-top sedan with a huge eight cylinder, 325 horse-power growler under the hood! We drove that on our honeymoon to Niagara and Montreal.


Our love affair with the XR7 lasted for about 16 months. It was glorious! There we were in Capri. John Robie (me) with the sunglasses and ascot driving the Cool Frances (wife) with sunglasses and scarf bellowing in the wind! (To Catch a Thief). A dream in the Dream Machine!



We soon began our family and suddenly the dream machine became much to small and was replaced by the ultimate utilitarian transportation mode - the stationwagon! Or, several stationwagons, each more boring and utilitarian than the one before it! Even our sons as they reached their teens and were granted the privilege of driving in Massachusetts refused to borrow the car! We finally drove the last of the clunker stationwagons when our youngest child went off to college and we bought two very reliable, highly rated utilitarian (Consumer Reports) Toyotas.

But deep inside of us, Judy and I, there is still a longing for the roar of the engine, the open road, the studied indifference of being behind the wheel of a Dream Machine.



I salute the Beach Boys ' Little Deuce Coup and the favorite of my grandchildren Disney's CARS.