Wealth on the Road

A week ago I was cruising on the Santa Monica Fwy, when I got passed by a new Rolls Royce Phantom. I have seen plenty of the old majestic Phantoms, but you don't see a new one very often. 5 minutes later I took the Overland ave exit, when I saw a Bentley Continental GT on the other side of the road. 5 minutes later I reached westwood Village, and as I was walking away from my parked car, I heard an exhaust roar. I turned back to look and I saw a grey Ferrari F430. Within 15 minutes of a routine drive through some very ordinary neighbourhoods, my eyes were feasted to 3 great cars with a total value of more than $1 mn !!

This left me thinking, what is the most visible indicator of wealth ?
Palatial Houses ? Yes, but houses dont move, so unless you are in a particular neighbourhood you would never see it.
Upscale restaurants ? Again, you don't see them unless you go looking for them.
Designer clothes ? ....and you will never see them unless you peek into the wardrobe of the rich and filthy.
After thinking over numerous such examples, I finally came to the conclusion that cars are probably the most visible indicators of wealth.

You have to be a little car literate to discern between a 7 series ($100,000+) and 3 series ($30,000) BMW or a SL65 ($100,000+) and a C230 ($30,000) Mercedes, but it doesn't take any talent to differentiate between a Porsche and a Toyota.

Although I have always been a big fan of cars, my eyes were never treated to this kind of riches before moving to Los Angeles. My intuition was that these cars would only line the fancy boulevards in Beverly Hills and Bel-Air. But I was surprised to see more than 10 porsches in my first half hour in Pasadena. For someone who loves cars and knows the exact value of each of them, driving in the city can be very overwhelming. I have even travelled through not so great neighbourhoods in south LA, and yet managed to see Boxsters parked on road.

For a lot of people, cars just constitute a means to get from point A to point B. Some like to pack more horses under their hood and prefer V8's and more. But when I look around, in most case I find a superficial display of wealth. And it's this superficial display which at times makes you realise how insignificant you and your car are on the road .

Finally, if you thought Ferrari Enzo, Lamborghini Murcielago, Aston Martin DB9, Benteleys are movie stuff, then just take a walk down the Rodeo Drive where even SL class Merc's and 7 series BMW go unnoticed.