I don't know about most of you, but this whole experience is pretty strange to me. The whole thing about pre-ordering a car, dreaming about a car, visiting a forum about a car...it's all new ground.

Has this happened in the recent past for other cars, and other car buyers? I know many of you are really 'into' cars in general, and visit other car related forums (you have provided links to some of them). Have you seen this kind of ground swell pending the release of a new car? Did it happen with the Honda S2000? Or maybe with the PT Cruiser? Where forums were created, and people chatted about all sorts of stuff to pass the time, waiting for their car?

 

I am almost positive that the WRX message board was up before the car was shipped. I know that there are already a few sites that accomodate both the Lancer and the EVO VII. This type of car-loving-fever is normal. But members of this forum may be the only ones who have ever ordered a car without knowing its final stats, lol.

 

i was on this site for 6 months looking at the z until i sat in it and found out it was going to be too small for me.

then i went and put a deposit down on a evo vIII,,,,went to their forum and it is knid of blahhhhhh,,, only a few posts a day , where this site had almost one hundred.

the 350z site is a lot more fun and exciting.
i just wish that when i did put $ down on a car it was exciting like the 350 site here.


oh well ill just to have to have fun with 271 hp/273tq. and awd!!!!!!!!!!!!!(more than likelt under rated hp numbers)

all by myself

 

Hi, Scaf and others, yes, this experience is and has been very strange. I've never joined, followed, peered at or otherwise had any experience with a group of people waiting on a car, never seeing the car until it arrived, have friendly conversations and big fights with unbelievers and essentially conversed with people in cyberspace before except by e-mail.

I may be a little different from most people on this and other websites like 350zfrenzy, because I was recovering from major surgery which kept me in the house for many months with nothing to do, not allowed by my orthopod. The computer became my window on the world(re: "Rear Window") and my obsession w/the Z an everyday occurance.

Since I'm also a Social Scientist, the cultural aspect of America's cult of the automobile was intriguing as well. Meeting and communicating with people of my generation and much younger was somewhat of a shock because the focus was so narrow compared with a broad worldview, but just as undefined as each individual. What's a Sports Car? is as hard to define as Who am I? to many of the individuals I've been in contact with.

I could write a monograph on this site under the category of Social Movement theory, my speciality, but I won't because while this has gone on for so long here and elsewhere in cyberspace, I've separated from worker bee to retiree with the means to sustain my existence as long as I continue. My love affair with the automobile remains unabated and I have my facts, history, opinions and dislikes intact. Mostly, I'm entering a new phase of life some have just begun while mine is ending.

Not being a Deadhead, I still can coopt their "What a long strange trip its been" and it makes perfect sense in the context of your question. One of the most interesting aspects of this particular trip has been Nissan's marketing strategy and the adjustments they have made during my sojourn here. It has been fascinating to participate in the re-birth of a major corporation which had definitely lost its way the last few years. As a professional outsider by choice and happenstance, it has been the strangest trip of all.

Boomer babble

 

Acutally- I have been a member of a few automotive-type boards/forums before and, for me, it is important for one to exist when considering a car. I considered the WRX cuz there is a couple of great boards.
I even recognize a few people on this board who were members of the board I used to frequent for Dodge Avengers.
I think the internet is a great place for car enthusiasts to get together for dozens of purposes- I still don't have a Z yet- but group deals are where its at!!!
ZZ

 

Creamythighs, you've got to be kidding! You certainly messed up my continuity.

 

Boomer, that one has my vote for "random post of the week"!

 

That is because the poster of an erased post is some cyberstalker who has id'd me as his prey in cyberspace. He has posted in the off topic forum also, disguised as a female and a male in the same thread. I reported him to the Mods and they whacked him/her/it from the site again.

Pretty Gothic, huh?

 

This thread came back to life after 7 months of being idle - is that a new record?

 

This site doesn't really seem that "strange" compared to how it used to feel before the car was released. This site is a lot like LS1.com or any of the other well-established car sites. The 350Z sites in general had a different feel to them before the car was out.. it would probably be funny to look at posts less than a year old where people wanted pictures of the interior or the change holder or other small details that nobody cares about anymore, or specs such as the HP and torque that we know by heart now. In some ways it was actually a little more fun with all the speculation that was going on, especially with the HP numbers and 0-60 times. Now the conversation is like any other car message board and doesn't seem especially "strange".

 

If it isn't a record its damn close.

 

What was the EVO forum? I'm sure that forum will pick up more when the car comes out... and people start seeing it, etc.

 

Yep. Different!

 

I agree, it would be fun the look at those old posts. I started putting up messages in march, and I remember how frantic we were in getting our Z fix for the day. The most exciting times came when new pictures filtered in, from our sleuths in so cal to jmanz with his inside sources.
I remember how my excitement built with each passing day, and all the people on this site formed a fraternity of sorts, every one of us feeling the same apprehension. After all, we had put money on a car which at the time had nothing more than a name - the Z. T
he pictures, the specs, comparing vin's, the arrival dates, all of it led to hours a day on this site, which made me love my car even before I got it.
True, now this site doesn't hold the same allure for me, too many new names, to much activity, in all it doesn't feel as personal as before.
I guess it was a combination of a common desire along with the fact that we were all in the same boat, all of us waiting for our Z's, that made this site so special. It is a still a fun site, but now I visit for an hour every two weeks instead of 4 hours everyday. Congratulations to all, old and new, that made / make this site the site it is. It might not be as special to me, but I hope for all those future Z owners who find their way here this site provides them the same enjoyment it gave me.


Cheers,
TubbsSF