"The car can be a religious substitute..."

Huh? Say what? Well, after thinking about it, I guess so. Everything else is. And most modern Auto-theologians know about the Biblical references to personal transporation. e.g, we know Gawd owned a vintage Plymouth ("He drove them from the garden in a Fury"). And that the Apostles, not having yet invented the hair shirt, crammed themselves into a Honda ("They left in one Accord.")

Cough. Anyway, I heard that Subject-line statement in the documentary Mille Miglia: Spirit of a Legend.

For you normal non-Gearhead people, the Mille Miglia was a totally crazy-ass car race in Italy. The route was 1000 miles (hence the name) on public highways, from Brescia to Rome and back. It was an "unlimited" race, meaning anything with 4 wheels could compete - from tiny Fiat 500's all the way up to factory-built Mercedes-Benz leviathans.

The original Mille Miglia was outlawed by the Italian govt. in 1957. In that race a Ferrari left the road and plowed into a group of spectators, killing several (including children).

Nowadays it's run as a timed rally, not a pure speed event. But it's still on public roads. It's a real hoot seeing vintage Jaguars, Ferraris, Maseratis, Porsches etc. stuck in the middle of modern traffic, and vice versa. The documentary often uses split-screens to show pre-1957 races alongside the modern event.

Clip here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CGJuYtjp11E

This sounds like an amusement for wealthy elitists, but the race is still pretty much open to anything. One team in the documentary drives a BMW Isetta "bubble car," which gives a whole new meaning to the term "suicide door." Note that the steering wheel is INSIDE that single door, so the crumple zone for this little monster was your chest:

and the driver appears to have insufficient air bag protection :hide:

"He drove them from the garden in a Fury"

I'm going to be laughing about that one all day.

Thanks.