Living in the U.S., you get used -- somewhat -- to seeing monster trucks and behemoth SUVs barreling down the roads with a "my turf, my gun," bad ass attitude. But this truck, spotted in West LA, beats them all. So humongous that one third of it cannot even fit in the standard-size carport. Macho culture oblige.
In his brilliant essay "Heavy Metal Freeway" -- part of his collection In Praise of Barbarians -- Mike Davis, a self-proclaimed "tree hugging radical" who would "rather drive an eco-friendly car or, better, bike to work," explains why he defaulted to a big mo-fo machine. The essay is a piece of anthology. Excerpt:
"Each morning I saddle up my own personal armored vehicle- a sinister-looking V8, 4-wheel-drive Toyota Tundra pickup-and plow into one of the middle lanes of Interstate 5. Fort he next hour and half, I fight my fellow citizens-no quarter given or requested-for freeway lebensraum. Panzer divisions of 'sports utility vehicles' -- imagine the old-fashioned family station wagon on steroids and meth-now dominate the freeways. Pole position on a Southern California freeway has always been a harrowing place, but it is especially terrifying now that heavy metal rules."
Ingrained machismo; Freeway madness; Insecurity; Size matters; Meet size with size. The perfect cocktail, says Davis. To hell.
photo LA Frog
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