I'm here for the enthusiasts, not the snobbery

Al's wife's background in art helped influence her accepting proposal of marriage among other things, is Al's uncanny resemblance to Michelangelo's David, of which he is too humble to admit. 👍

Erik- If you like motorcycles, you should visit the Barber Museum in Birmingham, AL. Most of the bikes in the Guggenheim show came from his private collection and the building he commissioned to house it has an interior layout similar to the Guggenheim. While you are there, you can check out the track. It is used by Porsche as a test and training facility. It is a fabulous track (though I’m not much for racing tracks, I prefer long distance rallies). You might even be able to get a ride at speed. It could change your view of the aesthetics of the car, since being behind the wheel is where the fun is. (I don’t know if you can sign up for driver training without owning a car- I had a two day stint there when the CGT came out and Hurley Haywood was my coach). Humbling.
The metaphor or analogy does work to a degree. Fun in audio is where you find it; you can spend most of your time tweaking or driving; you don’t have to have uber gear to get thrills (there’s a pretty serious contingent of Miata drivers who are competitive). And to me, Bugatti stopped by WWII. The thing with that name today is just bling.
As for Rollers, Earl Heath was a neighbor when I was a kid. He had a pretty amazing collection. I find the old Bentleys more interesting, including the original W.O. cars and the "specials" which were essentially hot rods made from saloon cars. Sort of like our period hot rods in the States.
I’m basically agnostic on cars-- I love ’em all- from microcars to big finned Detroit iron. British requires a certain masochism, particularly vintage. Italian- god love ’em. The Germans are great engineers, though. One of my personal favorites, in terms of beauty, is the BMW 3.0 CS from the early ’70s. What a stunning car.

@almarg ,
I always pictured you as a 911 guy.
Bob

"...Al's uncanny resemblance to Michelangelo's David, of which he is too humble to admit. 👍"

Humble is his middle name. David is his first. You guessed it, Michelangelo is his last.

almarg has been uniformly considered The (only?) Gentleman here. Impossible to disagree with that.

"...you can spend most of your time tweaking or driving; you don’t have to have uber gear to get thrills..."

The most thrill I have ever had driving was a few years ago down the curvy goat-level steep narrow island roads in the 1970s Beetle convertible. No railguards, of course. The thrill was in virtually no braking power of that thing.

Yes, low-level gear can get you thrills, but I would have given my life for a brand new Bugatti at that moment. Not much of an exchange, though. I thought my life was about to be over anyway.