That's the collector's grade for a #3 car. Imperfect, used, mechanically sound, meant to be driven instead of preserved. Here it's a compliment, and it goes for the owner too. Nobody I know is short on enthusiasm. What they're short on is a clear Saturday and a battery that holds a charge. The car sits because it's parked in, needs a repair or Saturday's already spoken for. Everything I publish is meant to take one of those off the pile. If it doesn't get you out driving, I don't run it.

I spent the first half of my career on the other side of the service counter. I started as a technician at a small European independent, mostly VW, Porsche and Audi with the occasional BMW. After that I was a certified technician at a Ford dealer. Then I moved up front and stayed fifteen years, service consultant to service manager to service director. I have written and read a lot of estimates. I know what actually leaves people sitting on the shoulder and what can wait until fall. These days I'm a product executive at a Fortune 500, which means I'm dealing with the same problems as everybody else. Busy job, two daughters in college, and a car in the garage I don't drive as much as I should.

I've taken about ten non-running or basket case cars and got them back on the road, all the mechanical work myself, in my own garage here in Charlotte. Right now, it's a 1977 Porsche 911. It has flaws I know about and probably a few I don't. I go to rallies, cars and coffee and shows, and I'll take the long way home whenever I can get away with it. The cars are maybe half of it. The rest is the people I've met over the years because of them.

I wrote a book about that in 2016. Welcome to the Scene is an introduction to the Volkswagen hobby, 138 pages, written for the person who just bought their first one and doesn't know anybody yet. Still in print.