Interior is where the heart is
“the test of the machine is the satisfaction it gives you”-Robert M. Pirsig
Cruising down the freeway. Exhaust droning and I hit an expansion joint, the car’s Stance dampers compress and extend in a controlled jounce that sends energy through my Bride bolstered racing seat, and into my central nervous system to be interpreted by my brain. I visualize my toy from the outside, almost an out of body experience, while I press the throttle to the floor and listen to the exhaust note get louder and the revs start to rise. Gripping my steering wheel, I feel the leather underneath the pads of my finger tips, fine Italian leather with a smooth quality only a fine Personal wheel has, it comforts my soul to be proud of my art.
The interior of a car is the office of the tuner. This is where we enjoy our creation, the sounds, the touch, the vibrations, and the acceleration. The interior is where we do what we designed our machines to do…drive. Yet, the interior is so often overlooked by a tuner. If it’s not overlooked, it’s often underestimated or at best misunderstood. The design, condition, and modifications to an interior are fully in charge of setting our feelings while driving the machine. Our mind works on expectation and perception, perception of what we hear, touch, see, and smell. Do we perceive a machine of quality with a solid build that calms or nerves, or do we perceive a creaking sloppy mess that takes away any confidence in one’s ability to “build” a machine and power down the freeway at not so legal speeds? That is up to the owner and their patience when putting together an interior.
We so often view a car build as three pieces, in order of importance, 1) engine 2) suspension 3) exterior. The interior is so often left to the depths of our procrastination even though THIS is where we spend most of our time while enjoying the machine. Robert M Pirsig said in Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance that, “the test of the machine is the satisfaction it gives you”. The interior is the one place where all of the satisfaction we get from our machine is perceived. However, if it is stripped “because race car”, or the seats are ripped, or the steering wheel is cheap, or even the shift knob is not to our liking, our satisfaction is detracted from. One could be enjoying a 400 hp performance machine, but instead our mind is busy trying to ignore a vibrating and creaking “race car” interior. We could be pitching our car into a four wheel slide and enjoying the forces and adrenaline rush, but our mind is preoccupied with watching flopping around gauges and a headunit that jumps up and down on it’s ziptied installation. Or we could be cruising down the highway, 35* degrees outside with the auto HVAC set to 75*. The materials we touch remind us of the time and effort that went into our machine, warming our hearts as we motor down the expressway. The shift knob underneath our palm making us feel like a tuner, the bolsters hugging our sides making us feel like a racer, and our view giving us a simple pleasure to behind the wheel of our own special creation. A creation we are proud of.
All it takes is a few more minutes to use the right fastener to hold down the factory interior plastic. All it takes is a little cleaning after each track day, and a little more patience when using the dremel to mount a boost controller. All it takes is saving up a bit more cash to order the seat we really desire. All it takes, is more care, more attention to detail, and more appreciation for the only place we get to enjoy the satisfaction our machine gives us.
