u/Max-Loves-Cars

For most people, the automotive industry represents a simple idea: a way to get from one point to the next. car is an appliance to most, a tool, like a dishwasher or something similar. At a young age cars mattered more to me than most people, they pushed little me to be more curious about them. Something was telling me that cars were more than what my mom would put me in the back seat of to take me to school, and it has always been something I wanted to experience on a deeper level. If I were to look past the daily traffic and commutes, it’s a community I’m glad to be a part of that’s deeper than that. The high-end automotive community isn’t just car buyers and insanely rich individuals, but a society heavily focused on history and technological advancements. By looking deeper into it and actually getting out to talk to people in the space, you learn more about not just what’s involved in the community, but life overall.   
If we were to look at Monterey Car Week, for example, it’s pretty easy to understand just how much goes into cars these days, the logistics, the research, the development, the networking, all of it. The car culture is a wide net. Thanks to what my father does for his profession, I’ve been pretty lucky to grow up with a sort of backstage pass to this dynamic that most people miss out on. What can look like just a group of wealthy people from a distance, just boils down to those people who put the time and effort into actually becoming interested in cars and excelling in the space. It’s not much more than that, and just like them, you can gain success without being insanely wealthy.   
It’s pretty hard to see this concept more so than if you go to Monterey for Car Week, it’s an annual event that takes over the county; the hotels, the golf courses, and even local businesses’ parking lots, where people come in from quite literally around the world to share the same hobby. For one week, all of Monterey is cars and faces you recognize from movies, TV, manufacturers, and even the people who come with their family to simply stroll and see multi-million dollar cars casually parked on the street for a morning coffee.  

 Within Car Week each year, there are multiple events in which tickets are mandatory, yet most events don’t require you to break out your wallet. For those you need tickets for, you can either buy them or, in my case, are given tickets to get in. My dad is pretty heavy into the wine industry, and if you know anything about that, cars and wine go hand in hand. Because of that, I’m lucky that my father’s connections from his work-related relationships can provide us with tickets to be able to experience the deeper tunnel within the automotive realm. 
The Quail, which is a highly curated car show on a local golf course is one that most are excited for, as most years I’ve had the chance to go, and some years I’ve missed out on. When you’re at the Quail, which is just one event spanning the entire week, you get to see reveals from car makers, get to hear stories behind certain ways things are done to make a vehicle special, and get to really see how everything is done. Anywhere from multi-million dollar modern supercars to those vintage racecars you’d see in movies or museums, you really get to experience exactly what being a part of something bigger is. 
You get to hear about someone who found this specific car in a barn in Italy and restored it to its original state. Or, you get to see a reveal from a well-known car brand, showing the evolution from that specific guy’s barn find to where cars have made it today. It might seem posh, expensive, and at times it is, but at the same time, it’s welcoming. The same people you could see at an exclusive event, you will see in front of a Starbucks, letting a little kid sit in his car before he heads out to showcase his car at another event, sharing that passion. While that kid's parents laugh and take pictures of that cool moment, who knows, maybe that short-lived, special moment - invited by a welcoming owner who saw that kid eyeing their car - will inspire them to go on and do something great themselves.
That’s just one event during Car Week, and only one example I’ve seen first hand walking by a local coffee shop; there are hundreds on top of that. But at the end of the day, whether you’re getting from A to B, or you’re building something special and showing it to others at events, cars all boil back to one thing: Creativity. Whether you’re at the Quail or on the Pebble Beach Golf Course for the Concours event, or a supermarket parking lot, it’s important to remember that they’re strictly just a canvas, a showcase, a place to inspire and motivate others. 

The real center of the automotive industry is easily the people within it, a community where everyone is welcome from all walks of life to share the same passion at every level. It’s a world I’m super grateful to be a part of, thanks to my dad, and it’s an environment where I learn something new every day from my couch. Whether it’s about cars or networking tricks, I can use them for my own career goals that differ from most in the space. Cars can be something that gets you from A to B for most people, but on the flip side, it’s where innovation moves forward, and people can grow closer and learn something while standing around a metal machine. 

My favorite automotive journalist, Jeremy Clarkson, once said, “It’s what non-car people don’t get. They see all cars as just a ton and a half of glass, metal, rubber, and wires.. People like you or I know we have this unshakeable belief that cars are almost living entities”. That childhood curiosity and voice in my head as a kid, and the belief that they’re more than just an appliance - telling me from a young age that cars are more than just a tool to get from A to B - unlocked a world that taught me way more than the mechanical side used today. It taught me how to build and grow connections, and network, and how I’ve learned to relate that to my own career goals. Every time my neck breaks to either side to follow the sound of a loud car or truck out of the urge to see it in time, it reminds me of how much I love the car community and the concepts that are involved in it that have helped me grow in life. The best part about all this is the fact that I’m also no special case; my experience is similar to most in the realm, and I think that alone is what makes it so special.