Several years ago I wrote a column on brand loyalty, pointing out how often people grow up with a particular brand and stick with it (e.g. Ford vs. Chevy). I seem to have missed that gene. I put a Cadillac engine into my chopped and channeled ’46 Ford when I was 17. I put a Buick engine into my VW Bus when using it during my hang gliding years. I put a ZZ3 Chevy engine into my Datsun 510 and an LS7 into my Superformance Daytona Cobra Coupe. My history of design spans GM, Shelby/Ford, Triumph and Hino to name a few and of course I owned and ran BRE which was the Datsun factory race team winning 4 National Championships with the 240Z and 510, also putting a Chevy V8 into the Hino transporter we used.
Gayle often sites that Gordon Murray once described my diversity as; “Peter Brock isn’t loyal to a brand, he’s loyal to technology”. As usual, Murray got it right. Gayle said she was reminded of this when she first took me back to her family farm in Nebraska. It was planting season and her brother was standing next to an amazing “seeder”. It would be pulled behind a tractor (an engineering marvel on its own, with GPS no less) and drop seeds into plowed rows. No big deal, right? What was so amazing was the breadth of this thing. It had multiple arms that folded out and down to cover about 40 rows at a time. I found myself fascinated by the hydraulics and engineering of this piece.
Next week we’ll be heading to a “Thresher” show in South Dakota to see an amazing steam tractor. There will be many there but the family we know restored the largest steam tractor in the world, a 150 Case, at their Foundry in the area. I’ve been wanting to go to this show for years and now, we will soon be on our way. I can’t wait to see what amazing engineering this incredible machine, built in 1905, contains. You can see here what was involved in the restoration in this comprehensive video the family created.
Will we see you in South Dakota? Maybe not but Gayle is thrilled that she finally found a show that her brother will join us at. He’s normally too busy on the farm to get away.
If you want to know where else you can see us this year, check our schedule here
Great insight- Thanks Peter
Not “loyal to a brand, he’s loyal to technology”. Interesting statement. The problem is that companies try really hard to market the brand. If the competing technology is even better it can be pushed out of the market place and when people follow the “brand”, more money comes into the coffers and that company will survive by making their product cheaper and “better”. Sony vs. Betamax is a good example of this. In the automotive world there have been many better ideas that never made it because another “brand” was so pushed that people got lazy and basically acquiesced. Then there are other manufactures that make things for the “brand” which starts a economic spiral. The “brand” becomes cheaper and “better” to the point where other competing technologies can’t spend the price of admission to join and compete.
I had Cobra with a Chevy 8 litre engine. Went like a dream. My Daytona has a Ford engine.
Gordon Murray certainly got it right in his description of you Peter! Fun back story. Thanks for sharing. Cheers to you and Gayle.
Jeff