I know he retired. Also I quit getting the magazine where he would do a feature article once in a while. I still get his books out of my personal library and reread his stuff. It still cracks me up. How many times can I read the same stuff?
Anybody hear from him? Anything new? Should I swing by his house?
I spent a very pleasant afternoon hanging with him in Snowmass a few years back. He is exactly like you'd think, and if you have read all of his stuff like I have you come across like a bit of a stalker :)
I know he had some health problems a few years back that made long road trips problematic. Kept him from doing a thing with us in 2011. I haven't kept in touch much since.
I think he may still be providing occasional content for Cycle World, but hopefully he's just enjoying retirement. Don't stop by his house.
I need to dig out my Egan collections. I truly enjoy his style.
I hope he is doing OK. Hepatitis, or something like that, wasn't it?
Wikipedia pegs his age at 65 this year. I would have guessed he was much older.
ddavidv said:Wikipedia pegs his age at 65 this year. I would have guessed he was much older.
It says he was born in 1948, that would make him 75 not 65.
Peter Egan was one of my favorites and I certainly hope he is spending his days tinkering on old bikes and maybe an E-Type.
ddavidv said:Wikipedia pegs his age at 65 this year. I would have guessed he was much older.
I thought he was 65 fifty years ago.
codrus (Forum Supporter) said:ddavidv said:Wikipedia pegs his age at 65 this year. I would have guessed he was much older.
It says he was born in 1948, that would make him 75 not 65.
That's correct, he's 75. A Vietnam vet, too.
There's a pretty easy-to-find video on youtube - interview with Peter Egan about 2 years ago. R&T published an article with his byline last March... so I hope and believe he is enjoying his semi-retirement. Not everyone craves attention.
His monthly columns had a monumental influence on the misadventures of a young bludroptop.
I've written him a few letters, he responded to one of them but not the one I sent him about a year ago I guess. One of my favorite writers, I've got many of his books.
He's my favorite automotive writer. Loved his work on R&T. He was the reason I subscribed. I have a book or two of his collections too.
Not sure what he's up to, but I miss his writing. I hope he's enjoying life.
I have also read much of his R&T work as well. Back in the early 90's I even got to paddock next to him when I ran a race at Road America. He had just aquirred a used Formula Atlantic or Continential race car and was trying it out at a locally run club race. I walked over once I realized who he was and just let him know how much I liked his writing. I then left him alone the rest of the weekend out of respect.
One of my favorite articles mentions a gas-powered blender in the pits at a track, and how when it was fired up after hours, people with various types of beverage holders would just sort of appear out of dark, "like zombies materializing out of the fog".
Great stories.
Since we're quoting favourite lines from The Distinguished Author, I remember his description of himself, on a racecourse in (I think) a Sprite, after staying up all night getting it prepped, shifting briskly into 2nd and having the gear lever come off in his hand. He said he looked at it "with bovine incomprehension."
I wish I could say that I didn't know exactly how he felt, but bovine incomprehension seems to happen a lot.
Cactus said:
That is one of two "PS" memes I saved from my old magazines. (The other is guys playing chess in the pits with various sized sockets)
In reply to ddavidv :
That's probably what inspired me to make this:
Those are shining examples of the difference between a writer and a wordsmith.
The thing about Egan is that he made it look so easy. A lot of writers who were inspired by him try too hard and you can see them trying hard. Peter's writing has a natural flow.
Just chiming in as another longtime fan.
There are too many great bits to count, but I always think of the "Should you buy a [German|Italian|British] Motorcycle?" items.
It's hard to believe that Cycle World had him and Kevin Cameron at the same time for so long. That's some absurd percentage of the best motor writing on the planet.
In one of his columns he wrote about going through a McDonald's drive through with his trailer on behind. He made his order at the speaker, then pulled forward so his trailer was in front of the speaker. As he sat there waiting he could hear the person on the speaker saying "Welcome to McDonald's, can I help you?" He got out of his truck, walked back, and told the person on the speaker thanks but his trailer wasn't hungry.
I think Egan was pretty much a staple for any self respecting car guy in the 80s & 90s.
Interesting timing of this thread, as I just started re-reading one of his books about his various road trips that I own for about the 197th time.
Back when I was a student in Madison, WI, I used to walk past his friend Chris' foreign car garage twice a day at minimum. I spent a lot of time looking thru the windows at the cool mix of cars in there for service, including at one time a Lamborghini Miura that was there for a very long time.
codrus (Forum Supporter) said:ddavidv said:Wikipedia pegs his age at 65 this year. I would have guessed he was much older.
It says he was born in 1948, that would make him 75 not 65.
I let that sentence sink in and it truly frightened me.
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