Chev Offroad and Marine Engine (C.O.M.E.) Racing advertisement, page 12, Supercar Magazine no. 34 June/July 1989
The advertisement is an example of the complexity of enthusiast discourse. It combines the technical diagram with the affectivities of the language used in the pointed instructions with the affectivities of the rhetorical question and the language and italicization of the ‘answer’ in brackets. The longer ‘answer’ in the text below the diagrams also combines the rarefied discussion of precision machining equipment with the care of the personel operating the machinery and assembling the engine or engine component. C.O.M.E. is also a play on the slang for orgasm. This corporeality is repeated in the ‘instructional notes’ of the diagram — ‘slap’, ‘lube’, ‘bang it in here’, etc. It is almost as if C.O.M.E. is implying that they would treat the components and rebuild of an enthusiast’s engine without violating it in some manner. Such ‘care’ has to be taken because in all likelihood the engine is going to be raced, ie put under great mechanical strain. The message of the advertisement, although expressed in the technical discourse of automotive mechanics and engineering, actually relates to the affectivities of automotive technology.