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ON the last lustrous weekend of the summer, the streets were full of people soaking up the sunshine.There were diners brunching al fresco and convertibles with their tops down. It was the kind of day that makes Jerry Hirsch, 58, founder of the Go Silk fashion label, miss the Hamptons.Behind the wheel of his sharp 1973 BMW 2002, Mr. Hirsch, who lived here from 1988 to 1995, recounted the town’s past as a vibrant whaling community; identified landmarks like Billy Joel’s office, which houses the songwriter’s collection of classic motorcycles; and pointed out fancy cars on the road, of which there were many.“Look at that!” he said, pointing to a classic sky-blue Mercedes-Benz sports car that shined like a candy shell.A few miles later, the index finger came out again for a jet-black Ford Bronco from the 1970s. “I’ve always wanted one of those,” he said. At the Conca D’Oro pizza shop, though, it was the boxy burnt-yellow BMW parked out front that attracted attention, as Mr. Hirsch watched happily from a bench down the street. The two-door sport sedan was a gift from his father in 1973, Mr. Hirsch’s last year at Long Island University in Brookville. “Back then, only old people from Vermont drove BMWs,” he said of the 2002, a charming car that put BMW on the map in America and, through the company’s racing program, became the archetype for the modern sport sedan. “My father drove American cars, Fords and Chevrolets,” Mr. Hirsch said, noting that his father agreed to the car only after some coaxing. “He couldn’t relate.” His father was in the clothing business. He was a practical man who sold clothes without frills to people who didn’t want them (the frills, that is). Mr. Hirsch, who worked at his father’s company after graduating, was as cosmopolitan in his taste for clothes as his taste in cars — an appreciation he discovered on a trip to Italy during college.“I was on Via dei Condotti in Rome, you know, the main shopping street, when I saw this green silk shirt,” he recalled.“The only people that were wearing silk shirts were Italian men,” he said. “No one I knew wore shirts like that — I bought it.”You could say that shirt changed his life. He wore it around his college campus, “with jeans,” he added. “Everyone loved it.” It was the seed for the Go Silk clothing line he would start in 1978.Through the 1980s, Go Silk was sold in more than 20 countries. Mr. Hirsch bought a house in Southampton (in addition to his house in the West Village), a sailboat and several other German automobiles, including a 1961 Porsche 356. He keeps his cars in a garage in the Hamptons.By 1995, fashion had moved on, and Mr. Hirsch shut down Go Silk, licensing the brand to a Chinese manufacturer. He sold most everything he owned but the BMW and the Porsche and moved to Costa Rica with his wife and daughter. There, he indulges in his favorite pastime, surfing, which he picked up on Long Island when he was young. “I drove the car to Lido Beach every weekend," he said about the unlikely surfmobile.Back in the car, the trim Mr. Hirsch, wearing a black shirt and black jeans, enjoyed the seamless sound of the engine. Despite having more than 100,000 miles, the BMW is in “showroom condition,” to borrow his words. It was repainted once in the 1980s, and the finish is immaculate. “The BMW has been the most fun,” he said of the cars that have come and gone in his life. “The weight distribution is 50-50. It’s so simple — all it is, is an engine and a stick-shift transmission.”While Mr. Hirsch visits New York once a year to visit friends, surf and drive his cars (maybe not in that order), this latest trip was more business than pleasure. The ’80s are back, he said, describing his plans to take charge of Go Silk again and add a new line. But for now, his mind was on the surf. The next day, the BMW would again carry a surfboard rack and be put to familiar work.
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