Pop Psychology and Cars

One of the blogs I read consistently is Car Lust, and they have a post up asking readers to post about their favorite car that they have owned and driven.

I’m torn. I have had some great cars in my life; cars that struck me as exactly what I needed, the moment I first saw them.

The top 5: 1969 Thunderbird; 1965 Jaguar 3.8 S-Type; 1978 Cutlass; 1974 Monte Carlo and (horror of horrors) a 1977 Dodge Van. These are the cars I purchased on a first sight impulse, and then drove for years. Some were trouble free companions; others I spent almost as much time working on as I did driving. All have at least one story.

I may do a series of post on ‘Cars I have Known’, so I can do each of them justice to what they have meant to me. That may sound weird, but a car is an extension of self to some of us, and what we drive probably says more about us than anything else, as least to a car guy.

Some are easy. You know more about the idiot in the red BMW convertible than he would probably like you to know. Probably 30 or so, and not yet married. Has a job that will support a car or a family, and he chose the car. Self-centered, arrogant and thinks he is God’s gift to the world. If he is over 50 and drives the red convertible, he probably stills wears his gold disco chains, although he has lately started to button his shirt.

What about the 30 year old with a goatee and a 10 year old Cadillac? Another easy one. He needs the car for business. Midnight, street corner business, if you catch my drift. Black, late ‘70’s Trans Am? Easy. I bet he even has a mustache and a ‘Bandit’ jacket- Burt Reynolds wanna-be.

How about some harder ones? 40 year old man, no wedding ring in a clean mini-van? Divorced dad; weekend custody. Full size domestic pickup with huge tires, multi colored paint job and no mud on it? Suburban wanna-be redneck. You want to be real? Lose the paint and add mud, even if you have to run it through your carefully manicured front yard.

You see what I mean. Like it or not our transportation is an extension of us. Or, at least a public presentation. Most of the time that we are on public display is on the road. Most of us spend more time driving than walking or biking, so the only time the general public can get an impression of us is when we are behind the wheel. When I do my favorite cars posts I may add a little personal description of me at the time, so I can tie those posts to my theory.

What does driving a smart car say about you? That you deeply care about 'Green' issues; believe that humans are a stain on Gaia, but need a car because you are way too special for pulic transportation and too poor for cabs.