I get this alot “why do you love cars?” Which is a question that is impossible to answer. I have a feeling though that everyone who bothers to read this pokey little motoring blog understands why. There are three distinct groups in this world, people who think cars are merely appliances, people who like cars but don’t really do much with them or do it for the wrong reasons, and then there is the rest of us. Barry Mcquire would say we are certified car crazy. I’m guessing that’s all of you guys.
So why do we like cars? It’s impossible to explain but it’s that feeling when you find an open stretch of road or maybe an on ramp and you just crack open the throttle and fly up through a few gears. It’s that feeling that sort of wells up through the car to your brain and puts a smile on your face. It’s that feeling when a cool car goes by and everything in side of you wants to scream like a little kid “that’s awesome!” or maybe the feeling you get when you walk out and see your baby in the drive way. It’s just not something explainable to non car people.
Maybe we are born with it? or maybe it’s passed down through the generations. It makes sense really if you think back chances are your Dad atleast at one point was a car guy and his Dad probably was too. Oh sure by the time you came around into their life they may have grown up and moved on but the stories were probably still there. I know I’ve heard a 100 stories from my Dad and Uncles about their old cars, racing, working on them, and all that.
I suppose the question “why do you love cars” will go unanswered for ever. Or maybe one of you readers have the answer? if so I’d love to hear it, but for now I’ll just say because they are cool. That’s why we are car guys.
3 comments
pistolpig
May 22, 2012 at 11:08 pm (UTC -5) Link to this comment
As for the overall question of why I’m a car guy, I could never quantify the feeling that cars give me.
Part of the brilliance of the automobile is that it is a mixture of the technical, methodical and scientific with a human emotional connection.
Those who only see the scientific facts and practicality of a vehicle will never understand the joy inside derived from them.
There’s a few aspects that I can nail down for me, but these are only single pixel’s worth of the equation out of a rainbow gamut of colours.
1. It’s finding a surprise about a car that I didn’t expect to be there based on the specs/reputation/looks of the thing. Cars have in immense ability to surprise us, in a way that other technical pieces such as a phone/pc can’t. With those things, what you read is what you get.
2. The amount of adrenaline created when hanging a car on it’s absolute grip limits through a corner. The spin in the back of the head and the rush of blood through your system is more than that created by a rollercoaster ride or any of the many other cliches that a twisty road is compared to. Because your fate is tied directly to your own control. When you’ve only just made it through and the hairs are standing up on the back of your neck and you’re thinking “man, that was close!” – there is nothing else like that.
3. The sounds – there’s nothing like a car engine to excite the ears. I don’t care whether it’s a piston or rotary. Screaming 4cyl, barky, angry straight 6, thrumming boxer or a roaring V8. They’re all astonishing to listen to at times.
4. The looks – bright shiny materials in fantastic eye grabbing colours draped over carefully crafted shapes. There’s beauty here in many different forms.
5. The freedom to go where you want, when you want that the car(and possibly motorbike) still provides better than anything else does.
Lord Funkatron
May 23, 2012 at 8:25 pm (UTC -5) Link to this comment
As far as a single possession a common person can afford, a car is the perfect blend of art and science. Granted those perfect blends retina detaching performance and hand formed bodies are way out of most everybody’s price range. But they are out there. And even if I will never be able to afford something like a ’54 300SL gullwing or Duesenberg SC coupe, I can at least aspire to have the skills to build my own dream car or modify a mass produced car to that point.
Jason
May 24, 2012 at 11:13 am (UTC -5) Link to this comment
Well said my friends. Wish I had stated it like that.