I read an interesting article the other day about which cars are the most American. Turns out it’s a Toyota. Go figure. However I’d like to think of the question a bit differently. What makes an American car, American? It’s not the amount of parts made here, where it’s assembled, or any of that unimportant stuff. An American car should have three things. A big engine, big horsepower, and it should be big. So setting any logic aside here is the five most American cars.
5
The Ford truck. Pick one anyone. Now ok it’s not a car, but really is there anything more American than a pick up truck? Yes there is and we’ll get to that later. In the mean time we could actually name America “pick up truck land” and it would be more fitting then the land of the free. The older the better. Why not a Chevy you ask? While super cool Ford is the number one selling truck here in ‘Murica.
4
Cadillac. Ok confession time here. I really wanted a sweet Eldorado picture. So that sweet CTS-V Wagon will have to do for now. Can you believe of the thousands of photos I’ve taken over the year I don’t have one damn Eldarado pic? How is that possible? My reason for the Cadillac Eldarado being it’s uniquely styled, it’s huge, it’s powerful, and they write songs about them. Specifically Bruce Springsteen wrote a song about one when he said “Eldorado fin and them white walls in the skirts. Rides just like a little bit of heaven here on earth.” In his song “Cadillac Ranch”
3
Plymouth Hemi Cuda
You long time readers are thinking “this is just another excuse to put a Mopar in an article.” While partly true hear me out. The Cuda represent all that is American. It’s one part excess, one part vanity, and a really big part of in your face attitude. With the high impact colors, that giant 426 Hemi and looks that stun even today it’s the things dreams are made of. In race trim piloted by Dan Gurney it was part of the All American Racers team. How can it get more American?
2
The Ford Mustang. The only one of the muscle cars that made it from beginning to modern day without taking some time off the Mustang is as American as the blues, apple pie, and baseball. Always a hot seller and a head turner. Like a lot of Americans it came from humble beginnings only to grow and prosper.
1
What is the most American car? Well it has to be the Corvette. You can go any where in the world and when a Corvette shows up people take notice. Sure some say it’s an old mans car, but most importantly it’s every man’s car. Corvette has always been an obtainable dream for anyone who works hard and saves up a little money. America has given the world many great things. Blues, the lightbulb, and tang. Most importantly though the Corvette.
Ok, my list did end up including all American made cars. It could have easily contained cars from Germany (the E63 AMG, or Australia (Holden Commadore), but I suppose on the birthday of this nation we so much like to celebrate it’s only right to keep things at home.
Happy Birthday America, may the next 238 years also be filled with bad ass muscle cars.