Thursday, February 9, 2012

Car guys: in the closet!

Recently I was at work and was speaking with a coworker about...well, small talk.  The guy is a joker and doesn't take anything seriously.  "What do you do when you're not working?" and he'd say "I just sit in a room alone and try to remain still.  I try not to breathe", all  while smiling.  After many attempts to get a serious answer out of him, I asked if he liked things like cooking, food, animals, anything.  Again, plenty of dodging and jokes.  But then I asked him point blank:  "Do you like cars?" and he said, "I love cars, but I try not to think about them".

Why didn't he just come out and say it?  Probably because we car enthusiasts have been judged...


and who could blame them?  These flashy cars got everyone's attention in all the wrong way.  When you tell people you like cars, are you afraid people will think you're a tacky car artist?

I told him I was also into cars and we had a lengthy discussion that was cut short when my shift ended.  Its hard to find car guys these days and its even harder to identify them.  The guy didn't drive a car you'd think would be driven by someone who is an enthusiast.  Then again, I don't either.  Are car guys disappearing or are they all just in hiding?  These days I can only tell if someone's an enthusiast if its a straight-looking guy driving a manual transmission Miata.  Everyone modifies their vehicle these days so you can't say someone's an enthusiast just because they drive this:


Everyone slaps on taillight mods (altezzas, blacked-out vinyls) and everyone changes out their wheels. 

So, readers (I know there's like two of you out there):  how do you find other people that are into cars? 

1 comment:

  1. So much truth here! There's a detectable tension of being judged unfairly when the subject transitions to cars. Sometimes that's a cue of a potential enthusiast who may be sensitive about it.

    I also don't drive any dedicated sports cars. Did like your subtle point that a "performance" (Such a subjective descriptor) car doesn't have to be a prerequisite to the enjoying the motoring hobby!

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