Is it aesthetics? Performance? Engineering? Sentimental value? Nostalgia? Weirdness?..
I could go on, there’s as many ways to enjoy a car as there are car owners and I find it very interesting what people value in what is ultimately a tool of conveyance that is elevated by social and personal values.
I always love cars that are just a little weird, they have features that don’t quite make sense, they have styling that just doesn’t fit in with other modern cars, and they certainly don’t blend in at the grocery parking lot. They emanate a certain incongruence with the world around them.
I’m of the opinion that it is time spent with a thing that makes it valuable. I’ve had my current car for a couple of years and hope to keep it for many more. Each year we have new experiences together, fond memories that get triggered when I sit in the driver seat. Eventually, when this car breaks down and I have to get a new one, some of those memories will be lost with the car.
Handling, and how generally fun it is to drive. I don’t care nearly as much about cargo capacity, the size of the back seat, etc. I’ll never buy an SUV.
Beyond a minimum (around 200), I don’t even care that much about horsepower. Got a turbocharged, high HP monster? Good for you… but how often do you actually get to USE that engineering you paid thousands extra for?
I’ve got a 1972 VW Super Beetle that I’ll never get rid of. It’s not really a desirable version or year of the Beetle, but my dad, grandpa, and I restored it when I was 9. My grandpa died in 2020 and he worked on cars his whole life. It’s cool to have a physical thing that he made possible using a lifetime of skills. Plus, my kid is getting old enough to work on it with me, and I think it’s awesome to have 4 generations of my family wrenching on it.
That’s awesome, my father was never a big gearhead but I have a lot of good memories helping him maintain the family cars. It saves you a lot of money to be able to do ultimately relatively simple jobs like brakes and belts. Definitely helped fuel my fascination with cars growing up. I know we did it because we were broke, but it’s special all the same.
I don’t think I particularly wanted to inherit the Plymouth van with a rebuilt title and only 70% of its white paint remaining. As a kid I though it was the coolest thing that you could take the seats out though.
Not a direct answer to your question, but a story why I do not want special cars anymore.
I named my first car „Wilson“, after the beachvolleyball that Tom Hanks had in the movie „Cast Away“. That car was old, rusty and slow, but I really liked it. It meant freedom and another step growing up. I felt responsible and was so proud of it too!
One night someone crashed into Wilson while it was parked. The police woke me up by ringing the bell early in the morning and asked me to come downstairs. I was still sleepy and panicked, only managed to grab a short pants and a t-Shirt. It was autumn, cold wind was blowing leaves along the empty street and I saw my Wilson crashed against a wall. The metal crumbled, the lights were broken, most of the windows shattered.
They made me fetch my belongings from the car, then it was already put onto a tow truck. I stood on the street, a box of car utensils and my sunglasses in my hands and stared at Wilson while it was being towed away. I was heartbroken. When the tow truck drove off, I felt like Wilson was crying.
Since then I never went into a „relationship“ with a car again. They don’t receive names, everything they get is a bit of decoration, maybe. It showed to be a good decision because the same thing happened with the next car, again the police rang my bell…
Understandable, all things are temporary, that doesn’t mean making attachments isn’t worthwhile I’ve found owning, driving and taking care of my cars to be a very rewarding hobby even when it’s painful at times.
It probably is healthiest to not be too attached to things like cars I really like my cars but at the end of the day they are just cars after all and no one will ever care about your car as much as you.
RIP Wilson.
I also like weird cars. Old cars, used cars. Just because it’s a useful object, as many in the thread have pointed out, doesn’t mean it’s not a special useful object. It takes me and my wife and our dogs on many road trips.
What makes a car special to me are the modifications we put into it to make it OURS. My grandmother-in-law has completely removed the back seats for her minivan and installed blankets and carpet there instead so her dog is more comfortable. I love that. It’s shaped around her and her life.
Yeah that was kind of part of my point of this discussion, you don’t have to be a gearhead to care about your car or have a strong preference for how a car should be for yourself. I too love seeing when people modify things to fit their needs. One size doesn’t fit all and I like that people don’t just accept things the way they are and create what they need/want in the world.
