Do you ever just stop and think about what you love most about cars and why you love them? If asked, I’m sure that everyone has a slightly different reason for their infatuation: It could be the freedom that having a vehicle allows you, it could be the way they look, the way they sound, or the whole driving experience; everyone has a different explanation and they’re all valid.
Myself, I don’t know if I can really put it into words, but I’ll make an attempt: Like any other red-blooded American, I grew up surrounded by cars and trucks, both full-sized and in toy form. As a kid, it was just something I liked and I really didn’t know why or think twice about it.
When we grow older, some people go on to normal lives of watching sports and talking about the weather, but not everyone does; some people have the passion, the obsession (And it is an obsession: My family tolerates it and my wife and non-gearhead friends humor it in small doses) for these big hunks of metal, plastic, and rubber that many “normal” people refer to as just another appliance.
The reason I love automotive vehicles has changed over time, and maybe its changed for you BangShifters out there as well. For me, I think initially it was the Look, that classic “Love At First Sight”; you see something and you say, “Man, I want that”. It’s a visual thing. From there, like with most relationships, the love matures and you begin to appreciate other attributes as well.
As both a photography nut and a car guy, the visual piece is huge for me and I was always be instantly drawn to beautiful lines, but my current love is working on a car and making it my own. How far does this love go? Honestly, I’ll admit that I sometimes enjoy working on cars even more than I like driving them, which is arguably their whole reason for existence.
Yes, that’s a huge sin to admit to, but to further explain this heretical statement: There’s nothing like stepping back from a newly finished project and saying, “I built that”, and that for me is what really gives me a sense of accomplishment and keeps me motivated to stay in the hobby (Sure, that may also be a justification that I use when it is often pointed out that my Monte Carlo SS has been apart more than together for the majority of my ten years of ownership, but stay with me here…).
That’s not to say that I don’t like driving, and I’ve started to appreciate the pure driving experience more and more as the years go by, especially the mechanical nature of it. Once in a while I’ll turn off the radio for a few and just listen to one of my car in motion, as old and creaky as they are. Little weird, but once again, it’s an obsession, and if anyone is going to get it, you guys and girls hopefully will.
So, why do you love cars? What for you really brings out that obsession? The way they look? The sound of a high-winding motor being rowed through the gears? The feeling of cruising down an open highway with some good tunes and a few friends? Getting down and dirty with a set of tools and a few new shiny parts?
Let us know in the comments!
When you tighten a nut correctly on a car, it stays tight…
not so when dealing with people.
i have always loved cars. as long as i can remember i have been driving, wrenching on or just watching cars. i love everything about them, even the things i hate about them. at 10 i drove my 1st, a John Deere with my dad. i was 16 in 1972, so i grew up around the best and easiest to work on iron ever. i still prefer the 60’s, but i have owned everything from a 54 Chevy coupe to 2010 F350. my family is great about the time i spend on my “other life” as my wife calls it. my retirement plan is to drive to arizona 4 or 5 times a year, visit family, buy some vehicles, bring them back, get them running and looking great, sell them and start all over.
How could I not ? Growing up with a father who had everything from a 57 Chevy Bel Air coupe .. complete with factory 4 barrel , dual exhaust etc – to an original Hudson Hornet – a chopped 49 Merc – 65 Olds 442 as well as a succession of VW Westfalia buses . A grandfather who grew up in Italy constantly telling me the stories of his watching the Mille Milgia – Italian GP etc … AND then giving me an F1 car model in 64 … as well as an F1 slot car set in 65 . Two great uncles … one owning a body shop .. the other an engine rebuild and repair shop … not to mention the one having flown F4U Corsairs and the other being a ground mechanic for the same during WWII . An uncle who owned nothing but Lincoln Continentals .. a great aunt who’d only drive T-Birds …. and on and on .
Seriously …. with all that surrounding me … I’d of had to of been deaf dumb and blind to of not become a Gearhead 😉
It’s in my DNA. My father drove a 1963 1/3 Galaxie and I was brought home, as newborn in a then new 1966 GTO.
1) They have engines. Engines make beautiful music, whether it’s my rusty old D300 coughing into life or my 11:1 ’65 coupe singing down the highway.
2) It’s fun to keep them alive, a challenge between myself and something inanimate but still responsive: so satisfying and so unlike dealing with people. Cars are at least honest about their foibles, once I find the reason(s) for them.
3) They’re pretty. Even if I can’t afford to paint my whole clutter of backyard projects, it seems that the old sheetmetal becomes the more beautiful as the mass of newer vehicles swings more and more to appliance-hood.
4) History needs caretakers. I think gearheads are partly a response to that. The way-it-used-to-be can be argued to be better or worse than it is now, but I try to make these comparatively simple conveyances live a longer life so that the idea of working with one’s hands doesn’t die anymore than it has.
I love work. Working on something that belongs to me and seeing visible progress and mechanical improvements over what someone else originally crafted is immensely satisfying. That and one of my first words was truck. Why do I love the stuff I do? Who know,s 67-72 Suburbans are weird, My 715 only shares parts with 1/8 a wagoneer and the rest of my junk is just that, junk. I tell people my hobby is cheeper than Heroin but thats probably not true.
heroin ….. steals , ” everything ” ….. thats not cheap …. !
Unsure of the “why” I love cars…just that I love them. But as far as I can remember, I always have. My earliest automotive memory comes from riding down the road in my Dads 1957 Ford Fairlane and seeing the road through the rusted floorboards (had to have been 1966-67?)!
I have had my fair share of awesome rides. But was usually too young and too broke to do anything great with them. Those same cars are WAY out of my price range now.
I have my 1986 Mustang LX convertible with all her V6 glory now. Hey, shes a Mustang, shes a convertible, and shes paid off!! I can deal with the V6, working on the handling department now, love to swing corners fast!!
Do I dream of other cars? CONSTANTLY!! Probably good I live in town as my property in the country would probably be filled with “projects”!!!!
No better feeling than driving something you built
I really don’t know but I still have the first matchbox car I ever owned with teeth marks from where I would put it in my mouth and chew on it as a baby. My Mom says I refused to go anywhere without it… guess I just never got over it.
(It’s a 74 Firebird by the way… I was born in 74)
For me it’s simple; “Why do you breath?” Working on them, looking at them, driving them, racing them, they all keep me alive!!!
I’ve always loved mechanical things. Mechanisms, gears and levers. Since I was very young. My mother saved pictures I drew of cars when I was only 5. I was born in 1961. My uncle always had stylish cars (Oldsmobiles). My cousins had and raced muscle cars. In 1969 one had a brand new 69 Camaro SS 396 and the other a 69 Boss 302 Mustang. I have been blessed with natural mechanical abilities. This interest was strong that I wasn’t only curious as to how things worked but I needed to know how they were made. So I studied to be a machinist. Im now 52 and the passion has only gotten stronger. I hope to pass it on to my grandson.
My obsession with cars has been a part of me as long as I can remember. I was born in the late 70’s and grew up watching 80’s shows like CHiP’s, Fall Guy, Dukes of Hazzard, the A-team and Knight Rider. These shows all had kick-ass car chases and vehicles that were just as famous if not more famous than the actors. Some of the kids in my neighborhood liked GI joe’s, some liked Star Wars toys (nerds). Not me, I was in the sandbox with Tonka’s, knee-deep in hot wheels and matchbox cars, or recreating the stunts I saw on TV with my big wheel. Some kids went to the circus and disney world, not this kid. I fondly remember going to swap meets and cruise-ins with my old man. .As I grew up, the obsession stayed with me. I could never understand how anyone wouldn’t get all revved up and interested in cars, trucks and hot rods. I didnt then, and I dont now.
When I was young they, first, got me outta the house, then they got me outta town. Now they get me outta the rocking chair … don’t know about the pine box though.
It was/is a passion for me, I could look at a car at a very young age and know what it was (in the 70’s it was easier to do that) always loved them,I knew which uncle drove which Caddy at 3 years old my mom tells me. As I got older into my teens reading Hot Rod and Chilton manuals in the library made me appriciate the mechanicals of them,fortunately im good with my hands which made working on them all the more enjoyable.
My brother has told me that I could name nearly ever car on the road when I was about 8yrs old. Remember Corvettes, GTOs, and Mach 1s in the neighbor hood before I was 10. All my brothers freinds had Muscle Cars in the late seventies, mostly Mopars. 70 GTX, 69 Roadrunner 440 6pck 4spd, 70 Roadrunner 440 4spd. When I first saw that 69 GTO in town when I was 14 at gas station, I wanted it so bad. Told the guy how cool his car was, and bought it years later. My 23 Model T is the pride of my fleet! I’m just a car junkie!!!
I’ve always liked cars from as far back as I can remember. I got hooked on them when was 6 and riding in my older cousins 39 Ford. He got into a race with another guy and feeling myself being pushed back against the seat while the car accelerated as fast as it could turned me on.
I have also find satisfaction in making them look better and go faster than when they were new.
in my dna i reckon’ found a picture of 4th great grandpa in 1924 with a T up on jackstands with his kid wiping tools off as he smoked a pipe, my dads dad tinkered around with cars, my dad and uncle both drag raced, mom’s side of family her dad raced roundy round’s mom raced here n there, her brother also drag raced and has been into cars since he was a little kid, i was brought home from the hospital in my dads 64 nova which he gave to me for graduating HS then few years later i sold it like a dumbass. hes now trying to find a 55 to turn into a gasser, and i have a foxbody that is a total drag whore pos, and building my front engine dragster when i have time.