Car-less

Last week I was seated around a spacious table with a few of my co-workers working diligently on a new project. We had just finished a great meal and were finishing up the small details pertaining to the completion of the new initiative. As often happens after meals, my mind was prone to wandering and I glanced up at the tv right above our table. Some program about a car show was on and I didn't think too much of what was going on, nor was I much interested in what was happening. Suddenly someone mentioned that the car that the camera had focused on was a '68 something or other, to which someone else responded that this was not the '68 version, but the '65 model. The feeling that washed over me was similar to the feeling I got about two-thirds of the way through Transformers 2: Revenge of the Fallen; I had no idea what was going on. I saw that there was a car on the screen and that it looked like an 'old' style car and that people were looking at it. In Transformers I was aware that explosions were happening and that some robot vehicles were fighting for some reason, but beyond that I had no idea what was going on.

I don't think I am alone in saying that when it comes to cars the best thing that I can come up with to say is that the car looks cool, nice, or big. I suddenly revert to a third grader trying to describe his house in my elementary vocabulary. There must be some generational gap when it comes to car knowledge or maybe I'm less inclined to pay attention than other people. I do not know anything about old cars except that they are old. I can distinguish a Mustang, or Camaro, and even the rare Corvette, but when it comes to years and models, I have no idea how people can tell what is what and does it really matter. Apparently one model was better than the other for some reason that no one can really explain, it just is general knowledge.

Everyone has heard stereotypical jokes about men and their adoration for cars. Men love cars, they fix cars, they wash cars, they go for long drives in their cars in the fall, they grill out of the back seat in their cars, they make out in cars, they do everything with their cars. It would seem that the whole reason for man's existence begins and ends with a car. I remember watching Home Improvement in my youth and wondering why the "Tool Man" was always working on his car or talking about a car. I mean always. A full 25% of the scenes were of him in his garage working on his car with his friends, boys, even his wife, and oddly enough many times he was all alone working on the car. As a child I was taught that a good portion of my everyday life must be spent doing something with a car. I had better things to do as a 12 year old and skipped the mandatory daily sessions working on a car. On another note, if a life form from another planet could only tune in to Home Improvement episodes they would be convinced that man had some sort of amorous relationship with his car. (heck, even I was convinced of this, no wonder Miss Taylor was always so upset with Tim, he was stepping out on her)

My lack of knowledge or even concern for vehicles led me to wonder about the following question. Will the cars of this generation be considered classic cars in the future? When someone calls a car classic, I'm not even sure what that means. I do know there is nothing classic about a Corolla or Accord. So my answer would be no. Which means, that unless this generation goes and researches old cars from the 50's to 70's, people will just stop caring. I can't recall a conversation where I sat around and talked with my friends about cool cars. (except after each and every Fast and Furious movie and in that case we only talked about how fast those cars were, and to boot, those cars were civics, nothing classic about that). Why would we talk about cars? Did guys ever just sit around and talk about how cool cars are? Maybe they did, but that seems way outdated. To car lover's defense, I'm sure that people still do get together and talk about their cars that they've owned in the past and how cool they are and that's great for them.

Now there is one area of pop culture that has embraced mentioning cars and showing them on music videos. You guessed it, hip hop!!! Country music videos with hicks driving old beat up trucks around just never caught on. I suppose that the hip-hop culture does talk a lot about cars, but usually they only refer to the price tag, rims, or how many hood rats are draped over the vehicle. And all of those things are just bragging anyway (I've never seen a rap video where they are doing an oil change or rotating the tires). So, after all I do suppose that there is some contemporary discussion (if you call a scantily clad woman washing a Maserati as a discussion, I do, that is something to discuss for better or worse) or cars, but it's not a conversation I'm likely to join in on soon, unless a new Fast and Furious movie comes out soon.