I don't understand the big deal with cars. We have car magazines, car movies, car TV shows. But why the obsession? To me, a car is something to get me to point A to point B and sometimes point C.

I don't care much how a car looks except "not ugly". I don't need extra bells and whistles or spinnin' rims and lasers shooting out from under the engine.

Why?

Because...the car represents who they are as individuals, and they don't want to be social outcasts.

I agree with Ixz. cars are just for getting from point A to point B, as long as it runs, I'm fine with it.

Exactly. A car isn't just a car to a lot of people. It's an extension of themselves, and a way of defining oneself.

It's like with music, clothing, art, etc.

Yes, it's illogical in a lot of ways. And, personally, I'd rather spend $60K on an antique first edition of Fredrick Catherwood's art folio from his expedition to the Yucatan than on some kind of Ferrari or something.

I don't see what's so appealing about cars in general. I can admire their technology, and appreciate their impact on the development of industry; but I'll never be able to look at a car like I do a historic book, or a hand-made core memory plane.

Because I find those things wonderful and fascinating, I can understand why people would feel the same way about cars - I don't happen to feel that passion for cars, but it's not an alien concept for me.

I might be tempted to say that such an obsession with cars (or *cough* sports *cough*), is stupid, idiotic, wasteful of time and money, and utterly fruitless - but, others would certainly be able to say the same things about my passion for musty old books about obsolete technology and dated world views.

I think that these kinds of passions are a very human thing. Granted, I'd love it if more people were really interested in science, technology, and history in general, but I can't criticize or insult them for liking what they like. I'd be a hypocrite.

What I don't get is when people oogle over how much horsepower a car has. Big deal, you still have to obey the speed limit.

Now, trucks I can understand. They're load-bearing vehicles. They need as much power as they can get. Although I seriously doubt that any of 'em will actually have the pulling power to tow a train...



Thinking on it, truck-owners have a different sort of obsession.

Yeah, an obsession with wanting to play well over $100 in gas to top off their tank and even then only get 18 miles to the gallon.