A Review Of A Car I Drove In A Dream

"Who is the Leader - 404 / Blog No Longer Available" (whoistheleader2)
07/28/2020 at 09:58 • Filed to: Dreams

The idea behind this is patently absurd, but still entertaining.

I dreamed that I was driving a Citroen DS, which is quite a good thing. Given the unusually vivid nature of my dreams, I really got the full experience. I would say on the scale of good dream to nightmare this was solidly in the good dream category. And I didn’t even have to escape a zombie apocalypse and then complete an imaginary video game before like that time I dreamed I could fly!

The interior, which was all I really saw, was pretty accurate down to the single spoke steering wheel, dash layout, and comfortable colorful seats. I don’t remember actually getting in the DS so I don’t know how this sequence fits in with the other two parts of my dream I forgot.

But where it got strange was the shifter. It was some sort of strange semi auto column shifter without a clutch pedal. It had a horizontal display on the dash like an old fashioned automatic to show you what gear you are in except it was a traditional H pattern column shift. I have never actually driven a manual * much less a column shift, but it seemed fairly accurate outside of unusually long throws.

*successfully

First gear was really hard to find since I was just moving it around until the gear indicator registered first. I didn’t exactly know how to drive it or why I was driving it, but I was.

Imagine a road like this one, Col du Chaussy if you are curious, but way more wooded and with less visibility

And what’s more, I was driving it up a very very steep, windy, and narrow road with zero sightlines to the next corner. I felt like I was going too fast, yet I was also moving slowly while I hunted for second gear. It was altogether somewhat frightening how ill prepared I was.

It was such a technical tight curvy road that I felt like someone who is falling off a bike very slowly as they don’t have enough speed to stop the ever escalating wobbles. In my case, I was just going wider and wider and understeering more and more with each corner but I never quite crashed.

Of course, the DS’s handling was fairly accurate, so it was very light and almost as devoid of feedback as the hydropneumatic suspension was from road feel. I could make the corners easily but they came so fast it was hard to react in time. It left me very impressed with how my brain perceives the handling of a Citroen DS but as for how accurate that is, I cannot say.

And I was also following a generic beige sedan up the hill that was slowly losing me. No idea how, but I couldn’t keep up yet felt uncomfortable at my own speed despite not pushing the limits of the car. It might have been an old Mazda6, but whatever it was it was seriously hauling. I didn’t feel any obligation to pursue it; the car somehow it just made more less at ease trundling along in first yet I never did manage to get it in second.

I woke up supremely impressed with how much my brain had done its homework, but I also came away with an intense desire to drive a Citroen DS in less terrifying circumstances. It was just a nimble yet comfortable cloud that darted around corners with ease, seeming to respond to my inputs almost telepathically. I even managed to sneak a look over my shoulder and there was excellent visibility out the rear. I honestly couldn’t be more enamored with this fictional construct of my dream. Dang, I just really like the DS.

Have you ever driven a car in a dream? It almost invariably takes the form of a parking brake not quite holding the car in my case (weird considering it is always an auto), so this joyride was a welcome respite.

DISCUSSION (15)

Jim Spanfeller > Who is the Leader - 404 / Blog No Longer Available
07/28/2020 at 10:29

“ It was some sort of strange semi auto column shifter without a clutch pedal.”

Your subconscious is correct, that is indeed what Citroen DS’s have. As for the nature of this dream, I suspect it is a metaphor. I’m no psychiatrist, but perhaps the choice of car and road is reflection of you feeling like your life is heading in an exciting new direction but you feel unprepared and unsure of how to deal with it. This would make sense since you’re heading off to college soon and it’s normal for people to feel that way in that situation. The beige ordinary car could represent your idea of normal expectations and what other people are capable of, a sort of artificial benchmark you’re comparing yourself to, and its ability to get away from you could be an anxiety that you won’t be able to keep up. But hey, you made it up the hill! You didn’t fall off! That’s something.

I’m sure you’ll figure out the transmission :)

Who is the Leader - 404 / Blog No Longer Available > Jim Spanfeller
07/28/2020 at 10:37

That is suspiciously accurate. That’s is indeed what I got out of it, but I didn’t quite associate the beige sedan (possibly a model driven by my brother while he went through a normal college experience) with normal expectations. I think you nailed it.

I thought the DS had an umbrella handle shifter? I have sat in a 2CV, so it would make sense for brain to conjure up a similar image but i nstead it was something entirely unique. And the throws were soooo long and vague.

Jim Spanfeller > Who is the Leader - 404 / Blog No Longer Available
07/28/2020 at 10:45

Actually I’m not sure what the shifter looks like, but I do know it’s a semi-automatic (although the similar Citroen ID had a regular 5-speed manual).

Kinja'd!!!

As for cars I’VE driven in dreams, there was one where I had a brown 1974 Honda Civic on a Geo Tracker frame with a 500 hp LS V8. I don’t remember much else about the dream, other than that that thing RIPPED. Also there was a dream involving Torch, fancy K risten, and I in that car with the paper transmission. I was failing to drive it, Torch was being encouraging, and Kristen was judging me. Good times :)

Who is the Leader - 404 / Blog No Longer Available > Jim Spanfeller
07/28/2020 at 10:53

It appears that some of them had the stick much like I imagined it on the side of the steering column and others had them on top.

1974 Civic on a Geo Tracker frame is very very specific. That sounds like a fun dream. Mine was fun but in a kinda stressful way.

Wait, what car with a paper transmission? And oh Lord not Fancy Kristen! She wouldn't be seen anywhere near paper. Or Jason. I doubt the authenticity of this dream.

Jim Spanfeller > Who is the Leader - 404 / Blog No Longer Available
07/28/2020 at 11:25

Yeah, I think fancy Kristen usually has a servant inscribe dictated messages on a block of gold. But IIRC, in the dream the car was fitted with Bluetooth so she would at least have something .

Who is the Leader - 404 / Blog No Longer Available > Jim Spanfeller
07/28/2020 at 11:46

I hadn’t seen that one. Wow, a manual CVT that isn’t boring! I wonder what the world would be like if that transmission design had caught on.

And wait the car doesn’t even have a generator so how could it have blueto oth?

Jim Spanfeller > Who is the Leader - 404 / Blog No Longer Available
07/28/2020 at 13:06

External batteries, perhaps?

Who is the Leader - 404 / Blog No Longer Available > Jim Spanfeller
07/28/2020 at 13:12

And speakers. And a microphone. Not to mention the problems that the wind and background noise of an open car with a loud engine poses. Well, it was a dream.

Jim Spanfeller > Who is the Leader - 404 / Blog No Longer Available
07/28/2020 at 13:15

And I don’t recall us actually doing anything with the Bluetooth, I just remember it was there...

Jay, the practical enthusiast > Who is the Leader - 404 / Blog No Longer Available
07/28/2020 at 16:51

I sometimes dream about my old 66 Mustang. In the dreams it always has problems. Usually it is super slow and breaks down. Maybe that wasn't so far from reality.

Who is the Leader - 404 / Blog No Longer Available > Jay, the practical enthusiast
07/28/2020 at 16:55

My car related dreams are almost invariably that the parking prawl doesn’t work on my car and and handbrake won’t hold it back from the automatic creep , so I can’t get out. Weird how car dreams almost always go wrong. So yeah, slow motion catastrophe and mechanical problems just like yours.

Taylor Martin > Who is the Leader - 404 / Blog No Longer Available
07/28/2020 at 17:22

Lucky you. I haven’t had a car dream (at least to my knowledge), my brain generally leans towards weird monsters and odd events like being inside the belly of a worm or a house turning into a tank.

Seems like your psyche is more on point than others, and I’m quite a bit jealous.

Who is the Leader - 404 / Blog No Longer Available > Taylor Martin
07/28/2020 at 17:28

My dreams are, based on my heavy research, suspiciously immersive. I have questioned other people about their dreams and apparently having full color cinematic experiences often in trilogy form (as in three separate but distinct dreams vaguely related and in series) is unusual. I could never have imagined such an accurate representation of the DS but somehow my brain got it perfect. And the whole experiences are pretty complete and detailed and mostly grounded in reality.

Taylor Martin > Who is the Leader - 404 / Blog No Longer Available
07/28/2020 at 17:40

I’m lucky if I even dream. I do dream in color, but one night is never coherent to another. Keep a journal or something, you’ll remember them better that way and can look back on them (although maybe Oppositelock is your journal).

Who is the Leader - 404 / Blog No Longer Available > Taylor Martin
07/28/2020 at 18:18

I dream very often but rarely remember it when I wake up. But yeah, my dreams are just unprecedentedly immersive. Sometimes I wake up and wonder why the real world isn’t as detailed as my dreams.