How I Proved That Nearly Everyone Has A Gear-head Within Them...

"J. Drew Silvers" (drewcoustic) 02/03/2014 at 10:50 • Filed to: Dream Cars

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Conversations about our own personal ideals can lead to some really interesting thought provocations. I've known this for quite some time, but while talking to a good friend of mine the other day, she learned something pretty shocking about me. My friend designs sewing patterns for a living, is a little older than me, is married, and has a five year old daughter. Imagine my surprise when she sent me a picture of a murdered out Ford Raptor crew cab and claimed it to be her ideal vehicle. After a few more exchanges, she asked what car I would want her to buy me if she either won the lottery or somehow became a millionaire. My answer shouldn't shock anyone who reads Jalopnik, OppositeLock, or any other Gawker Media entity: Volvo 240 Wagon.

This was her reaction:

I know the answer is "always Volvo 240" around here and being entirely honest, that is a car that I really want for some stupid reason I cannot readily explain. Truthfully, I know I am a little off about my taste in cars when compared to anyone else who spent their childhood infatuated by them. What I mean by this is how I would go to my friend's houses when I was a kid and see pictures of Lamborghini's, Ferrari's, and even a McLaren F1 in later years tacked up on their walls. Most of these friends grew up not caring about cars later in life, but were enamored by the idea of an exotic car enough to have images posted in their bedroom for their cognitive fixation at some point in time. Me, on the other hand? I was not like that.

I traded my baseball cleats for car magazines when I was about eight years old and never looked back, but what separated me from the other future gear heads I knew was that I found nothing impressive about supercars or modern technology incorporated into cars of more mass production. It took me a while to figure out what type of car guy I actually am, but I learned heaps about pretty much everything from sensors, chassis makeup, braking systems, forced induction, etc. in that process and am still learning to this day, at twenty-eight years old; because I love the education. Currently, I have owned about fourteen vehicles from muscle cars, to sports cars, Jeeps, and economy cars, simply because I could never settle on anything I wanted to keep for the sake of longevity other than my Mustang, which has been in my family since my dad was a teenager. What I have figured out is that while I really do have a working knowledge of most electronic, hydraulic, and mechanical systems in cars, what I really enjoy is mechanical simplicity.

Most people I know my age, or even ten years older than me are more enamored by modern advancements in vehicles, infotainment integration, heated and electrically controlled seats, and climate control among other bits. Heck, I don't even particularly like power windows, leather surfaces, or automatic headlights for that matter. For me, when it comes to my flavor of vehicles, I don't really want to own anything newer than myself anymore - so a few years ago I declared my vehicle purchase cut off date to the 1986 model year. Anything from the beginning of automotive existence to my birth year is fair game and something I probably won't need to plug into a computer to diagnose an issue. Part of the fun in having a car from my own experience is the adventure of bonding with it and anything I have owned which runs on an OBD system has taken away a little of the accomplishment knowledge I love and crave as a gear-head. Bonding with my cars is important to me because I am weird, and having something more mechanical which I have to learn the quirks of over a period of time is what I would call ideal. So, yes, if my friend or I won the lottery, I would want a Volvo 240 Wagon to drop about an inch, tint, paint, restore the interior, and maybe do an engine swap.

Then a few days ago I started thinking...

I wrote a piece last week about how I had already obtained my !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! (pictured above) and after my baffled Volvo 240 conversation with my friend, began wondering what other people who aren't gear-heads would say is their "ideal" or "dream car". Last week, I started asking people both online and in person that very question so I could get a grasp of what having a dream car meant to them.

!!! UNKNOWN CONTENT TYPE !!!

I think there are a total of thirty-five people on the list I cooked up, which isn't enough for a case study, but enough for me to have a diverse range of perspective on the subject at hand. Some of the people I asked are high school students, some are stay at home moms, some are automotive technicians, golf professionals, business marketers, salespeople, bartenders/servers, and they are about half men and half women. Tallied up, eighty percent of these people are not gear-heads.

What I found in my "research" (Can we call it that? Yeah, why not?) has been that there is practically a 50/50 split between people who consider their ideal dream car to be something extreme as opposed to something obtainable. Living in a wealthy suburb in Atlanta (don't get it twisted, I'm not wealthy myself) I made the stupid assumption that most people would automatically throw down an exotic supercar as their ideal candidate, but I was a bit shocked to find otherwise. Actually, the majority of people who claimed the more expensive cars of the bunch just spouted off an expensive brand from some deep-rooted memory; meaning the Lamborghini people couldn't tell me what model they liked, nor could most of the Aston or Ferrari crowd. If it sounds expensive, it must be good, right?

The more shocking replies I received were from a high school senior who said she wanted a 1966 Mercury Comet, a restaurant manager who wanted a Jeep Grand Wagoneer, and police officer who wanted a Kaiser deuce and a half.

All of that aside, I came to another realization while asking my questions... Negating the few who were entirely clueless that Lamborghini and Ferrari made more than one model, practically everyone wanted to tell me why they had picked the vehicle they did. Some I spoke with said there was a sentimental value behind their choice and would tell me about the car their father, grandfather or mother owned which had stuck out in their mind as the perfect car for decades. Others would tell me how their perfect car was chosen for either personal fun, practicality, status, or any combination of the three before giving a detailed list of exactly why this particular vehicle fit into their lifestyle.

I guess what I actually ended up learning through all of this is that most people do have a little bit of gear-head in them. Most people may not take the same steps that we, here in the enthusiast universe do, but they carry somewhat of an interest nonetheless. I also figured out that asking a few complete strangers about their dream car is a great ice breaker and something that usually makes them smile just a little bit, which I think is pretty incredible.

This whole project started because I told my friend I wanted a Volvo 240...

The answer is apparently always: "Volvo 240".

Grace and Peace,

Drew

RamblinRover Luxury-Yacht > J. Drew Silvers 02/03/2014 at 10:44

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'64 Continental guy - *brofist*

Likewise to '34 Coupe guy.

crowmolly > J. Drew Silvers 02/03/2014 at 10:44

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Imagine the surprise I get when I tell people I really would love to own an 80's Buick.

GTCL > J. Drew Silvers 02/03/2014 at 10:45

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My list is always too long. It is more like dream cars rather than dream car. My wife however always just says hers is the Odyssey that we already have. I ask if we had huge amounts of money what she would like, she always comes back with the Odyssey. So weird to me. Oh we'll, easy to please I guess.

shpuker > J. Drew Silvers 02/03/2014 at 10:48

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Whoever Stephen is has a ballsy choice. I like it.

Sidenote: Your handwriting looks like a really clean version of my handwriting.

505Turbeaux > J. Drew Silvers 02/03/2014 at 10:51

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brilliant

A3R0 > J. Drew Silvers 02/03/2014 at 10:54

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Here is some advice for you: Your writing is fantastic, keep writing.
This is the second piece I've read of yours and loved very much! Great read!

J. Drew Silvers > A3R0 02/03/2014 at 11:00

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Thank you so much! It means the world to me. Really.

A3R0 > J. Drew Silvers 02/03/2014 at 11:16

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Your welcome! Now get to writing another because I want to read another. cracks whip
Hahaha

Aaron James > J. Drew Silvers 02/03/2014 at 15:50

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Great read, My dad would have a C2 Corvette convertible in white. My mom always wanted a Porsche 914 in green or a Mercedes 300SL Convertible in silver, Manual as well, of course, She was a fabulous woman with great taste in cars. For me it's a 69 GTO Judge first, then come the Lambo's Ferrari's and So forth.

camaroboy68ss > J. Drew Silvers 02/03/2014 at 15:50

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I think a big separator between a non enthusiast and enthusiast is really quantity. I'm not terribly surprised that there is a wide variety of dream cars chosen. I used to ask this all the time in high school and would get a variety of answers from rat rods to lifted 4x4s to high end luxery and super cars, but the key thing I would notice is that that was it. That's was their ultimate car. To a auto enthusiast the decision becomes tougher for that one car. Today I can say my dream car is a 68 camaro RS z28 while tomorrow could be a 55 Chevy gasser. I honestly have a list of cars I want to either just own/build. Plus a enthusiast gets way more detailed into their dream car. Most people I would ask just knew how they wanted it to look on the outside. A few on the inside and only 1 or 2 that actually got into options and specific details. I was surprised to hear my sister would love a 58-60 corvette because she really only cares of the car moves from point a to b. great article that really got me thinking.

Here is a picture of my Camaro (I like mustangs too) just for fun.

J. Drew Silvers > A3R0 02/03/2014 at 16:23

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I will. When I have content to post that's worthy of being read, that is.

J. Drew Silvers > camaroboy68ss 02/03/2014 at 16:24

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Great perspective. We seem to think similarly in a few ways.

J. Drew Silvers > 505Turbeaux 02/03/2014 at 16:24

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Much appreciated. :)

J. Drew Silvers > crowmolly 02/03/2014 at 16:25

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Which one?

J. Drew Silvers > GTCL 02/03/2014 at 16:26

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Yeah, I wouldn't fight that one very hard. One of the guys I asked didn't care at all. He will probably drive every car he ever owns until it cant be driven anymore. To each their ownZ

J. Drew Silvers > shpuker 02/03/2014 at 16:27

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That's the sloppy version of my handwriting. Fantastic. Haha

J. Drew Silvers > Aaron James 02/03/2014 at 16:28

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Priorities, right? Haha

J. Drew Silvers > RamblinRover Luxury-Yacht 02/03/2014 at 16:29

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They're both cars I would drive as well. I'd probably daily a rat rod if I ever build one.

crowmolly > J. Drew Silvers 02/03/2014 at 16:30

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GNX

J. Drew Silvers > crowmolly 02/03/2014 at 16:35

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For some reason I was thinking Park Avenue or LeSabre...Good call.

Aaron James > J. Drew Silvers 02/03/2014 at 16:37

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Yep, I've wanted that orange Judge since before I even knew what a Countach was. That kind of gives away my age a little but I had Countach's 959's and F40's on my walls. And Kathy Ireland.

A3R0 > J. Drew Silvers 02/03/2014 at 16:57

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I was joking around. No rush.

J. Drew Silvers > A3R0 02/03/2014 at 17:01

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Me too. Haha.

SnapUndersteer, Italian Spiderman > J. Drew Silvers 02/03/2014 at 17:03

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PS: that was some good writing. Keep at it

J. Drew Silvers > SnapUndersteer, Italian Spiderman 02/03/2014 at 17:17

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Thank you!

DancesWithRotors - Driving Insightfully > J. Drew Silvers 02/04/2014 at 16:18

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I just bought one of my long-term dream cars three weeks ago, so...

I've wanted a Fiat Spider for years, and I just now got around to buying one. Anyway, have a picture of my old Volvo 240 wagon, from the very last road trip I took with her, the night before I traded her in on a used S60. I shouldn't have done that.

J. Drew Silvers > DancesWithRotors - Driving Insightfully 02/04/2014 at 22:22

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Nice 240! Manual?

DancesWithRotors - Driving Insightfully > J. Drew Silvers 02/04/2014 at 22:24

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Automatic '93. Last year of the 240.

Lekker > J. Drew Silvers 02/10/2014 at 18:56

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I must be honest. I sort of skimmed the article at first, but when I saw the picture of the names with the car my mind immediately said "Gone in 60 seconds...wait..what?" So I ended up going back and reading the whole article. I gotta admit I am very very glad I did.

I am sort of like you in the sense that while technology, sensors, displays are an amazing advancement in the culture of our cars, sure. But the best cars to me are the ones that make you do the work. An example of a car I really would love to own in my stable is an 82 VW Beetle, in pearl black. As a counter-part I would also have a GT-R. Why? Because I appreciate innovative engineering as I love a humble statement a car with nothing out of this world gives off, as well as the straight-forward mechanics of it.

Great post sir.

ssidd47 > J. Drew Silvers 02/10/2014 at 19:48

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This was an amazing article and really got me thinking. There is absolutely no way in hell I could narrow down my dream car to just one. I would have to have a dream garage. Actually, let's make that a dream hangar or warehouse. Here are some of the cars that would be there:

Aston Martin V8 Vantage (1978)

Lamborghini LM002 (1988-89)

Lamborhini Aventador (2013)

MB C63 AMG Black Series (2013)

Basically, I just like really batshit insane cars that don't have definitive reasons for existing.

J. Drew Silvers > Lekker 02/10/2014 at 19:59

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We're of a similar mindset for sure. I'm happy you enjoyed it. There is something about being able to tweak things mechanically that I miss with modern tech, but it has its place, definitely.

Thanks for the compliment as well!

J. Drew Silvers > ssidd47 02/10/2014 at 20:01

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There isn't a rhyme or reason behind most gear head viewpoints. That's why we're so diverse. Everyone has a differnt goal, style, and dream. Keeps things fun. I appreciate the complement!

Grand Shiznit > A3R0 02/11/2014 at 15:35

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Volvo 240 is in my top 10 for sure. My top 2 are:

1.) VW Quantum Syncro

2.) VW Vanagon Syncro

A3R0 > Grand Shiznit 02/11/2014 at 15:44

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Ummm... Was that for me? I'm confused... Haha

Kerberos824 > J. Drew Silvers 02/11/2014 at 15:46

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I want a Lincoln Continental bad. I'm not into the air bag scene even remotely, but if I had one, it would be bagged. Something like this...

J. Drew Silvers > Kerberos824 02/11/2014 at 16:13

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They're so classy. I'm not into bagging either, but old big-body luxo-barges are always an exception.

Imirrelephant > J. Drew Silvers 02/11/2014 at 16:14

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Well written, sir! There is no way I could pick just one. The short list would include an E39 M5, F40, B8 RS4 Avant (b/c wagons kick ass!), and my '67 Chevy C10 back. The C10 was my first vehicle. It was rusted out, no power anything, with a 307 SBC and a 3 on-the-tree. It would do a 1 leg burnout for half a block!

J. Drew Silvers > Imirrelephant 02/11/2014 at 16:16

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See? You can have sentimental dreams and something less obtainable.

Thanks for the compliment.

Mau_Ferrusca > J. Drew Silvers 02/11/2014 at 17:19

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This:

"I don't really want to own anything newer than myself anymore".

-APPLAUSE

Mau_Ferrusca > J. Drew Silvers 02/11/2014 at 17:21

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No one, I mean, NOBODY said Lancia Stratos?

SMH.

J. Drew Silvers > Mau_Ferrusca 02/11/2014 at 20:33

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Haha. I doubt more than maybe five people on that list has any idea what any Lancia is. The Stratos is on my top list though.

Stef Schrader > J. Drew Silvers 02/11/2014 at 22:46

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Dude, those bricks are awesome. The black ones totally look like a hearse.

J. Drew Silvers > Stef Schrader 02/11/2014 at 22:51

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Without the morbid history, which is a definate plus. Haha.

broncosteve > ssidd47 02/12/2014 at 00:38

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+1 for the LM002!

Wirenfeldt_Jr > J. Drew Silvers 02/12/2014 at 04:18

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Fantastic article.. Very interesting subject, and well written too.. Keep at it.

As for dream cars.. I would love to own a RENESIS swapped MX-5 hard top and/or a Honda S2000..

J. Drew Silvers > Wirenfeldt_Jr 02/12/2014 at 04:53

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Much appreciated! I'm happy you enjoyed it.

I've always had a soft spot for S2000's, but I would want to shove a V6 into one. MX-5 with a rotary would be a blast though.

SnapUndersteer, Italian Spiderman > J. Drew Silvers 02/12/2014 at 08:12

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Beautiful writing

Cebu > J. Drew Silvers 02/12/2014 at 12:22

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Yes! Yes! Somebody else that wonders why nobody IRL seems to be a gearhead!

At least your friends seem to be more tasteful... the 2 most gearhead-y of the non-gearhead dream cars are a Hyundai Sonata (no qualms about it being 1st gen) and a dropped, 'kitted JDM Civic (and not even a Type R). Gearheads 'round here tend towards classics- one of them even supports my Buick LeSable fetish. Of course, that's probably because I live in the Tuner Lowcountry- an area close enough to DC to become infected with tunerism but not the cool parts- those are all replaced by bro truck bits.

J. Drew Silvers > Cebu 02/12/2014 at 16:50

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It's weird, but finding anyone around here who does their own mods or even maintenance on their cars is pretty difficult.

johncalvinyoung > J. Drew Silvers 02/13/2014 at 11:45

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This was me for a long time. Couldn't be convinced to care about what I was driving, but still somehow in love with what an Aston Martin stood for and looked like. Now I'm rapidly learning wrenching skills and have been addicted to Jalopnik/Oppo for a couple years and want to drive a Triumph or MG, but I'm still in love with the Aston Martins...

johncalvinyoung > johncalvinyoung 02/13/2014 at 11:46

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(and for the record, even then I knew I wanted a Vanquish...)