They say that people judge you by the type of car you drive....
I drive two cars. The one I drive most frequently is a 1994 Ford Escort LX. It is emerald green and has a useless spoiler on the back. It has a tiny little 4 cylinder that I refer to as the gutless wonder. The things I like about this car is that it is new enough to have some modern car conveniences. One of the things I love is a setting on the heater/air control panel called "recirculation". You switch to this when you pull up behind a diesel truck or a poorly running car. Just roll up the windows, hit "recirculation" and the nasty exhaust won't get sucked into the interior of the car. I love the fact that this car doesn't feel every bump in the road, gets good mileage and doesn't leak when it rains. However.....
The Escort is the Rodney Dangerfield of cars. It gets no respect. Since I have gotten the car, I noticed that I get tail-gated more, honked at and cut off more frequently. Of course, most of the tail-gaters are large behemoths whose bumpers are higher than the trunk of my car. I always worry what will happen if they hit me from behind. Decapitate me? If I don't make a left turn fast enough for the driver behind me: "Beep!" If I don't move as soon as the light turns green: "Honk!" And, usually, the impatient tail-gater is the one who rips past me and cuts me off....
Cut to the other car.... I've owned this one since 1982. It is a 1972 Camaro Rally Sport. It is about as ugly as they come. It's in brown primer. It has a brilliant white fiberglass raised hood. It has a built 350. Fat tires, dual exhaust. The works. If you are standing near it, when it is idling, the ground will shake under you. We have nicknamed it, "The Beast". The Beast has all the problems that accompany a 31 year old car with nearly 200,000 miles on the odometer. The doors sag, when you open them. All the rubber, that was nice and pliant, when the car was new, has now deteriorated. Which means the car rattles and shakes when one drives down the road. The seat covers hide the ragged seats, with exposed foam padding, that are being held together with string. The car leaks transmission fluid and oil. There are also holes in the floor of the passenger side in which you can see the road pass by underneath you. This is due to the heater core leaking inside the car and dumping hot water and coolant onto the carpet. Trashed carpet was removed, only to see the holes eaten into the rusty floor.
Seriously, though. After being abused in the Escort all week, it is nice to occasionally get behind the wheel of the Beast. Why? Respect!!!! (Or fear!) People rarely tail-gate this car. Even the behemoths back off from the Beast. I never get honked at. The other day, the car stalled in traffic, resulting in a 7 car gap between me, and the car in front of me. But, the guy behind me didn't let out a peep. I do not get cut off. In fact, people have moved over into the next lane from in front of me. I guess they do not want me behind them. When I am sitting at traffic lights, most of the time, the other driver in the next lane will not pull up completely next to me. The usually hang off the rear quarter panel. It's rather amusing sometimes. People, who have ridden with me, have even noticed it. I am the same person, regardless of the car I drive.
Posted by Valkyre at August 23, 2003 09:01 PM