# Does anyone see cars' faces? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [May 5, 2008, 5:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-anyone-see-cars-faces/448093 "2008-05-05T05:31:01Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 11\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/burpo_the_wonder_mutt/32/365_2.png) [@burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/burpo_the_wonder_mutt)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2015, 1:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-anyone-see-cars-faces/448093/61 "2015-11-28T01:21:51Z")
> [@Hilarity\_N.Suze](#): > > Well I am glad somebody bumped this thread because just today, I saw a pink VW bug (the new bug) that had been customized with false eyelashes around its headlights. > > Yep. Big old false eyelashes. That wasn’t the only interesting thing about the car, but it was the most interesting. > > I was beside it so I couldn’t see if it was wearing lipstick. But it probably was. I saw one of those here in Houston about a month ago. Probably belongs to [Penelope Pitstop](http://vignette2.wikia.nocookie.net/wackyraces/images/e/e7/CompactPussycat.gif/revision/latest?cb=20080607080057). Last week I pulled into a parking space and when I looked up, after turning off the key, the pick-up in front was SCOWLING at me! ---
**Author:** ![JohnT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnt/32/15048_2.png) [@JohnT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JohnT)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2015, 6:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-anyone-see-cars-faces/448093/62 "2015-11-28T06:32:43Z")
> [@WOOKINPANUB](#): > > Considering my wacky imagination and all the weird associations I make in other areas I’m surprised that this is a thing, and even more so that it’s never been _my_ thing. I now have an urge to go to the parking lot and look at cars. Cars, as you probably know, are designed to have faces - this is not a coincidence, and many times the face is tailored towards the audience. Some cars have [friendly faces](http://images.newcartestdrive.com/wp-content/uploads/2002/12/03-neon-hero.jpg), some cars have [aggressive faces](http://blog.caranddriver.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/04/2016-Chevrolet-Corvette-Z06-C7.R-Edition-PLACEMENT-626x382.jpg)… this poor guy [looks worried about something](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/29/01-04_Toyota_Tacoma.jpg). ---
**Author:** ![ZipperJJ](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zipperjj/32/211_2.png) [@ZipperJJ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZipperJJ)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2015, 6:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-anyone-see-cars-faces/448093/63 "2015-11-28T06:35:34Z")
I think white Kia Souls look like Star Wars Stormtroopers. ---
**Author:** ![LegendHasit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/legendhasit/32/8246_2.png) [@LegendHasit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LegendHasit)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2015, 5:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-anyone-see-cars-faces/448093/64 "2015-11-29T17:09:33Z")
I do! Some car fronts look more like faces to me. Occasionally one will even be smiling. ---
**Author:** ![Boyo\_Jim](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/87869e/32.png) [@Boyo\_Jim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Boyo_Jim)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2015, 7:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-anyone-see-cars-faces/448093/65 "2015-11-29T19:33:05Z")
[My car](http://mazda3carpet.com/wp-content/uploads/image11.jpg) reminds me of [Lightning McQueen](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/2/27/LightningMcQueen.jpg). I didn’t realize it until someone pointed it out to me, and I find it somehow disturbing. ---
**Author:** ![Melbourne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b5e925/32.png) [@Melbourne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Melbourne)\ **Post date:** [November 30, 2015, 8:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-anyone-see-cars-faces/448093/66 "2015-11-30T08:41:11Z")
> [@jellyblue](#): > > Hmmm, those Harvard types might be onto something because I’m terrible with faces too. Despite the fact that I draw them really well. That’s related. It’s a woods-and-trees thing. Being able to draw faces well means decomposing them into drawable elements. Recognising faces means composing the elements into an idea. ---
**Author:** ![Melbourne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b5e925/32.png) [@Melbourne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Melbourne)\ **Post date:** [November 30, 2015, 8:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-anyone-see-cars-faces/448093/67 "2015-11-30T08:42:17Z")
> [@JohnT](#): > > I thought you were _supposed_ to see faces in car front ends, it being all part and parcel of the appeal and marketing. What intrigues me is the shift from round-eyed American cars to slanty-eyed Japanese cars. ---
**Author:** ![Mijin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mijin/32/9369_2.png) [@Mijin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mijin)\ **Post date:** [December 1, 2015, 3:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-anyone-see-cars-faces/448093/68 "2015-12-01T03:57:22Z")
> [@Melbourne](#): > > What intrigues me is the shift from round-eyed American cars to slanty-eyed Japanese cars. Well I would say cars have become angrier; most luxury cars and many sports cars have headlights angled down towards the middle. * * * To the OP, this is something I’ve always seen too. It actually bothered me about the Cars movies. They give the cars eyes on their windscreen, but then my brain has this fight going on between focusing on that face and the face made using the headlights as the eyes, usually preferring the latter for reasons unknown. ---
**Author:** ![Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spectre_of_pithecanthropus/32/12343_2.png) [@Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spectre_of_Pithecanthropus)\ **Post date:** [December 2, 2015, 11:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-anyone-see-cars-faces/448093/69 "2015-12-02T23:50:06Z")
> [@Absolute](#): > > If I squint, and force my imagination into overdrive, I can visualize faces on the fronts of cars. The headlights are the eyes, the grille is the mouth, etc. They generally look goofy, happy and smiling all the time. I’ve noticed that some recent full-size pickup truck models have a kind of bad-ass, snarling “expression” lent by large grilles that are sort of frown-shaped. Also, the headlight “eyes” are rather low-set, so the looks like a mouth wide open in anger, about to bellow something. Or maybe just roar like a beast. It seems so unmistakable that I wonder if the effect was intentional. Other than on those trucks, I usually have to stretch my imagination to see faces on the front ends of cars. In contrast to the trucks, the front ends are usually to wide and shallow to form a good face; this quality is usually heightened by aerodynamic forms in which the grille is often all but invisible. ---
**Author:** ![burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/burpo_the_wonder_mutt/32/365_2.png) [@burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/burpo_the_wonder_mutt)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2015, 12:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-anyone-see-cars-faces/448093/70 "2015-12-03T00:08:12Z")
> [@Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](#): > > I’ve noticed that some recent full-size pickup truck models have a kind of bad-ass, snarling “expression” lent by large grilles that are sort of frown-shaped. Also, the headlight “eyes” are rather low-set, so the looks like a mouth wide open in anger, about to bellow something. Or maybe just roar like a beast. It seems so unmistakable that I wonder if the effect was intentional. > > Other than on those trucks, I usually have to stretch my imagination to see faces on the front ends of cars. In contrast to the trucks, the front ends are usually to wide and shallow to form a good face; this quality is usually heightened by aerodynamic forms in which the grille is often all but invisible. Yeah, that’s what they _want_ you to think, so the car can sneak up behind you and **bite you in the ass!** Those Chevron cars are soooo cute, aren’t they? Don’t fall for it! ---
**Author:** ![Musicat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/musicat/32/20189_2.png) [@Musicat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Musicat)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2018, 12:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-anyone-see-cars-faces/448093/73 "2018-11-21T12:11:34Z")
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