I think most of us have a few stereotypes about vehicle choices rattling around in our brains. Maybe some are benign, like little old ladies and Toyota Corollas or surfer dudes and '57 Chevy wood-sided wagons, and maybe some are less so, like male Asian teenagers and chopped Honda Civics or Birkenstock lesbian couples and Subaru Outback wagons.
I’d like to collect your perspectives and prejudices on the kind of car that is “typical of” a two-pack-a-day smoker. What kind or car does that bring to mind for you? Or, what are the essential characteristics of a smoker car?
Also, if anybody knows of any data that could turn this from an IMHO topic into a GQ topic, I’d love to hear about it.
Demographically smokers are mostly older and/or lower middle class/underclass. Take your pick of old person cars and lower middle class/poor person beaters and you should be pretty close.
I’m thinking low-end General Motors models; the Pontiac Sunfire and Chevrolet Cavalier coime to mind. An old Chevrolet Beretta or Corsica probably qualify, too. I’m also thinking anything that says “work truck.” Dodge Ram, Ford F-150, Chevrolet S-10 - definitely smokers behind the wheel.
Heh. In the town where I lived up til last year, there was an old Monte Carlo down on the roadside for sale for $300, suitable for parts. On the back was a bumper sticker that read “At least I can still smoke in my car!” Every time I went past, I was always looking for the guy who owned to come down, climb in and light up.
Smoker cars? To me, they would be frumpy, old-people cars, like big old Buicks and Oldsmobiles. But that’s probably a reflection of what the smpkers in my life drove.
I assume it was the same in the States, but some of the “big metal” cars of the 70s here had four cigarette lighters, one for each seat. I’d say they’d be the obvious.
A far cry from today’s cars that come with one ahem power outlet".
I smoke, but I roll my own which means unless it is r e a l y bad traffic, no smoking in my car.
But if I understand what you are asking, I think any of those big 'ol Chryslers or Olds with those godawfulf fake leatherette tops that have peeled off in the sun would be a viable candidate.
I used to own an old '72 Ford with one of those tops. Yes, it was revolting, but kinda cool because of it. I have, however, heard of a guy who took such a car to one of those “drive-thru African safari” zoo places. There were signs warning drivers of vinyl-roofed cars not to enter. Apparently there is a certain species of monkey that sees that material as some sort of monkey crack cocaine, and they proceed to pick it to pieces. This guy ignored the sign, despite the entreaties of the gate attendant. He found out the hard way.
