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In Love with the Underdog (Car)
I was at a car show in Doylestown over the summer one night. Amidst a slew of “boomer classics” like Ford Mustangs, Chevy Bel Airs (coupes, of course, the four-door version of the exact same car isn’t, of course, interesting enough to warrant saving, much less showing off), Pontiac GTO’s and Mopar muscle cars, I was standing around next to my 1989 Toyota Camry DLX being largely ignored.
It’s not like I didn’t expect this; in fact, it was kind of a foregone conclusion. While the car’s license plate and its age designate it, as a matter of fact, as a “classic car”, a Toyota Camry, of any vintage, isn’t what most “car guys” accept or even acknowledge. Lots of attendees at the event seemed even to take pride in proactively ignoring its presence there as they walked past it, almost deliberately not making eye contact with its rectangular Halogen headlights.
Maybe that’s why I brought him there; to remind people who have a very myopic view of what a classic, or even a “cool” car is that there is room at the table — er, parking lot — for all kinds of vehicles, that are interesting for all kinds of reasons, not just because they pack a dinner plate-clean 4bbl 440ci V8 under the hood. In a way, maybe I’m subconsciously thumbing my nose at classic car culture by showing up in what was once the most basic family hauler on the road.