Happy cars. Unhappy cars.

So now I have been dealing with cars professionally for some years now and playing with them for many many. There are way too many cars and trucks at my house. And more have passed through my life than I can likely count.     I have always felt that cars "talked" to me. And can mostly tell if one is happy or unhappy very quickly.        A buddy used to go even further. Could be at an auction and literally walk by one and just stop. Check it out very quickly and almost always be right about it.  Another buddy is the best wrench I know. Can diagnose the most unfixable crap by staring at it from across the lot. Or walk away from the biggest trick bag ever...  Yes they are inanimate objects. But are they?  

As much as I love cars, they are machines.  Nothing more, nothing less.

A car whisper you are. 

Cars definitely have personality, and personality goes a long way.

My Royal Enfield motorcycles (older ones) are happy motorcycles. It's hard to describe, but they make sewing machine noises and sometimes run better than other days depending on the weather, position of the sun, etc.  You know it when it happens. It's quite a special feeling.

I really don't get that from cars, at least modern ones. I think my 78-80 Mk1 Fiestas were happy cars. Maybe it's the pushrods activating small valves that generates it. 

I too embue cars with human traits.  Most of my Vdubs represent high maintenance but pretty goth chicks.  Our recent 90's Integra Type aRgh reminds me how happy to please Honda's are.   It was ridden hard and put away wet, with just a few months of coddling it's a happy little camper.

I always thought of my old 1st gen Integra and V6 MX-6 as happy cars. They certainly had personality. Same with my current Mazdaspeed Miata. My dad's '80 MGB with all of the emission controls still intact made me picture Tim Conway's shuffling little old man character from the Carol Burnett Show. 

My car was not happy yesterday, too cold, no traction, transmission was notchy.   It was super happy last weekend after a good long 90 mph cruise.

Some cars were born happy, like an 88 Honda LXi or Si.  E34 six cylinder cars where happy and depending on options, happy like a terrier or hound. 

I am part car whisperer, some are sexy but messed up inside, some are a bit homely but you would trust your child's life with them.  My fleet has one that feels neglected and taken for granted, one that if happy to just be useful if not a bit weathered, and the last one is just OK, like a lost teenager trying to find their way.

It's funny the different directions the title has taken people.

Is this car happy at the moment, regarding its condition?

Is this car in a good mood and running extra well?

Is this car playful in personality?

I immediately thought of bugeye Sprites vs recent Camaros and Jeeps with the "angry eyes" grills and how the zeitgeist is reflected in styling.

In the Fall of 1977, which was – gack! – 45 years ago, my then-employer leased three taxi-package 1978 Chev BelAirs for security patrol and response duties in Toronto and environs. (Canadian BelAir = decontented Impala.) Those cars were ridden hard for at least 128 hours a week, and often on the day shift as well. No matter what you put them through, they took it and came back for more. The west-end car was written off and put back together three times. (IIRC, one of those events involved driving off a loading dock.) But whenever you got into one at the start of a shift, it seemed to be to be ready for anything. I'd call that a happy car.

I have driven many cars thousands of miles. Twice on trips over a hundred miles from home I have had a similar experience. In 1976 my 75 Trans Am and in 1995 my 92 5.0 Mustang would not start after stopping a short while. Each time, I had an ominous feeling as I approached the cars. Was it the cars or was it me?

I have been the owner of a BMW E36, in my case a 1994 325is, that has had may great days and always leaves my guessing what my next experience behind the wheel will be like.  Keeping this car smog legal has and continues to be an ongoing ordeal.  The number of and the location of the hoses used to route the vacuum or required smog system is daunting.

I get why these cars have disappeared from the traffic in Southern California.  But I have been tested by this car, the next Smog test will be a tell.

I can confirm that getting your fuel injectors rebuilt will find the two of six units that will not let your car pass that test.  Oh, the hoses all degrade at a different rate. 

Old cars have personality and feelings. They don't like bad weather, they are temperamental and know when you are mad at them. Modern cars may be able to "talk" to you, but it is not the same, just cold electronic voices that follow our commands to the letter.  I tend to sell my unhappy cars quickly, but hang on to the happy cars, or at least the cars that I am working on to make happy.