What Car, in Your Opinion, is the Most American?

Knurled. said:

maschinenbau said:

3/4 or 1 ton dually crew cab Dad Edition with all the leather niceties. That just simply doesn't exist in other countries.

The dream vehicle of the typical timid American who is afraid of thw world and needs 8000lb of steel to protect them from the scariness outside, while still projecting an image of being a tough individual, despite that image being mass-marketed to them.

 

GROW A PAIR, SCRAP YOUR TRUCK.

 

What a real tough American looks like:

 

 

Driving a four wheeled motorcycle in the winter with no top and no farks given to the plebes in their cocoonmobiles ready to kill him with their utter indifference to the world around them.  That's berking bravery and can-do and I salute him.

 

 

^^^^^ THIS. I have nothing further to add. I can’t. 

I'm gonna go with Model T. America didn't invent the car but it invented the car as we know it: ubiquitous and attainable. 

EDIT: I missed Adam's post, so consider this a +1

stuart in mn said:

I really like that Pontiac Safari wagon in the first picture.  

It's my way of sending subliminal messages to David that he should drive it to the office. 

Rest of the world: "We will start using front wheel drive transverse mounted drivetrains to intrude as little as possible into the passenger compartment so a smaller car has more usable interior space."

Us: "Yes that, but the car is still huge."

Planned to suggest the Model T, but late to the party. 

Really, there's no wrong answers here. Personally, I love station wagons, but the rest of the world is still buying them while Americans have rejected them.

My current rental while I'm on vacation is certainly very American.

Massive size, 375 horsepower twin turbo. "Yeah, I'll take that upgrade from the minivan!" Expedition Max.

Lots of America in this picture from right now in my driveway:

Mudstain, Lincoln, Suburban. Ignore the two Hondas

Growing up in a 72 Dodge Polara 9 passenger Station Wagon - I'd go Wagon.

Second choice for today - full size pickups crew cabs that basically replaced the wagons. Both had V8s, could tow, haul, do everything.

The most American looking car? Would have to be a red white and blue Javelin. The first grade school I went to, had one parked right across the street in someones driveway. Cool.

It would have to the the VW Beetle, because it is most American to steal from foreigners and then outlaw it.

That said, the most American vehicle is the Willys Jeep, not so much the newer ones.

Vigo said:

I'm gonna go with Model T. America didn't invent the car but it invented the car as we know it: ubiquitous and attainable. 

European countries adopted displacement taxes to make Model Ts expensive to own.  (Model Ts displaced, what, 3.something liters?  Remarkably large)

I can understand that knd of protectionism, but I find it somewhat amusing that the laws still exist almost 100 years later.

Buick wagon or any full size truck. 

humvee. Nothing says 'merica like the worlds least efficient de-militarized military as Ryan vehicle. Like a jeep, but with more brawndo. 

Jeep 4x4 wagon.  The first SUV.

Cooter said:

I submit that the most American car isn't a car at all...

If we are going with vehicles other than cars.....

Pickup truck is probably the correct answer, but Mustang also came to mind.

No mention of the minivan yet?  Like them or not, they’re pretty ‘murica.

Dodge Viper. Take a truck motor and cram it into a two seater configuration. 'Murica.

Even though the Cobra was originally a Brit car, a guy from Texas wearing a cowboy hat with the idea to cram a big ole V8 under the hood is pretty American.

Chevy Caprice is a dark horse too.

410 Superamerica.  Has America right in the name.

BTW, Amerigo Vespucci, after whom “America” was named, was Italian.

So i'm going to go in a totally different direction. 

American Built car, built by a company that has relied entirely on Wall Street and government programs to survive. 

Tesla Model 3



It's a car built on the American Dream of a South African turned multi-citizenship US citizen.

that's my take..

My hot take.

nimblemotorsports said:

That said, the most American vehicle is the Willys Jeep, not so much the newer ones.

That might be one of the top answers.

This was a Christmas present to the owner. 1946 model, identical to the one he drove in high school.

The most Murican car is: any car with an engine swapped into it that wasn't a factory option.

V8 in a British roadster? Murica. V6 engine in the back of a subcompact? Murica. 85 horsepower 4-cylinder into a 6000-pound truck? Futile, but still Murica. Two engines, one for each axle? Double Murica.

Ford F-150.

I mean.....pickup trucks are what most non Americans think we all drive anyway and there are millions of them

An American boat campaigned by a crazy Russian at an amazing track on the Fourth of July. 

They had to lower the flag pole so it would fit under the bridge.