Cars With Character

I like cars that have character. Citroens and old SAABs and the Fiat Personale and the like make me very happy. My beloved (yet disabled) Krautrocket, a 1989 BMW 325, is of the last generation of BMWs to have character. Sometime in the 1990's the folks in Munich (like the folks at SAAB) got boring. Not horribly boring, and that wonderful Krautrocket hum was still in the engine, but they were not the same.

Hope is not gone, however, because I remember when the Jaguar went through an unfortunate period of having rectangular headlamps. They came to their senses. Likewise, recent Thunderbirds have had character, as do the Honda Element and the Scion. The Mini and the new Bug (although is a car without a rear-mounted air-cooled engine really a bug?) have character. Soon we will see the Smart Car, which impressed me greatly the first time I saw it in Italy. The PT Cruiser is a car that thinks it has character, but it doesn't. The Aztek has character, but it is on loan, and Waste Management might want it back soon.

Today I saw two cars that have more character than one can possibly know what to do with. The first was some old military ambulance thing that was absolutely stunning. It looked 4WD and quite ferocious. It also had a bit of that pushme-pullyou thing going for it, which is always a bonus in my book. I like a car that always looks like it just MIGHT be going in reverse.

The second was a very old Bronco. I think Bronco and I think of the boring ones from the 80's on, but this was a beaut. More like an old Jeep than a modern SUV.

Speaking of cars with character, the Oakland Museum of California has (or had, I am not sure if it is still up) a show of Kaiser automobiles. Wow! Each one was a beauty. If the show is still up and you are in the area check it out. For the price of admission, you can also check out the great art collection (not to mention the opportunity to talk to a stuffed deer, Amalia's favorite part of any museum visit).