Car Guys, It’s Time to Own Up
An idea for mending fences.
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Dear fellow automotive enthusiasts,
We’re the worst.
Really. We are. “Lifestyle” is a dirty word in car culture but, truth told, that’s exactly what this is—a lifestyle. We eat and sleep and breathe this stuff. It dominates our day-to-day, oily synapses firing nonstop, plotting. Considering. Planning. Cars rule the hive mind, and they dictate actions. And, sometimes, those actions can be a bit… inconsiderate.
From a quick, confessional poll of The Drive staff, a few admitted instances:
- Made a loved one stand outside for an hour, in the freezing cold, holding a fire extinguisher while synchronizing leaky HIF carbs.
- DVR’d the Monaco Grand Prix over the season finale of Grey’s Anatomy. Did not apologize.
- Ruined “the good hand towels” with differential fluid.
- Ditto, “the good bed sheets.”
- Affixed straight pipes to a cam’d LT1 Camaro, with neighbors in close proximity, despite 5:30am commute.
- Forced a blood relative, on crutches, to hike across the mall parking lot to avoid door dings.
- Picked up a date, who was wearing very expensive shoes, in a car with no floor. (Note: There was a floor, just not an entire one.)
- Forced passengers to endure top-down Miata-ing in highly inappropriate weather.
- Spent Valentine’s Day gift money on race tires.
- Spent all of our money on race tires.
- Replaced a fuel tank early on a Thursday morning; "ruined Thanksgiving" by smelling like gasoline.
There were more, too. Many more, some we’re too ashamed to publish. Sheepishly looking over the (long) list of offenses we’d amassed, someone offered: “Has anyone here, like, apologized lately?” No. And you probably haven’t either.
These latex balloons can help. For $14, you get a dozen per pack. Order two. Use them sparingly for smaller offenses (“Honey, I revved up and lit the garage couch on fire a little…”), or deploy the whole kit and kaboodle to be really sorry all at once (“The neighborhood committee called about the cul-de-sac donuts. Also, we’re homeless now.”)
Own up. Get these festive, apologetic balloons here.
