Jun. 3, 2005 12:00 AM

Warm fact: Almost 90 percent of all car owners feel so affectionate toward their vehicles they talk to them, name them, or adorn them with trinkets.

Cold truth: More than 10 percent of Americans love their car more than their spouse or significant other.

I don't love my car more than my husband, kids or kitties, but it ranks right up there. There are no trinkets dangling from my mirror, but at Christmas I do trim the antenna with a reindeer ornament and hang a wreath from its grille.

I drive a Mini Cooper S, a tiny cherub of a BMW that vrooms six gears forward on a supercharged engine. You've probably seen one on the street and said, "Oh, what a cute car." Or, "I wouldn't feel safe in anything that small." Or, "Is that street legal?"

People notice the Mini. It's smaller than most, looks like a smirking sneaker and rides like a go-cart.

My Mini turns heads. Literally. Recently, a pedestrian walking across Central Avenue at Thomas Road smacked into an oncoming chap while looking back at my little car. Luckily there were no injuries. Except to the gawker's ego.

The Mini has also starred in two movies, once with Michael Caine and more recently with Mark Wahlberg.

She's quick and she's cute and I've obviously decided she's female. Now let me remind you, we're talking metal, rubber and Valvoline here. Some would say this is sick and wrong. But I am consoled; I'm in the majority, according to International Carwash Association statistics.

Designers want us to bond with our cars, making them real to us so we become loyal owners. My Mini was designed by Frank Stephenson, who is now lead designer at Fiat, Ferrari and Maserati.

He says he envisioned a car whose "design touches our passion." My passion was touched the minute I met my Mini . . . I impulsively bought it with my American Express card 10 minutes after a test drive.

Stephenson told me he wanted to design a "cheeky, cute rascal; instantly displaying a warm, positive attitude; love at first sight . . . "Are we talking car, pet or best blind date here?

This all goes to show that people around the world anthropomorphize their cars, assigning them human values and imagined traits. Our cars are our best friends when they perform and our worst pains when they break down.

For the most part, they are more reliable than many of our relatives and certainly better looking than some. How many strangers walk up and say how cute you are? It happens daily to my Mini!

And have you ever thought how we treat our cars like children? We feed them, keep them clean and let them sleep in their own rooms if they're lucky. And these are children who don't talk back!

But if they could speak, I bet they'd have something interesting to say, like, "Traffic was horrible out there. The 10 and 51 were backed up and there was this pushy SUV that just couldn't wait to get to no place fast." Or, "Boy, I sure like that rubberized concrete; it's so much quieter and softer on my feet."

More interestingly, what would they say about what's going on inside our vehicles? It's inside our cars that we can totally let off steam, scream at our bosses without being heard and pick our noses thinking the guy in the next car can't see.

What does it say about a society in which some of our best friends are our cars? It's in our automobile, created merely to take us from Point A to Point B, that we find solace from the rat race, music to soothe us, a freedom to be. In our cars alone, we summon up the courage to address that nasty neighbor, sing Desperado full throttle or tell our mother-in-law what we really think of her.

And then, as a sign of thanks for being so available, we call our cars cute names and adorn them with trinkets.

http://www.azcentral.com/arizonarepu...faelzer03.html

 

What a heartwarming article...

 

Why I think I'm going to have to go right outside and snuggle up inside my
little cocoon. Fortunately though, the wife wins this contest.........although I think from time to time she may wonder about it. I enjoyed your sentiments.

 

there's only so much my pepe can do to make me smile - my hubby takes care of me - pepe could never do that