Written By: Pascale Gibbs, Staff Writer
COMMUNITY: The teenage car community and its connection to self-expression.
For all of childhood, kids look forward to getting their driver’s license. Getting a driver’s license is a new sense of responsibility as well as fun. Not only this, however, some go on to find a new community and form of self-expression through the car that they drive. Sure, many people have a car, but most people do not know their car in and out, and they do not know every part that works together to make their metal beauty run. Lovers of such mechanics create unique cars for themselves and form communities that share unique liking and reflect themselves.
Cars are incredibly significant to everyday life. They allow the driver to get from point A to point B efficiently. However, cars do not simply serve this purpose. To a smaller group, cars are pieces of priceless art. Although they are subtle, communities form around the idea that cars are artwork. Every car brand, model, and year are unique, carrying different traits. Usually, when people buy cars, they end up being a reflection of their self-expression and personality. For example, some would rather buy a large and lifted Ford F150 while others would rather buy an old lowered Volkswagen; the difference between a loud, country-loving guy and a classic and chill-loving guy. The variety of cars allows for not only a great amount of discussion detailing all of the makes, but also the ways in which they can be modified.
Parallel to humans, cars can be modified or dressed up, in a way, in order to reflect personal expression. Cars can be lowered, raised, painted, made faster, and everything in between. Every car lover has a unique liking for different combinations of modifications that they can utilize. These combinations result in a completely original car that matches its owner even more than before. Will Burns, a junior on Poly’s campus, is included in this community as a lover of cars. He says that “cars are used as community and expression” because “there are teens out there that find community and fun in cars.”
Cars offer lots of different opportunities for artistic expression and allow teens to have an outlet that they enjoy spending time on. Working and driving cars is not only fun, but behind it all, there is an entire community based around everything related to cars and their specialties.