By Jeff Glucker
I was on vacation last week. My wife and I landed somewhere and as soon as I saw the parade of similar vehicles, it was an automotive reminder of where we traveled. On the roads, the majority of vehicles seemed to be Jeep Wranglers, as well as the convertible version of the Mustang and the Camaro. We were in Hawaii and the rental car procession made that just as clear as our crumpled boarding passes from a long flight and the gorgeous surroundings.
At our hotel, which looked not toward the ocean but towards the West Maui mountains, I could look down into the parking area for our hotel. I chuckled as I noted at least 8 Wranglers parked next to each other. An occasional Mustang or Camaro broke up the bevy of box-shaped roofs.
The non-rental vehicles on the island are typically of the Toyota variety. I’ve noticed a fair bit of Tesla products, a smattering of Hyundais, and one supremely excellent Mini.
What are some other vehicles that are indicative of a place? Or what are some places that remind you of a given vehicle?
If you go to a Texas kids’ travel league baseball practice, the parking lot will be filled with crew cab half ton pickup trucks. The suburban sports dad is drawn to them like moth to flame. I had one for a while myself, but my kids are more into theater as it turns out.
I mean, the IKEA parking lot used to be dominated by certain square wagons. The most indicative place-and-vehicle-correlation in my mind though would be Amsterdam and its massive bicycle parking lots.
Southern California – Tesla ( among others but seems to be FAR more Teslas here than anywhere else)
If you see a car that’s intentionally spewing flames, and it’s late August/early September, chances are that you are in Black Rock City, NV.
I went to Paris for a couple days in 2012, and at the time, the Citroen C6 was seemingly as common as black Town Cars in quite a few large North American cities. In the remaining two weeks in France and Germany, I think I maybe saw one more C6.
Any Subaru : Vermont
Any Golf Cart : Florida
Any 10 year old BMW : Any college town
Any Mopar : Junkyard
Any Lunar Rover : Moon
1963 Bentley S3 Mulliner Park Ward Drophead Coupe : My happy place
jeeps and 4runners in Moab UT