In England, there is a saying: an Englishman’s home is his castle. Perhaps the latent feeling of everyone being a king is a romanticized longing for a time when feudalism was the organizing force of society and many men were born into absolute power. Perhaps the English still feel that their imperial past (at its height, the British Empire covered one third of the world) entitles them to some feeling of superiority. Or maybe it is just something about being a man that makes you feel that where you live is yours and you will defend it. Either way, many men feel this way about their car too. It is no surprise that some guys will spend half their weekend outside cleaning and polishing their most prized possession. That is, if the car is something to be proud of. If you have an old, near defunct piece of rubbish that you are embarrassed to be seen driving around town in, then it makes sense that you wouldn’t put as much time into caring for it.  If that is the case, then maybe it is time for you to get an upgrade. An impressive car is something that every guy should have, and here’s why:

Some history first: Henry Ford revolutionized the automotive industry by introducing the assembly line, and therefore mass production. Before, each car would be built one at a time with different mechanics working one after another as it neared completion. His Model T became one of the most popular cars in America. Not only was he a fine businessman, he believed that everybody should have the right to drive a car. They were superior to horses and buggies after all. Ford’s attitude towards cars could be said to reveal a rather utilitarian philosophy: a car is good for going from A to B. That is certainly a convenient use for cars but over the course of the last one hundred years, they have developed so much that they can no longer just be looked upon as machines that serve a particular purpose. They are expressions of their owner’s personality, they are fun to drive and, of course, they are still useful for getting around.

Back to the modern day: there is no reason why someone would not be able to afford a new car. This year alone, an estimated 18 million cars have been produced and that number is rising all the time. The global production rate of cars has been rising consistently since 2000 and peaked in 2012 when for the first time, over 60 million were created.

Finally, driving is as much a part of American folklore as playing touch football on Thanksgiving. Without it, the vast expanses of the United States will fall quiet and go unexplored. You could explore the country of your birth in a thing that should have been condemned to the scrap heap years ago, but who wants to do that?