The Make of Car Doesn't Make The Man

There are many sub-cultures in America that are constantly being disputed, most common of which being gun culture. One not commonly spoken of is the car culture in America. 

Photo Credit

Photo Credit

There are many different makes (brands) of vehicles, a few common being Ford, Toyota, etc. The high performance built models of these different brands are grouped as either Muscle or Tuner cars. Muscle cars are cars from America, and include Ford, Chevrolet, and Dodge. Tuner cars are cars that are generally from Japan, such as Toyota, Honda, Nissan, and Mazda. 

The two cars pictured above, to the untrained eye, are just two random cars. To car enthusiasts, however, these are a couple of gems. The left is a 1970 Ford Torino (muscle car), and the right is a 1999 Nissan Skyline GT-R (tuner). These two cars are really only different in one way: how they like to go fast, and these two go VERY fast. 

The muscle cars are big and heavy, which means to go fast they require much more power stuffed under the hood, such as a V8 motor. Tuner cars are the opposite where they are much lighter and require less power, meaning they can go quick with just an inline 4. For those who are now confused by "inline 4" and "V8", here's a quick rundown: The number associated with the motor (inline 4, inline 6, V6, V8) refers to the amount of cylinders the engine has and more cylinders generally means more power. The "inline" and the "V" parts just refer to how the cylinders are placed in the motor, either in a "line" or in a "V" pattern. It would be easy to go on and on about how car engines work and explain why one is more powerful than the other, but that's when people start to get bored. The more curious can find more information here.

While these two groups are different in how they go fast, they are the same because they are both built with the intention of going fast. So why don't these groups like each other?

Die-hard Americans believe in buying only American-made to boost the economy, which is a valid reason for buying products made in house. For this reason, muscle car enthusiasts already weren't thrilled with owners of cars imported into the States. In the late 80's, early 90's, guys from Asian-immigrated cultures were taking their hand-me-down Honda Civics and hacking the vehicle's computer chips to alter how the vehicle performs. The muscle cars didn't usually have computer chips meaning if they wanted more power, they had to get under the hood and get their hands dirty. The final reason that set off muscle car guys was the fact that the tuner group took off. Movies like The Fast and The Furious, which showcased both muscle cars and tuner cars, created a newfound interest in tuner cars among teens across America. They saw Paul Walker race his Skyline (like the one pictured above) and all of a sudden, imported vehicles became a hot commodity, and these younger guys were attempting to make theirs faster.

It's almost as if there is a slight jealous undertone to why these guys don't like each other. At the end of the day, they all have the same goal. Make a powerful, fast car, whether their car came from America or Japan. Before one person judges the other, they should realize that the make of car doesn't make the man.