06/01/2025
Emotion. Cars.
Once upon a time, those two words belonged together.
But now? We don’t drive anymore—we commute. We “travel.” We “run errands.” Cars have become beige little appliances designed by committees and built for people who hate driving. When you shop for a car today, you’re not looking for something that moves you—you’re looking for something that moves your stuff. You’re checking boxes. How many cup holders? How big’s the screen? Does it pair with my phone?
You find the car with the best numbers on a window sticker and the blandest promise: “This will make your drive as easy, efficient, and forgettable as possible.”
And somehow that’s a selling point.
But what if driving wasn’t something to be endured? What if it wasn’t background noise between points A and B? What if it could matter again? Even something as small as a grocery run—what if that was an event worth savoring?
Because every time I slide behind the wheel of my 1978 Trans Am SE, I’m reminded of exactly what we’ve lost.
You insert the key—an actual key, mind you—into a chrome lock that’s been there since disco ruled the earth. Turn it, and you can feel every bit of mechanical linkage as the door unlocks with a satisfying clunk. Open it up, and you drop into a seat that feels less like furniture and more like a command center. Everything inside this car exists because someone said, “Yeah, that looks cool.”
And then you twist the ignition.
It doesn’t chirp or beep or silently whirr into life. It growls. The Pontiac 400 coughs, shakes the whole car, and roars to life like it’s pi**ed off you waited this long to fire it up. The scent of old vinyl, gas, and just a whiff of oil fills your nose as you push in the clutch and grab that old Hurst shifter.
Out on the road, it’s chaos and music all at once. Drop a gear, stab the throttle, and that big four-barrel carb cracks open like a shotgun. The nose lifts slightly, the exhaust bellows, and for a moment—just a moment—you are no longer a person in traffic. You’re something else. You are sound and fury and forward momentum. The air gets torn to pieces around you, the engine barking like a pack of wild dogs, and all of it makes your heart race and your thoughts slow down.
This isn’t commuting. This isn’t efficiency. This is driving.
So go. Go for a drive. Don’t travel. Don’t “head out.” Don’t take the shortest route. Just drive. Pick a road that doesn’t matter, and take the long way to nowhere.
Because sometimes, nowhere is exactly where you need to be.