Do you think of a car as part of your family culture or is it just a means of transportation? What factors go into deciding what kind of car you own? Do you just go by what you like or what your friends are all getting? Or is it deeper than that? If it’s important like food or religion or music, a lot of factors go into the process but if it’s just for transportation, the following may not apply to you. But I want to offer some perspective from the angle of history and tradition – culturally relevant points – if “car culture” is a relevant thing.

So I do a lot of driving on a daily basis in New Jersey. Mostly it is in my Ford E-350 box truck. I took notice over the last few weeks at all my fellow “commercial” drivers out there, independent guys and those part of large corporations as well as our utility men and women and public service folks. 90% of them are driving American vehicles. All the local construction/landscaping companies travel in Chevy, Dodge or GM pick-up trucks and vans. Ever get pulled over by a cop in a Corolla? Of course not. It’s always a Chevy, Ford or Dodge.

Did you drive up to your prom or wedding in a Hyundai? No, it was a Cadillac, Lincoln or Chrysler. Limo companies never drive anything else. Police cars, fire engines, school busses, public transportation busses, prison busses, sanitation trucks, PSE&G, postal service, UPS, I have not seen any of them driving anything other than American. Truck drivers, ambulances, red cross, meals-on-wheels, again only American vehicles.

For people who say American-made vehicles are not as reliable or long-lasting as Japanese, why is it that workers – who depend on their transportation as a vital piece of their livelihood and for helping others – would risk not being in the safest and most dependable vehicles designed? So if these auto makers are good enough for service workers, why is it that the regular buying public still insists on getting foreign brand cars?

This is not about BMW’s, Porsches or Ferraris. In taking note of all the passenger cars I also see on the road, I’d say 90% of those are Japanese / Korean / Asian brands (the bulk being Hondas and Toyotas.) And this I just don’t understand.

Yes nowadays, automobile making has gone global and it is tougher to actually “define” an American-made car because even American companies get parts for their cars or have some manufacturing done elsewhere. Usually it is Mexico / Canada which technically is still is part of America (as well as countries in Latin America), but yes, even from Asia as well. However, because it may not be a “pure-breed,” that should not dismay you from having an allegiance for two main factors: the company is still American-based and the profits are generated on American soil for that American company. Getting too hung up on where the muffler originated is like when people overcomplicate their own nationality. You are whatever you declare yourself to be as a whole. It’s about how you are raised.

I’m American of Italian heritage, simple as that – that’s how I grew up. I could go on and get more convoluted and say I’m technically an American of Italian-Canadian heritage since my mother was born in Canada of Italian immigrant parents and that I also have a percentage of German blood on my father’s side…I can bet if most folks traced their own roots, there’d be similar genealogical discoveries made – however to me – it still goes back to what you consider yourself. If you are born and raised in Brooklyn and relocate to Florida, are you still a New Yorker? I say always and forever. The New York Giants are still the New York Giants to me, even if they play in the Meadowlands.

But if you are really a stickler and don’t want any foreign parts under the hood to “taint” your experience, get a car from the ’60s-‘80s when things were more cut and dry. To me, classic rides have such character and class. Far better than these cookie-cutter little machines all over the highways. I think a big problem here is that while yes, commercial drivers still proudly drive their Dodge Rams to a job site, there’s just no cache to that with the young generation. Why? Because like most things in this world, tradition and respect and learning one’s history is not emphasized as it once was. The family Chevy or Buick was something you appreciated and took care of and passed on to the next generation. You had a neighborhood mechanic who was honest. There’s no sense of pride anymore. Not to mention there’s a serious decline in toughness today – a drastic drop from my generation of the ‘80s and ‘90s. If they remade “Back to the Future” now, it would star Justin Beiber and he’d travel back in time in a Prius. Then again, an electric version of the DeLorean is coming out this spring. How’s that for a crazy change of times?!

In reality, today, most young drivers do one of two things…1.) They buy any old Mazda or Mitsubishi “hooptie” as they are called – for between $500-$1000 and then spend four times that much on crazy rims, a sound system, a ridiculous spoiler, an exhaust that makes it sound like a lawnmower on steroids. Now there is no possible way that the 17 year old kid driving around in his souped-up Supra or Miata has ever seen a classic American muscle car. It’s impossible. Had he been brought up learning about and respecting Mustangs, Camaros and Firebirds to name a few, he’d never ever think that a Supra was anything more than a cheap-rate imitator. 2.) Generally the other option – this is mostly the females – is going out and leasing a new Honda Accord with mommy and daddy co-signing. That I don’t get when you can buy a fine used Pontiac, Oldsmobile, Mercury, Jeep. Even Saturn…they are all out there. That’s what I did. And for the record, you can get a new Ford for the same amount, but why is a Taurus not as cool as a Civic? I mean we’re talking about a relative of the Mustang and the Thunderbird here, but people don’t seem to look at it that way. Civic is a descendent of what exactly?!

Those who just swear by the high re-sell value of Accords, Civics and the like kind of baffle me too. Again, that’s a mentality of getting rid of something and going on to the next thing. There’s no classic Camry car shows for a reason. Not to mention, has there ever been a “road movie” where the characters were driving cross country in anything other than a charming American-made convertible?  Ever hear an old rock song about a Civic? I think not! Don’t always be thinking about what’s next and be a little content (and respect) what it is you have. Oh and the activist types who think they are being great for the environment by not getting an Explorer fail to acknowledge that for every Prius there’s a Sequoia out there – that’s the case with every car brand. (Except for those goofy Mr. Bean golf carts I guess.)

Give me a ‘60s model black Cadillac or Lincoln; these are just works of art. It’s a shame people don’t raise their kids to appreciate these vehicles. Just because the “Big 3” was forced to change with the times like everyone else and begin getting some non-American parts (and still barely compete in the market), that doesn’t make them less “American” to me. When you are driving down the road with “CAMRY” screaming loud across the back, you are supporting the Japanese auto industry – regardless of anything else. You would never see a Harley rider with a Kawasaki (aka: “Riceburner”), because that’s just not right. So when did it become socially acceptable for most car drivers to have all these Toyotas?

My Pontiac patriotism is not based on post WW2 anti-Japanese sentiment by any means. I just feel that like apple pie and baseball, cars were always part of the American fabric and the Honda takeover is making that disappear. And I’m not saying all Hondas must disappear, as I’ll reiterate there’s just no “competitive balance.” Hey we all have cell phones and TVs and computers and all that – most of which are made in Japan or Asia. I’m not suggesting we try to compete with that market. But like I said, to many of us in my shoes, who were lucky to catch the tail end of what was really the last generation of the “old-school” ways, there’s a different mentality there with cars.

It’s just like the overwhelming influx of Olive Gardens putting out of business more and more independent owned pizza parlors or Applebee’s dominating local bar and grills. Future generations may never even get to see mom & pop spots at all, and all they will ever know (unless you teach them) will be chains. I’m not insinuating that the Big 3 are mom & pop operations, but the idea is that driving a Chrysler represents such a philosophy, the idea of perpetuating individuality rather than falling into a Xerox model of what the “masses” say I should be driving. The Honda takeover has almost made it like second nature for people. Time for a new car? Civic it is. Want pizza? Dominoes it is. Sorry, Johnny Meatballs doesn’t subscribe to that way of thinking.

Impressionable youths with no ingrained family car history (and thus no name brand loyalty) fall for the fancy bait-and-switch ad campaigns of these trendy dealerships. I can’t speak for my wife, but I am now at a point in my life where I hope to only own American cars. Maybe I am living in a fantasy world where I hope my kids follow that path. But some things one has no control over. The Big 3 may be extinct by the time my sons can drive…and who knows, maybe all these classic cars will just become memories. Maybe I am romanticizing this all a bit too much but wasn’t there a time where a car magazine was a sexy to a kid as a Playboy?

Everything changes. My parents always drove American cars in the ‘80s– except for a stretch there in the latter part of the decade when they owned a classic Mercedes – which ended up being stolen. Today they have a Suzuki. My grandfather from Italy had an Oldsmobile station wagon for years but his last car before he died was a Honda CR-V. I have personally driven probably 20 cars since I got my license…every make, model and brand you can imagine. My best car was my ’96 Explorer (“Lola,” yes, I always named my cars) – I had it for almost 7 years and used it for business and personal and it always ran strong. Your vehicle really lasts as long as you can take care of it. Now toss everything I’ve written here aside, I will say there is a big part of cars that is also just a matter of luck. In the past year, my wife and I have had 2 cars – a Toyota Rav 4 and Cadillac Deville (“Black Beauty”) – and the transmissions dropped on both vehicles. Still, I will gladly take my chances on another Caddie in the future.

The day after Christmas I watched a marathon on Discovery Channel of a show called “Fast N’ Loud” and I highly recommend it. It’s a reality series where two guys from Texas (of the Gas Monkey Garage) seek out classic American cars and bring them back to life. Check out one episode and I think you’ll get a better picture of what I’m trying to say. They don’t put fish tanks in fenders or add spoilers to Subarus…they respectfully restore vehicles…my favorite episode was the 1970 Lincoln Continental.

I’m not hating on soccer moms in their Odysseys or the college kid in his Civic. I guess when you see shows like that and have the internet at your fingertips and can instantly relive what a thriving, well-oiled machine we had going here with the American auto industry for so long – it makes me a bit frustrated that so many are just totally unaware of that – or don’t care to do their research.

A few more things to consider… For every story you read about someone having problems with their Chevy Malibu, you can find the same stories about problems with a Nissan Maxima. Comparably, people want to note how many recalls Ford & GM have, but fail to mention how Honda and Toyota are always right there in the top ten with their own recalls each year.

As an American in this great country of ours, we have the right to drive whatever kind of vehicle we want and we are very lucky to have that. And really whatever you drive does not define you as a person by any means. This is an age-old passionate discussion which will never go away. I hope I was able to squash some misconceptions and show my perspective. We all have our personal preference for what we like to drive and how we dress…what we eat…its different strokes for different folks. But it’s always good to know at least a little bit of history and research some facts in any discussion and I think I have presented valid points on the overall “value” of these American brands – not just emotional statements.

Ok…gotta hit the road, Jack…going for a ride in my Jeep Grand Cherokee Laredo – just picked it up for the winter. This thing is a tank, most importantly it’s the original to all the copycat SUV’s out there. It may not be a Deville but if it’s good enough for our military, it’s good enough for the Meatball Family! Vroooooom!