Cars are emotional items as well as practical ones, which means our reactions to them are not always purely logical. In a rational world, all cars have value only relative to their usefulness. In that world, a Ferrari GTO is less valuable than basically every Toyota Corolla ever built. We don’t live in a rational world, which is good, because I don’t think I’d function well in a place that relies purely on quantifiable measures.

If it’s true that our love of a car can be irrational then our hate for a car, too, could be based on something more than cold hard facts. This is what I’m curious about exploring today. It’s fine to dislike a car because it did you wrong, but I want to probe the deeper reasons why a car was ruined for you. Why you can’t stand that particular vehicle?

Here’s a tough one to talk about, though I think I’ve mentioned it before. A good friend of mine, an extremely talented actress, was doing a summer stock theater program in New Mexico before heading off to New York for an internship. At the end of the show, she got into her 7th gen Mazda Protegé to meet up with her parents. She never made it. A dumb kid in a modified truck was street racing, collided with her, and killed her instantly.

The world lost an incredible person that, I’m certain, you’d all know today were it not for the accident. It’s rare these days, but whenever I see that generation Protegé I think of her and, while I cherish any time I have to remember her, the car is never going to be separated from that terrible moment when I found out what happened.

Sorry, this is a bit of a downer, but it was just her birthday and I was thinking about her. It’s also a good reminder to not street race. It’s not worth it.

Ok, here’s the question: What car has been ruined for you? Why?