Automobile manufacturers sketch psychographic profiles of geographically-defined groups to decide on what to offer them. Considering beliefs and economics drive choice of vehicles, such an exercise is natural, necessary and beneficial to these companies. For instance, in India, car buyers can display strong colour preferences, attaching meaning to some of them.
And then, there is the other exercise of slotting people into social, intellectual and economic categories based on their cars. Even personality types are predicted in this manner. Such an exercise is undertaken and promoted by various entities, including automobile companies and business journalists with brands as their specialisation.
These studies have to be taken not with a pinch, but a big shaker of salt. Their conclusions are either predictable or debatable. If ever my livelihood depended on conducting such a study, I would choose the more palatable form of this evil. I would try to categorise people on the basis of the vintage and classic cars they love or choose to buy. I would leave current cars out of the picture.
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In my opinion, cars from those eras lend themselves to the pastime of attributing interesting qualities to their owners.
In the past, certain coupes, cabriolets and roadsters were fitted with a rumble seat, which doubled as a luggage compartment and was cut off from the main compartment. There was reason for the occupant of the rumble seat to feel unwelcome. The rumble seat was also called mother-in-law seat.
If a married person has bought a vintage Chevrolet Rumble Seat Coupe and refers to this seat as a mother-in-law seat with a wicked smile, he is probably letting you in on what he thinks about his own.
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Some vintage cars came with the BAC (brake-accelerator-clutch) pedal arrangement. Driving any such car today, as well as modern cars with the regular CBA (clutch-brake-accelerator) pedal arrangement, may suggest three qualities: confidence, quick-wittedness and a willingness to take risks. To my knowledge, there is one antique car enthusiast in Chennai who does this.
Possession of a Volkswagen Kubelwagen or a Volkswagen Type 181 may suggest a Frostian willingness to go down barely trodden paths.
Both display a whacky sense of design. Kubelwagen means bucket car. In America, they were at a loss for words to describe the Type 181 and just called it The Thing. An example of the Type 181 is found in Chennai. Around the 1900s, a voiturette named Esculapeus hit the roads of Britain. This miniature car left nobody in any doubt about its owner’s profession. I have always marvelled at the fact that it was designed exclusively for doctors, with a special provision to keep medical equipment.