Do old cars/trucks have souls?

Dictionary defines soul as:

soul   /soʊl/ (sohl) noun
1. the principle of life, feeling, thought, and action in humans, regarded as a distinct entity separate from the body, and commonly held to be separable in existence from the body; the spiritual part of humans as distinct from the physical part.
2. the spiritual part of humans regarded in its moral aspect, or as believed to survive death and be subject to happiness or misery in a life to come: arguing the immortality of the soul.
3. the disembodied spirit of a deceased person: He feared the soul of the deceased would haunt him.
4. the emotional part of human nature; the seat of the feelings or sentiments.
5. a human being; a person.

Disconnect the battery and slap a "for sale" sign on it !

 

In most cases a guy's car is thought of in terms of being a girl. Unless you refer to your car as a guy for whatever reason that may be...but thats your choice.


Electrical gremlins, worn mechanicals, etc. are probably the cause...yea sure.

People who have owned a car for a long time, got to know the car's little quirks, and spent a lot of time and effort in the car do build a connection with that car. Superficial as it may seem it's still there. Then again other people only see a car as a thing that moves around from time to time when you get in it and drive it. But hey, everyone's different and entitled to their own opinions.

 

Connections, sure that's easy when you've spent uncountable hours, lost a pound of flesh, a gallon of blood, and a boat load cash. Every machine is different and if you pay attention to its particular oddities you can tell what's wrong or might need attention before it does. This happens even more if you built it. However these connections are unilateral, meaning from owner to object, the object cannot connect back

There aren't little gremlins living under your bed anymore than they are in your wiring harness, or knocking over motorcycles in the parking lot.

Nostalgia, obsession, projection, and Anthropomorphism, or personification are all clinically treatable .

 

THIS!!!!

My 40 is built from a lot of new and repro parts. Its soul has not arrived yet and it may be some time before it does. I know this because when I sit behind the wheel It can take me anywhere but back.

 

Anthro what???...

 

I don't know if they have a soul but they are female and behave like women.
Just this morning the 32 attacked the Camaro with its front bumper as it was backing out of the shop. I know it has been eyeing the newcomer for a while and is jealous that I have been driving the new girl every day. And to show how women stick togeather SWMBO blamed me and called me an old fool who needed his eyes testing!
Soul - maybe. Deceitful devious untrusworthy - certainly. No wonder she is named Perfidia! ( the 32 not the wife )

 

Ha! Deuces, what he might have meant is Mech-anthropomorphisn, or, projecting your own demons onto...thet olde Ford in the yard.
Great topic to toss and tussel with too.
My own sense is that as all crafting was lost to mass produced 'items' the sacrifices and admiration/value accorded to the maker's skills was also lost.
If all materials are profaned, in our own minds, then we are surrounded by objects, souless objects.
Traditionalists beware, it is my understanding that earlier tribes crafted what they had, and offered thanks for each sacrifice. Sacri-ficer, is to make sacred.
If you treat the matls you work with, as having a connection with them, the door opens to the place where a crafter is in league with (working using) his subjects.
Design and invention are informed as connections and realizations open.

 

If you treat the matls you work with, as having a connection with them, the door opens to the place where a crafter is in league with (working using) his subjects.
Design and invention is informed as connections and realizations open.

As wonderful, mystical and enlightened as that sounds , its still a unilateral connection.
You can be the steel, ball, weld puddle, paint but they can't be you.

Nurse Ratchet , my car has a soul and so does this bed. They don't like it that I'm in a straight jacket.

 

What about AMC Gremlins? No but seriously I wasn't saying there are actually gremlins running around inside my wiring harness with a pair of wire cutters...it was just an old phrase for electrical problems.

I think I need to see a doctor then...Nostalgia is definitely a problem for me...but then again buying more old stuff seems to help! Self medication? I think it works. Now what would really help is a time machine. But I'm sure we could start a whole new thread on the notion if time travel right?

If you've spent countless hours, lost blood and flesh, and lots of dollars like you've mentioned you build a connection. A relationship of sorts...you know how this (insert random object here) works and behaves. You are the controller and the final decider.

Just don't piss your car off...she (or he) might not like it.

 

A dear old family friend had an open T speedster (homemade) that he would park years ago on the street in Worcester, MA.
He'd return to the car to find people had sat in it, turned the wheel etc.
So he hooked up a wire to a seat spring, from the hot, output side of the coil. There t'warn't much padding he would tell us, so the next "driver" got a belt when his hands touched the wheel. Bi-lateral, voltage unknown.
Every so often my 'ride' tries to tell me sumthing. Maybe I'm suseptible to low voltages...

 

If they don't....then why do some of our old one's haunt us for one reason or another?

 

If they do have a soul,my 48 is now a happy one because it sat unloved in the great outdoors for over 10 years .It`s driveable now and I feel good about it.

 

it would be nice if they did. it would explain alot of things that go on.but im afraid they dont. just quirks they have. and they seem to show themselves at the most oppurtune time.if you believe in the bible then you know they dont.hell dogs dont go to heaven and they are a living breathing thing.so how is a peice of metal gonna have a soul.if you dont believe in the bible then you know you dont even have a soul again so how is metal gonna have one.i like to believe my old cars have a personality but its just a game i play with myself.damn that sounds funny....

 

I wonder if a chain steering wheel has a soul? KIA has one although when I first heard the ad for one(with the Hip Hop Hamsters) I thought they were advertising Key Assholes.

 

An Interocitor? That's practically like trying to find a fork at a sit down restaurant...EASY! I'll take it! Send it my way...I promise to mail you the cash from the past so that you get it now (Back to the future style)!

Its the same as people believing in ghosts or that your pet really loves you for more than just food. You can't prove it. But you can believe it. Well go on and do what makes you feel right. If you think your car has some inner manifestation of a previous owner or the like then thats fine...if you think a car is nothing more than a piece of iron with stuff bolted to it...then thats fine as well...

But back to this time travel...lets go!

 

Here is another thought to ponder on the topic of old cars/ trucks with souls:

1. Do the more original and unaltered vehicles seem to have more soul?

2. If the same group of parts have been together for a very long time does it have more soul?

Ole Blue ( named by my wife not me) is an all original ranchers trucks that was virtually untouched since the day in rolled off the assmebly line, not even a repaint, so does that make it have more soul than if had it been put together from 10 different vehicles?

There are alot of unexplained things in this world !

 

I think they do.

 

you can call me crazy but I feel as if the few ive kept do have souls

 

Well said.
When I look at old cars I always sense their history.
The cars posted in the "Sitting and Rotting" thread for example. To think at one time each had a proud first owner that showed them off to the neighbors. There are stories there.
At least in my mind I dream them up.

Do they have a soul?
Maybe. They always run better after being washed don't they?
It's like they know.
This guy takes good care of me! I'll do the same in return."

 

only gingers dont have souls

 

Key assholes haha
Now that'd be some funny shit right there, I don't care who you are

 

Ya know, Think of how many times one of your old cars was having a hard time starting and you said out loud "C'mon baby, fire up" or something to that effect..

Point is, a lot of us talk to them.. When Im in my garage I might occasionally say "Hi" to one of them as I walk in, and I feel guilty if I don't then say Hi to the other two..

I think they have "souls". Maybe not like people or animals or whatever, but there is something there. After so many years of who knows what they have done or where they have been, How many first dates they were a part of, first rides home from the hospital for a baby, arguments they have witnessed, etc... Well, they gotta pick up something along the way.. But I tend to get a little romantic about it..

Part of the soul is the history involved..

I will say though, I dated a girl years ago and I always took my 56 Buick. One night I decided to take my 54 Chevy instead.. It ran great (as it always did) all the way to her house, once she got in the car it started missing and running really rough, stalled out a couple times.. Limped it like that through the whole date.. Took the girl home, went inside for a few minutes.. When I left the car fired right up as usual and ran great again.. Definitely a "Christine" moment.. It was the strangest thing..

So the next time I saw that girl I took the Buick

 

Um.....sure they do, the soul is built by the Easter bunny, and installed by the tooth fairy. It's what makes 4 doors so cool.........what the hell, are you guys 7 years old? Must be my "personal relationship" with reality that makes me so jaded.

 

... It ran great (as it always did) ,....started missing and running really rough, stalled out a couple times.. Limped it like that through the whole date..... went inside for a few minutes.. When I left the car fired right up as usual and ran great again...

Some days, my bike runs exactly the same way and I mean EXACTLY !!!
Problem is my bike doesn't know your Chevy and probably never met your girl either.
Now how am I supposed to explain this about my bike?

Wait a minute ,,,,

I know ,,,,,

The only logical conclusion ....

My bike must have a soul and it is related to your Chevy.

Cool now I know is a soul matter.

And here I was thinking the spark plugs were having issues.

 

if reincarnation is real I can think of a lot worse things to come back as than a hot rod.

 

I wanted to come back as a pair of hooters hot pants

 

? Is that necessary?

 

I thought those were rats...

 

Well how else would you explain it ?
Its either kindred souls or sparkplugs.

 

I think you should lighten up and not take everything so literal. Have some fun, man!