The Shelby GT350 came up behind me far too quickly. I could see its menacing grille approaching in my mirror, and I briefly thought it might hit me. The driver swerved at the last moment into the adjacent left turn lane and stopped at the red light.
The orange car with black racing stripes idled just ahead, immediately followed by, what are the odds, another orange GT350 with black racing stripes.
The two identical cars revved their engines in some sort of brotherly bond, but I wondered if that first dude felt instantly unimportant, and I imagined the second dude feeling like a girl at a party wearing the same dress as a stranger.
I wondered if they knew each other or if it was a crazy random happenstance. Either way, it wasn’t good.
Would two buddies go buy the exact same car then go drive around just for fun? Not likely. But what are the odds of two relatively rare identical cars showing up in the same place at the exact same moment? They didn’t have dealer plates, so that possibility was ruled out.
I never did solve the mystery, but seeing both cars in the same place got me thinking. People buy cars like that to stand out, not to blend in with the crowd. It reminded me of the new Corvette.
That was a heart-stopping car the first few times I saw it, but lately I see a few of them every time I get on the freeway. The car no longer has the surprise value and has ceased to be special because of the sheer quantity on the road. If anyone can own one, why should anyone own one?
The Mustang and the Corvette aren’t meant to be super-rare cars, of course. They are meant to provide the everyday Joe with a performance-car experience while standing out from the masses of Subarus and Hondas on the road.
They do that very well. The problem is that now they tend to blend in with the Fords and Chevrolets.
Do you want to drive a car that stands out from the crowd, or one that blends into it?
-tgriffith
Find Certified Pre-Owned Cars and Used Cars in your area at CarGurus.