Cars with a Cult Following: Window Shop with Car and Driver

lexico.com defines a cult as "misplaced or excessive admiration for a particular person or thing." we mention that definition because this week's window shop challenge was to find cars with a cult of loyal followers and attempt to explain why and how these machines came to be the vehicular equivalent of jim jones.

as we say nearly every week, this should have been easy. but as usual, we skip the obvious answers. saab and mazda miata? too easy. our choices are a little off-center, even for an episode about car cults. but while we were trying to determine if our cars actually have a cult following or if they are just popular, we were reminded of the united states supreme court justice potter stewart’s thoughts on obscenity: i can't define it, but i know when i see it.

that didn't stop us from anointing five vehicular golden calves. senior editor elana scherr pointed her finger at sand-loving cat worshippers. road & track contrarian john pearley huffman caused yet another friendly fire incident by choosing a jeep, but not the one you might think. contributor jonathon ramsey followed pearley off-road, blessing the rains down in africa in a craptastic english tractor. senior editor joey capparella passed judgement on greek row fraternity brothers who sent their allowances to the far east, while c/d head honcho tony quiroga drifted his way to japan the opposite way, passing up a textbook swedish cult in the process.

have a watch. and know that no teslas were harmed in the making of this video. because that would have been too easy and the comments would’ve been too annoying.

source:caranddriver.com