Radwood helped make the otherwise-forgotten cars of the ‘80s and ‘90s cool, and brought a wider appreciation for the unloved machines that ferried our grandparents through the Reagan, Bush, and Clinton administrations. Quirky cars like classic Volvos and diesel Mercedes’ have always been popular with some enthusiasts, but the current TikTok trend celebrating “cigarette cars” tickles my sadistic side as I see young folks celebrating automotive outcasts.
Cigarette cars are old, run-down, and often rusty cars that folks love despite their glaring faults and looming demise. Cigarette cars exist on a spectrum, and there are no tangible qualities that are required for a vehicle to qualify as a cigarette car.
Most commonly, cigarette cars are run-down ‘80s,‘90s, and 2000s American cars that have lived hard lives and have the scars to show it. I’m talking Chevy Luminas, Dodge Dakotas, Saturn SCs, and virtually any Oldsmobile, Mercury, or Plymouth. Cars that you can envision a middle-aged woman in Kentucky whipping around with one hand on the wheel, and the other hand flicking her lipstick-stained Virginia Slim Ultra Lite Menthol out the window between wrinkled-lip drags and medically alarming smokers hacks.
As a 27-year-old who straddles the Millenial and Gen Z border, I’m proud to have come across this TikTok trend before there’s even an Urban Dictionary page devoted to defining this nonsensical term.
There are no strict requirements for a car to qualify as a cigarette car, it’s more of a vibe that a car embodies, and yes the Pontiac Vibe embodies the cigarette car vibe. A rusty Ford F-150 can be a cigarette car, a clapped out Lexus LS with peeling paint and a smashed headlight can be a cigarette car, any vehicle that’s looking worse for wear but still chugging on down the road is eligible for the venerable title of cigarette car.
This is a totally nonsensical trend, but I am glad that a movement exists to draw folks closer to their piles of wheeled junk. One of the best parts of owning a car is the platonic relationship that develops when you give your car a name and a personality– it becomes a part of your family, flaws and all.
