Curbside Shininess: What Are They Thinking?

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– Posted on September 2, 2021

When I happened upon this Rodeo several weeks ago, I was stopped dead in my tracks by the little truck’s audacious shininess. There was something about the Isuzu’s presence, on an almost ready to rain late afternoon, that made me reflect upon just what the owner might have had in mind with this creation.

I mean, it was SO AMAZINGLY SHINY. And actually, as I got closer, I realized that the wrap – or perhaps an actual paint job (not wanting to touch it, I couldn’t entirely tell) – was quite well done.  Someone had put quite a bit of effort into this creation.

What exactly was the owner shooting for?

Maybe a shinier version of a DeLorean?

That could be an improvement worth shooting for. Personally, I have always felt that the DeLorean would have been better if it went with a smooth, shiny, bare metal look versus the buff finish that it had.  That way, it would look more like an airplane and less like a big stainless steel kitchen appliance.

I think there’s a strong family resemblance.

Well, if not a DeLorean, there’s still perhaps a better Back to the Future connection…Marty’s Truck.

I love this scene for all of the car spotting (Honda! Volvo! Datsun! Toyota! Jeep! Eagle!) and the all-around complete 80s-ness of the clothes (Aerobics wear! High-waist jeans! Vests!).

So perhaps a chrome-wrapped 2003 (?) Rodeo Sport is the owner’s fantastical DeLorean-Hilux mishmash homage to their absolutely totally favorite movie.

Then again, maybe they just like shiny stuff. This could be explained by the miniature disco mirror ball hanging from the mirror.

So perhaps it’s another movie altogether that captures the owner’s fancy and for which the mirrored-Rodeo is a tribute.

Yeah…it could be a disco tribute. But maybe not. Maybe the mirror ball is just a little final fillip of shininess intended to nail down the overall dazzle-effect.

Or not.

Nice brown.  If it had a tailgate and 4 doors, I’d drive it.

Maybe they just like foil, and would be perfectly happy with the “Kissmobile”…which hopefully doesn’t ever get too far from Hershey, where I last saw it.

Wrong “Kiss”.  So very, very, wrong.

I don’t know.

Although I will say that as I was taking pictures of the Very Shiny Rodeo, a passerby shouted out to me “Is that YOUR car???!!!”.

Not being a person who ever thinks of his best responses quickly and in the moment, I just blurted out “NO!!”. Because heaven-forbid that person think that I’m someone who could be responsible for something like that.

In my firmly stated “NO”, I was hoping to convey to even a total stranger that I’ve always felt that any sort of radical car customization is just one rattle can and a hot glue-gun from something like

this.

I know…”Art Car”. But it still gives me the heebie-jeebies.

I can’t even tell what kind of car “Meowww” is. I’ve actually seen it several times in the greater Boston/Cambridge area — here it is in the ghoulish light of the Alewife T station — but aside from once snapping a few very hasty pictures, I’m actually sort of afraid to get too close to it in fear that its overwhelming chaos will somehow rub off on me. Or equally scary, that its owner might suddenly appear. I harbor the suspicion that they might be even more crazy than their creation. And not in a good way.

On the other hand, I have finally come to the belief that the very shiny Isuzu’s owner is probably trying to make a statement about things that come from the future. Shiny things. Happy things.

OK, well, that’s not scary at all.