I was watching Miami Ink the other night on TLC and Ami James, the shop owner, was buying himself a car now that the shop is doing well. He ended up buying a 1972 Cuda with a 340. Being someone that has had toy cars in the past it got me to thinking. Why is it that guys are so into cars? Ami makes some money and the first big purchase he made was a car.

I tried to figure out what it was about cars that made me buy toy cars. My last toy car purchase was a 1987 Buick Grand National with 10,042 original miles. The car was beautiful. So beautiful in fact that I hardly ever drove the car for fear of something happening to it. As much as I enjoyed driving the car, because they are very fun to drive, I loved just looking at it shining in my garage as well.

In an effort to get to the bottom of this I posed the question to some friends that are also into cars, even more so than I am. Each of them said that they couldn't put it into words but they felt it was in their blood. They grew up around cars because of their dad and they just always loved them. The same was true for me, my father was into cars and we went to car shows together. But, that still does not answer the question. We all have a sister and the sisters were all exposed to the same things we were as far as our father being around cars. They could care less about cars, as long as they have one to drive the kids and get to work they are fine.

So what is it? What causes men to go spend thousands and thousands of dollars on weekend cruisers? I see cars for sale on eBay where it is obvious that someone had put $30,000 worth of parts and goodies in their cars.

I do not think the reason for the interest in cars is hereditary. There is something about the "need for speed" or the power of some of these cars. That gives me a rush when I drive them, but I could get those things from many cars off a showroom floor nowadays. There is also a sense of freedom when you are on a nice cruise on a brisk fall day. Once again, I could get that from any car I was driving.

The conclusion I have come to is that there truly is no way to describe it. There are just some things that you can never find words to explain, such as your love for a child. You obviously love your kids but there is now way to explain just how much. I would love to hear from anyone that could put into words why they like cars as much as they do, I think that would be interesting conversation.