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Writing on cars

July 21st, 2005 · Posted by Skuds in Life · No Comments · Life

I really should start carrying my digital camera with me all the time, or consider getting a camera phone. I saw something today which really made me do a double-take.

I have always wondered what the point is in the writing on the back of cars. I can understand why they have the model name (Primera, Laguna, etc.) on the back – cars have such a similar design these days that you could hardly tell them apart otherwise. And its worse with some of these joint ventures where two manufacturers end up with identical cars. But beyond that it all gets a bit pointless.

Cars seem to have all sorts of information stamped on the back in little chrome letters; information which surely the owner already knows and nobody else cares about. For example it is common to have the engine size, fuel type, how many valves, whether there is fuel injection or four-wheel drive etc. When catalysers first came out that was on the back of cars too. In the 70s there were cars with “DOHC” on the back telling us, as if we cared, that it had twin overhead camshafts.

I once joked that it would not be long before cars started having their recommended tyre pressure on the back. (“Yah, my new car is the GTi 16-valve 4×4 32psi. What are you driving?”) I’m pretty sure I have even seen convertibles which have ‘convertible’ printed on the back in case nobody noticed.

But then I was walking up the road to work and saw a silver-coloured Ford Fiesta parked by the kerb. As I passed it I saw that it had printed on the back the word ‘silver’.

Is this a service to remind colour-blind drivers what colour car they have?

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