Image via Complex Original
From the moment car fanatics realized they loved the smell of gasoline, there's an image of a dream car that they hope to attain one day. For many, that dream car is an extremely expensive vehicle that would only come into sight if you're making six digits every single year. As they grow older, they start to realize that, unfortunately, that they will probably never have the chance to actually drive that Audi R8, that Lamborghini Gallardo, or that 'rrari. That is, unless you alter your career path to cater to cars. Find out what you need to do with these 9 Jobs That Allow You To Drive Cars You Could Never Afford.
Related: The 50 Best Supercars of All Time
Test Driver
Before a car is officially released into the public, it has to undergo vigorous testing. Surprisingly, not all of this is done with computers, and dynos, and wind tunnels, and simulation platforms. Real people still have to test each mule in live driving situations. Make an in with a company or start at the bottom and work your way up, and you could be test driving a $90,000 car.
Work at an Auction House
Hundreds and hundreds of extremely valuable cars roll on and off the stage at auction houses. Somebody's got to move them, right? As a bonus, your understanding of the pricing and selling of classic vehicles would skyrocket, which you could possibly use to your advantage later.
Mechanic
Before you guys say anything, we do realize that a large majority of mechanics won't have the privilege of driving cars that cost hundreds of thousands of dollars. Most will be working at Uncle Bobby's Body Shop, fixing up old Buicks and Oldsmobiiles with a dude named clint. However, even high-end cars require maintenance. If you're extremely knowledgable about a product, then we have no doubt that you could attain your dream of working in a supercar garage.
Car Photographer
This one is going to require a little more work. You can't just be like, "hey, I just took a picture of your car, let me drive it." No, it doesn't work like that. You have to start smaller, letting your work speak for itself, and you'll slowly start to gain some attention online and in the community. Once people start recognizing your name, and you start seeing the same people at all the major shows and events, people will start to trust you. It's not a guarantee, but if you become good friends the PR people, you might just get invited to some exclusive drives.
Valet
We've had dreams about people walking up to us with the keys to a Ferrari, Lamborghini, or Rolls-Royce, telling us to open our hands and dropping them right into our palms. Of course, in the dreams, we get to keep the car, which is not what happens when you're a valet. You're basically a call boy for rich people.
Car Salesman
If you work one of these jobs, come home, and tell your friends that you just drove a Ferrari 458, they're all going to hate you. But it's more of a super jealous hate. However, if you're a car salesman, everybody just hates you, period. They'll hate you because you get drive nice cars, and then they'll hate you because you're a scumbag who tries to squeeze as much money out of people as possible. We'll let you decide if that's worth it or not.
Auto Journalist
Two of the wildest cars I've test driven have been the Mercedes-Benz C63 AMG Black Series and the McLaren MP4-12C. The first is worth more than $100K, the second worth more then $200K. Did I drive them around acting like I'm some super fuckin' low-twenties big shot, winking at the females (I actually can't really properly wink) and flilpping keys to valets? Absolutely. Don't act like you're above it. You would, too, if you had that type of vehicle underneath you. Did I also cry like Adam Morrison after he lost the championship when I had to give those cars back? Yes, yes I did. I came around, though, once I realized as an auto writer, there's always another car on another day.
Parking Lot Attendant
Similar to a valet, you won't actually get to test drive the nice cars that come rolling through (unless you pull a Ferris Bueller), you'll just be moving them from point A to point B. That's still more than your boys can say, though.
Work for a Museum
Last week, we took a quick visit to the General Motors Heritage Center, which is basically GM's private collection of their most important vehicles of all time. The not-open-to-the-public warehouse holds more than 100 cars. However, that's not how big the collection is. GM actually has more than 400 cars that the company rotates in and out of storage and onto the showroom floor for various visitors.
And guess who moves these vehicles and cleans them? Not executives, not previous owners, not PR people, there are specific workers for this job. These were cars like the Mako Shark and Manta Ray Corvettes and the Buick Y-Job, so they're obviously some of tohe most valuable and expensive cars on the planet. Even if we have to do it with a rag in our back pocket, we'd be happy to move these cars around on the daily.
