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My father is in his mid-50s. He's got a great job, he's still happily married with my mom, and my sister and I have both been moved out of the house and are doing well for ourselves. A few months ago, he went out and purchased a new vehicle to add to the line already in the driveway. But here's the thing: It wasn't a Corvette, it wasn't a Porsche, it wasn't a Chrysler Sebring convertible, and it was most definitely not an overcompensating Hummer H2. It was a Jeep Wrangler.
The Wrangler very much fit the type of car guy that my dad is. He used to have a large variety of rides, when he was younger, including a VW Bug and a '68 Chevelle SS 396. He knows how to appreciate a great car, but he's also been pretty practical about his vehicles since he's had a family. He's never been one for super flashy cars, and until I showed him the reliability of an Acura Integra, he was 100 percent all American.
Now, the purchase got me thinking. There my father was buying a pretty inexpensive Jeep Wrangler at a time when a ton of guys go through this so-called "mid-life crisis." It got me wondering what the psychology of buying cars at this time really was. To my dad, it's because he wanted a new project, a new toy to keep him busy. His two main hobbies are cars and golf, and putting this Jeep into its original stock form will keep his hands full for a while. But what about the other guys? The guys who are out there buying $60,70,80K cars when they're 60? What's that about? With a little help from my dad, we're here to explain. Here are some reasons Why Older Guys Buy Cars During a Mid-Life Crisis.
It makes you feel young again.
Who drives bright sports cars? Young people! Well, most of the time, it's young people. It's a pretty high possibility that if an older guy is buying a muscle or sports car later in his years that he also had one when he was younger. By buying a new one, he's just having a moment of reliving what were some of the best years of his life. You can't get those years back, but you can certainly buy the things you were using during those years.
It's a good hobby.
Not all people are complete dumbasses with their money. Sometimes, buying a car at a later age has to do with scratching an itch that can only be satisfied by having a new projec to work on. Guys love creating something, and taking an older car and rebuilding it, or even taking a semi-worn down car and restoring it to all stock parts, can give us that sense of accomplishment. Are you really complaining about this ladies? Would you rather have your husbands out of the garage and in your house, badgering you with complaints all day?
It draws attention from the females.
Word to all the recently divorced or unhappily married guys out there on this one. Some guys at this older age are a bit damaged, have been battered a bit, and just are looking for a little bit of attention. Cars do indeed help this. Some guys have been together with the same woman for a long time and just don't remember what it's like to get an unexpected smile from an attractive woman they don't know. Again, a nice car can help with that.
It's a convertible.
As my dad explained, sometimes you just need a car that you can use to go out for a cruise, let the top down, and let the air flow through your four remaining hairs. It's a sensation quite unlike any other.
It has sentimental value.
It might have been a car you owned when you were younger, maybe your dad used to have one, maybe you already had one and somebody totaled it, or maybe there's some other reason that has nothing to do with your family. But there's something about this vehicle that gives you a feeling that nothing else in the world can. And that's why you need to buy it.
He wants to show off the money he has.
At times, guys can start to feel a little less powerful, a little less in charge, or maybe even a little less masculine. To some guys, showing the world that they have money is a way of demonstrating that none of those things are true. They are powerful. They are in charge. They are masculine. Can't you tell by this beautifully curvy $80,000 sports car?
He's realizing a life-long dream.
At the other end of the spectrum, some guys are buying these cars because they have been saving every penny they could toward one since they first saw the car. That might be a newer car, it might be a car he's only seen in photos, or it might be a car that his dad used to own when he was younger. What matters is that buying that car achieves what everybody has been telling you since you just a little tike: If you work toward something, nothing is impossible.
