Image via Complex Original
At the tender age of 16, kids are finally given the freedom to drive on their own. They can legally take significant others out on dates, without parents hawking over their every move. They can go to the local ice cream or burger spot on half days. They can hop between friends' basements and Walmart late on weekend nights, trying to decide what place is better for sitting around and talking about how bored they are. The big question, when kids get their licenses, though, is always what they are going to drive.
Some people are told straight away that they'll have to save up and purchase their own cars. Others have loaners from the 'rents, and a select group of lucky people have $40,000 cars gifted to them. Different starts for different situations.
Whatever wheel they end up grasping often becomes a part of the kids' identities in high school. They're recognized by what make and model they roll up in, people talk about how old or expensive the car is, and they're judged on what kind of music is blaring from their stuck, half-open sunroofs. It's natural. High school is the most judgemental place on the planet. As the weather starts to warm, we're reminded of the long lines of traffic, trying to get out of the jammed parking lot. It gave us time every day to witness the various types of drivers we were surrounded by, like the asshole with the ultra-loud stock muscle car or the kid in his mother's minivan. Relive the not-so-glorious days with The 11 Types of Drivers You See in High School.
The I-Don't-Give-a-Shit-What-I-Drive Kid
There are literally no thoughts to what this guy steps into every single day. He drives about two miles to school, about four miles to his best buddy's place, where he spends a majority of his time, and his girlfriend always comes to his house. He doesn't care what anybody else thinks, because he knows that it's all just high school bullshit anyway.
The Moped Kid
This dude just doesn't even get a car. He's been riding his Honda scooter since he got it at age 15 and he honestly has no problem paying $4.00 once a month between the 80 miles that he gets from that one-gallon tank. He locks up the tires to the bike rack every morning (doesn't have to pay for a parking spot, saving that scrilla) and keeps the top portion of his locker for his obnoxiously large helmet. He'll probably even bring that thing to college with him and use the line, "hey baby, you ever felt the vibration of a 50cc motor before?"
The Muscle-Car Kid a.k.a. The Burnout-After-Every-School-Day Kid
Typically, these kids are the ones with the biggest egos in the school. Their fathers want them to be hot shit, so they can high five their sons about getting to second base with the cute girl on the cheerleading team. So, they grab a new sports model off the corner lot. The kid, taking not-so-subtle cues from his dad, then proceeds to act like a complete dick by triple parking handicap spots, burning out after every single day (completely wasting his tires), and revving at every single other male that pulls up next to him in a car. If the school is really unlucky, he might even completely take off his headers or tailpipes, ensuring that everybody's eardrums are destroyed.
The Project-Car Kid
Everybody thinks that this kid is driving around a piece of junk, when, in reality, he's actually got the makings for the best car in the lot. He purchased an old pony or muscle car at an auction the day after he got his license. For now, he's driving a car that's covered in rust spots, doesnt' have a passenger seat, has two different-colored body panels and has three different rims on it, but he's working two jobs to save up for his dream car. By the summer before college, all of his schoolmates' jaws are sent to the pavement, when he rumbles by in a shiny black big-block beast. Classic.
The My-Parents-Bought-Me-a-Luxury-Car Kid
Some people have a great sense of what it means to value money. They get a job, they pay for their own fun activities, and they pay for the means of transportation to get to those fun activities. This kid does not have that sense. It's not really his fault. His parents are usually the ones that say, "okay, son or daughter, which car do you want? The red Benz or the black Beamer? Or maybe a Nissan 370Z?" They usually have the thing a few months before they're helping a policeman file a report for an accident that happened (where else?) in the high school parking lot.
The Pink Beetle Kid
And by kid, we mean girl. She's the typical all-American daddy's girl. She's captain on the volleyball team, so all the high school players can check out her butt in that tiny spandex, she's in the popular group, she still gets excellent grades, and her favorite activity in the summer is lying out. No other vehicle fits her better than that cutesy little beetle bug.
The Minivan Kid
Poor guy, he never had a chance. He's got three other siblings, all younger, and he can't yet afford to buy his own car. So, he's stuck with what his mama gives him, which just so happens to be a '90s Dodge or Chrysler minivan that is missing a hubcap and is full of boogers.
The I-Take-My-Sleeper-to-the-Track Kid
This person is actually related to the project-car kid. They occasionally go over to each other's houses to work on each other's cars, when things require more than two hands. On the exterior his Honda Civic or base Chevy Camaro might not look like much, but that's just a facade.
This thing would absolutely destroy muscle-car kid on a strip. Better yet, he does destroy muscle-car kid out on the streets, when the two just so happened to pull up next to each other at a stop light. Unfortunately, sleeper kid's best friend and muscle-car kid's crew were the only witnesses, and sleeper kid's not the one to brag about it on Monday. He just accepts the bullshit story that muscle-car kid tells everybody, because that's not the point of his juiced-up vehicle.
The Wannabe Tuner Kid
He's got posters of Acura Integra Type R's on his wall and dreams about WRX STi's and Mitsubishi EVOs, but this poor chap drives a Chevrolet Cavalier. So, he does what adults would expect naive, stupid high school kids to do. He buys scraps of idiotically modified cars on eBay and bolts them on to his car that cost him $2,000. The result is a Frankestein-like P.O.S. that any self-respecting human should be ashamed to drive.
The 15-Inch-Subwoofers Kid
There is one thing that this person cares about: Making sure everybody is 100 percent aware of (what he thinks is) the awesome amazingness that is his taste in music. Most likely, it's a mixture of top 40 hits, house music and a few songs from the rap blog that he thinks only he knows about. He's got a set of Kickers in the rear of his Honda Civic, which is slowly starting shake, rattle and roll to its death.
The Chill-in-the-Back-of-My-Truck Kid
Mr. too cool for school. When you're in high school, you still think it's rebellious to sit in, and drive around in, the bed of a truck. OMG, no seatbelt! He probably has a cigarette chillin' in his ear, he wears sunglasses inside, and he gets to the parking lot early, just so everybody can watch him walk in late. Either that, or he's the kid that grabs 18 kids after school, they all pile into the back of his truck, and they hit up Wendy's for some chicken nuggets and frosties.
