The Air Bag: That's not a bin lorry, that's my car

An untidy cars shows that the owner drives their car because they appreciate it for what it is, not to try and a be cool.

If you read last week's Air Bag (and I have no doubt that you did, of course), you may have got the impression that I'm a bit of a stickler for clean cars, what with my rant on the difficulties of getting a car washed here in Abu Dhabi.

And, you'd be absolutely, utterly incorrect. Hey, don't get me wrong, I like a car when it's all shiny and finger print-free, but I'm not the type of guy that frets about it. Well, apart from last week.

So, as you might have guessed, the interior of my car is generally, well, a mess. Empty water bottles, paper fast-food bags, notebooks, an old hat, and other junk fills the space behind the front seats of my Alfa. Yes, it's a mess; but I have a feeling that many of you reading this right now are thinking of your own rubbish bin on wheels, so don't think you're alone in the matter, dear readers.

In a recent study of UK motorists by Queen Mary University in London, researchers found that, while 42 per cent of drivers regularly eat in their cars, only about one third of them actually clean the interiors, and 10 per cent never wipe down the dash or vacuum the carpets. The study also goes into a comparison of germs on a steering wheel and a public toilet, but I'll spare you those repulsive details.

And don't think it's just the little people, either. There was a story that circulated a while back in the late 1980s about a writer seeing Rod Stewart's Ferrari F40, at the time the fastest production car on the road, outside of a London recording studio. Upon sneaking a peek inside the supercar, the writer was appalled to see the interior littered with old cigarette packs, crisp bags and other detritus from daily life. It was obvious that Stewart considered his Ferrari, this most famous of supercars, as his daily driver, and treated it as others would treat their old Toyotas or Chevrolets.

But the thing is, I don't think there is anything wrong with that. What's worse: having a bit of litter riding along with you in your car, or constantly worrying about washing it, inside and out, wasting hours of your week?

What this tells me is that owners with dirty cars don't care about what others think; they're not driving their cars to please the public or look cool, they simply appreciate them for what they are, be it a tiny econobox or a fancy sports car. It's a part of their daily life, and it shows character.

And it's because of this complete disregard for public image and the added character that dirty car owners aren't actually slobs; they're cool.

At least, that's what I keep telling myself.