Living in the Northeast U.S. means the car you’re driving is perpetually dirty for about a third of the year because of rock salt, dirt on the roads and other pieces of grime picked up during the winter months. For a big chunk of the year, our cars are very dirty. Most people would tell you that that is a bad thing, and your car should constantly be squeaky clean. I’m here to tell you that they are dead wrong. Cars look better when they’re dirty, and I don’t care if you don’t agree.
Cars are meant to be used, and a dirty car tells the world you are using it. Think about endurance racing. All the cars start out perfectly clean, but at the end of a 24-hour race, they’re marked up with rubber and road grime. It gives them an undeniable aura that absolutely translates to regular road cars as well. A few months ago, I drove a McLaren 750S right after a snowstorm hit Eastern Pennsylvania, the results of that car going down some dirty roads made it look fabulous. Not only that, but it gives you a deeper appreciation for the design and aero of the car. You’re able to finally visualize where the air is being channeled throughout the vehicle because of the salt/dirt streaks. Sure, it helps that this isn’t my car, and it isn’t my paint to worry about, but you get the picture.
It’s not just supercars, though. Recently, I was driving a 2025 Infiniti QX80 – a car that most people agree isn’t terribly good-looking. However, it really came alive once it got mucked up a bit. It helped break up the, well, blobbiness of it. Not only that, it made me look like someone who actually bothered to use their car and the type of guy who isn’t concerned with looks. It’s that sort of bed-head style Laissez-faire attitude that people love these days. Of course I didn’t clean my car. I’m too busy doing cool shit to care about that. I’m off the beaten path, and you cannot reach me even if you tried.
Lest we forget that not washing your car is a more environmentally conscious way to live. Washing your car is a waste of water that we just don’t need right now and things become more dire. Is this a bit of a stretch? Maybe, but it fits my narrative.
I can hear you naysayers now in my comments, talking about how a clean car means you take care of your things and how if a car is dirty you’re ruining the paint. Let me just say this: shut up. I do not care. Life is too short to worry about the perfection of your paint on your soft-roader SUV. Spend your time and thoughts on more interesting things. Get a hobby. Don’t clean your car.
Of course, some people will rightfully say that road salt can destroy your car’s undercarriage and rot its bodywork. Because of that, I’m willing to make one exception: if you live in a place that employs very harsh ice-melting chemicals on its roads, you may wash your car as you see fit. However, you need to be doing it with the mindset that it is to keep your car from dying, not because it looks better. I’m all about compromise.
Anyway, simply put, having a dirty car is cooler than having a clean car. It lets people know things about you without having to communicate a single word, and I promise they are all good things. Just remember, next time you’re about to clean your car off, you want people to know that you go places and do things. That’s exactly what a dirty car says about you.
