There are a thousand ways to get where you’re going. Walk, run, crawl, bike, drive, fly, swim, paddle. Some ways will take longer than others. Some ways will be physically grueling, mentally exhausting, or unequivocally frustrating. Others will be smooth, comfortable, and expeditious. In any case, there will always be a way to get from point A to point B.
For the upper class, however, the rules of travel become a lot more complex. There’s a right and a wrong way to get from A to B.
You’ve seen this symbol, and others like it, on highways and in parking lots and on your television screen. Maybe you own one, your parents leased one, your best friend has a piggy bank fund set aside to acquire one. Mercedes, Porsche, Bentley, Audi–their insignias are the rich person’s legs to get from A to B.
A 2008 Toyota Camry will get me to Walmart from Colby in 10 minutes. It will get me home to the Jersey shore in just under seven hours. A 2017 Mercedes Benz G-Class might give me a $100,000 edge on the traffic, but it will also give me something less palpable on the road–power, prestige, and pride. For many drivers, status on I-95 is not determined by who drives the fastest, but by who drives the richest. Sure, I know some very well off people who would refute the idea that they need to show their wealth on the road. I know some others who wouldn’t be caught dead pulling into the parking lot in a used car.
None of this is to say that you’re a bad person for driving an expensive car, or that you have to apologize for rolling in style. It’s society as a whole that has glamorized not the vehicles themselves, but the symbols that they carry on their hoods and trunks. The difference between rich and poor on the road from A to B is not horsepower, but brand. No one looks out the window, sees your Mercedes, and says, “Wow, look at the leather seats on that one!” They recognize the symbol above your license plate and write the story of your economic success in their mind. There are plenty of ways to get where you’re going, but there’s only one way to show where you’ve been.
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