Comments on: Ford Focus, skinhead car of choice?

By: noodles mcgee

noodles mcgee — Fri, 28 Aug 2009 05:32:04 +0000

Ha ha… don’t know how I found this, but I figured I’d chime in…

I have a 2004 Ford Focus ZX3. Gotta sell it, but it’s been the only car I’ve ever really dug driving. I’ve been a skinhead for 16 years. Really more of a Herbert in the last 8 or so. But I keep the hair pretty short. I’m a traditional skin and lean pretty far left in my own political opinion, which has nothing to do with my subculture of choice. (hit wikipedia if yer confused… not that that’ll really straighten it out)

Regardless, this is the goofiest correlation that I have ever heard. Because I know no other skin or punk or what-have you that owns one. I do know several other tattoo artists that own them though. And, like Vespas and Lambrettas, we tend to sit and around and talk about how awesome our focuses are and how we’d love to upgrade them. Once you own one, it’s hard to go to anything else.

And it ain’t a patriotic thing b/c mine was made in a factory in mexico. Plus, I always thought of myself as a chevy man until now.

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By: Holiday Discount

Holiday Discount — Sat, 15 Aug 2009 13:30:02 +0000

I love it! Glad to know others notice these things, too. You have my pledge. Next time I see one I’ll take a snapshot. Although I am in Texas, and that may not have hit here. The more likely explanation of your spotting was that the guy was driving his parents’ Focus.

By: Car Shipping

Car Shipping — Tue, 11 Aug 2009 17:58:38 +0000

It’s interesting that someone else has noted the connection between Maximas and African-Americans. I find that nearly every time I see a Maxima the driver is black. Is there any explanation here?

By: Marcus Malka

Marcus Malka — Thu, 30 Jul 2009 06:17:24 +0000

Great title !

Interesting how to avoid being labeled by a car/brand. The stronger the image of a car, the stronger the inclusion/exclusion from owners?
Funny how some brands manage to have contrasting groups – Cola drinks going for the cool kids, and loved by programmers/nerds etc.

By: Jaxon

Jaxon — Mon, 27 Jul 2009 10:31:58 +0000

Sweet video review of the Ford Focus: http://tinyurl.com/knfog3

By: Max Kalehoff

Max Kalehoff — Sat, 25 Jul 2009 07:02:24 +0000

I’ve had a shaved head a few times, but I’m not a skinhead — and, I used to drive a Yellow Festiva in high school, the dorky, feminine predecessor to the Focus (but damn, it got good gas mileage and never broke down). The more likely explanation of your spotting was that the guy was driving his parents’ Focus. Importantly, I believe car-as-critical-style accessory does emit signals about who you are, however the tight adherence to car and image is less than it was in the 60′s, 70′s and 80′s.

By: Grace

Grace — Fri, 24 Jul 2009 00:28:23 +0000

A friend of my neighbor’s kid drives a Maxima. His dad bought it for him after he totaled two BMWs. That kid looks like a skinhead, but is actually a rock musician (with gigs at clubs that even I’ve heard of).

A coworker bought a Ford Focus for his daughter, a PhD candidate at UCSD. She is definitely not a skinhead.

Perhaps the men with short hair you saw were wearing military crew cuts?

By: Scott

Scott — Thu, 23 Jul 2009 16:20:12 +0000

It’s interesting that someone else has noted the connection between Maximas and African-Americans. I find that nearly every time I see a Maxima the driver is black. Is there any explanation here?

By: Michael Powell

Michael Powell — Thu, 23 Jul 2009 11:30:21 +0000

I drive a Ford Focus, but am not a skinhead. And at my office, there are two women who also drive Ford Focus (Foci?), but have full heads of hair also. That doesn’t disprove anything though.

I think a crucial distinction when studying the Focus is hatchback vs. sedan. I drive a hatchback. Does anyone remember one of those first Ford Focus commercials, when a group of young people in the focus hatchback fit into a parking garage space too tight for any other car, and then they all get out through the hatchback because the doors can’t open? Classic, that image stuck in my head and I began to think of the Focus as the car for, maybe not the most precise term here, bricoleurs.