#1170 Truckerizing

So I was out driving. And I looked to my left at a big fancy wheel. It was one of those giant rim jobbies and it was attached to an even taller jacked-up truck.
As I drive a small plain four-door sedan with factory wheels and suspension, I felt rather low to the ground by comparison. You know you’re next to a tall truck when it makes a factory family sedan feel like low-rider.
I felt I should have had dingle balls draping from my visors.
As the truck and I headed downtown, I had a chance to view some of its other features. It had fancy chrome running boards. It had even fancier chrome side pipes. And it appeared to have a red, deep lacquered, sparkly underneath paint job. It also had one of those bug shields on the front of its hood.
All of these accouterments can have a case made for them defending their practical nature. But I think it’s something far more basic to the human psyche being expressed here.
It’s the gene for accessorizing.
Yep, the same impulse that drives some women to buy matching handbags for their shoes, and a nice scarf to set off that new frock, this is the gene at work in truck adornment. Sorry guys, "truckerizing" is no different than accessorizing.
It’s just a sort of redirection of the impulse for certain males. Instead of putting the plumage on display on themselves, they put it on their vehicle.
I wasn’t surprised when, as the truck got ahead of me and pulled into a parking lot, out stepped a man dressed in an old t-shirt and sweatpants.
He would never accessorize himself. Fashion is a thing he’d say he never pays attention to. That’s a woman thing. Well-tailored suits and coordinating dress shirts and ties? Too foofy for this fellow.
The only thing he plays dress up with is his trusty truck.
It’s a rich tradition. The cowboy may have dressed all in dusty black. But his horse was tricked out in silver buckles and woven bridles and hand-carved saddles with all the regalia. His tack was anything but tacky.
So here’s an idea, let’s not say he’s tricking out his truck. Let’s say the legend continues, with “truck tack.”
America, ya gotta love it.