Payton's Place
What makes a car
HOT?
T hai
y t is iio n
iia s pi a g i i d a i i o
-
M A K H tS l( ) R M A N Y Y EA R S.
One thing is certain, when African-
American motorists decide a car is the
one, that car sells big. Look at the phe­
nomenal popularity of Chrysler's 300C
and you'll immediately sec the fruition
of that reality. W hen the 300C went on
sale, you saw more blacks driving them
initially than anyone else. Soon after, (in
predictable fashion) the mainstream cul­
ture jumped on the 300C bandwagon.
The car is now a runaway bestseller.
Then there’s Lincoln's Navigator,
those of us with a long memory can
recall when the Navigator was the only
Americanmade luxury SUV. And
African Americans loved it. You had to
have a ‘Gator, if you were any parts of
cool. 'Uicn Cadillac’s Escalade dropped,
blacks shifted to it and overnight, the
‘Gator was relegated to singing backup.
As in language, fashion, art and
music, we also dictate the automotive
tastes of popular culture in this country.
Some car companies try to accelerate
this process by engineering the adoption
of their vehicle by certain celebrities as a
ride of choice. The logic flows that if the
public sees so-and-so associated with the
car. some of their persona will be trans­
ferred to the car, which will then
be seen as ctxfl by association.
O ur cover story
explores this relation­
ship and examines
how the automakers
try to convince us
their cars are stars
by surrounding
them with celebri­
ties.
4 > AFRICAN AMERICANS ON WHEEIS
By the way, not only do celebrities
confer status upon cars, but as our
own Warren Brown discovered at the
Waldorf-Astoria hotel in New York
City, cars can confer celebrity status
upon their drivers, too.
Two cars certain to confer status
upon their drivers are the Mercedes-
Benz S550 and the BMW 750i. But
which is the best car between the two?
O ur editor-in-chief, Lyndon Conrad
Bell, and our West Coast contributor,
Arv Voss, spent two weeks grappling
with that question. You’ll find the
results of their excruciatingly demand­
ing trials and tribulations in this issue
as well. T hey told me it was very
tough duty. I’m not sure I’m buying
it. but their resulting report gives you
some insight into the personalities of
these two highly covetablc cars and the
brands from which they are issued.
Speaking of issues, this month
marks the re-emergence of AA O W ’s
sister publication. Latinas On Mu-els.
U nder the stewardship of a new edi­
tor, Valerie Menard, the new LOU’
reflects many of the things you've
come to appreciate about AAOW.
Consumer oriented and lifestyle
focused, but still with an eye on the
diversity practices of the auto indus­
try, the new Latinos On ll'heeLs is poised
for a tremendous ride. You can get a
free copy of it at our website, www.
onwhcclsinc.com. By the way—if you
haven't done so already—while you’re
there, sign up for a subscription to
AAOW too.
It's a limited time oiler, don’t miss out.
R a n d i Payton
Publisher
WWW ONWHEELSINC COM