Memorial cars

[vilakins]

While I'm here (and LJ is), this is something else I've been meaning to ask about.

A couple of months ago I was following a car with a man's full name on the rear window and something in a curving line above it which I couldn't read till I got closer. In a very fancy script it said, "In loving memory of". OK, that was weird, but then a couple of weeks ago I saw another car with a much more readable sans-serif "In memory of" followed by another name. Both names were fairly standard English ones FWIW.

Has anyone else seem this sort of thing and/or know anything about it? Is it a new thing or something old which has just surfaced here?

And now I'm off to a barbecue with some people from Greg's work. I hope some of the people I know relatively well are there.

Comments

[pebblerocker]

I've seen plenty of the car window memorials around, going back several years. My uncle has one for his son who died in an accident recently too. Not sure where the custom originated, apart from perhaps the increasing availability of vinyl stick-on lettering services. I wonder if it's more commonly done for people who have been killed in vehicle-related accidents.

[vilakins]

Then it's interesting that I've only seen two. Maybe it's a regional thing here?

[vilakins]

P.S. The custom came from the US; see this link posted below.

[pebblerocker]

Thanks for the link! It makes sense that people would be more likely to letter their car in memory of someone who died suddenly at an early age, when they're not expecting the death and aren't equipped to cope with it.

I saw a lot of them when I worked as a courier driver in central Auckland 8-10 years ago, so I'm sure they've been around in Auckland for a while. Perhaps now you've noticed them you'll start seeing them everywhere.

[vilakins]

Ahhh, the old reticular activating system! Neither Greg nor another Auckland friend has noticed them yet so maybe there are more in certain parts of the city.

[lolmac]

Ewww, yeah. They're known as 'rolling tombstones' -- they're incredibly common here, and we (my partner and I) find them incredibly creepy.

I believe that the practice started in the US and dates back about a decade, and is not specific to any cultural group. It may have actually begun with Dale Earnhardt's death in 2001:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A39905-2004Aug27.html

[vilakins]

Thank you, that's really informative. We've had the flower and cross memorials beside the road for at least two decades but this is a new development here. I find them very strange too.

[lolmac]

Another item imported from US culture, apparently, ack. I can understand why some people choose to do the rolling tombstone memorials, but I still find it really creepy.

[mab_browne]

I've only seen one around my parts, for a young man who died in a shooting accident. Not that it was mentioned in the memorial, but the incident made news as you might imagine.

[vilakins]

I have since found that it originated in the US about 11 years ago. Maybe it was brought back by tourists who saw it there.

[watervole]

Haven't noticed any in the UK, but I don't tend to look at cars , so might have missed them.

Feels a bit creepy...

[vilakins]

I thought so too, but I'm OK with memorial park benches and flowers on the side of the road. Maybe these are a lot noticeable, at least while following a car. It must restrict their rear vision too.

My UK friends haven't seen any at all, but those here have seen quite a few; maybe it's regional.

[samantha-vimes.livejournal.com]

Yeah, people have been turning their cars into memorials for a while out here.

[vilakins.livejournal.com]

When did it start? Was it with a particular cultural group, or does a wide cross-section of the population do it?

[samantha-vimes.livejournal.com]

There seem to be two types: Never Forget [name] which in Santa Cruz pretty much means they were a surfer. I only see those in Santa Cruz Then there's the more dignified "In memory of:" ones like you've seen and it seems to be middle/upper middle class, based on the type of cars. I suspect it's a white thing.

[samantha-vimes.livejournal.com]

Never Forget actually is a much wider cross section, and I think may have spilled out even from the surf culture to the Hispanics. Those usually are bumper stickers rather than the fancy window decals, and one gets the impression that not just the family, but a lot of friends have a whip-round for the money to print a few dozen.

[vilakins.livejournal.com]

So far I haven't seen bumper stickers.

[samantha-vimes.livejournal.com]

Yes, the bumper stickers, as I said, are very Santa Cruz, while I've seen the memorial window decals (and in one case possibly etching) in other cities.

[vilakins.livejournal.com]

Really, upper/middle class? The two cars I saw were probably lower/middle going by the type and model; the names sounded white though. This could be a huge assumption though given that my Indian (from Goa) neighbours are called Roy and Mildred [Scottish surname] I'd say the lettering was custom, probably done by firms which do advertising on company cars.

[samantha-vimes.livejournal.com]

I think lower middle class in NZ may be wealthier than lower middle class in the US.

[samantha-vimes.livejournal.com]

(Also there's the whole "What's middle class?" question having different answers in different countries.) So we might actually be talking about the same thing. Someone who can, in fact, have a car that is only 3 years old instead of 13, and get it detailed.

[vilakins.livejournal.com]

Then that's not many NZers! Cars are expensive here and most people buy second-hand. We don't make cars, our dollar isn't worth as much as yours, and we earn less of our smaller dollars. My car was about three years old when I got it and it's the most expensive one I've had. It's now ten years old and still better and newer than the average car on the road. We make 'em last!

[samantha-vimes.livejournal.com]

Ah, really? In America, minimum wage is only like $7.25 nationally, and I thought yours was higher. Two people earning $20/hr total would be middle class here, for instance. I guess I'm thinking of the Australian min wage as being much better.

[vilakins.livejournal.com]

Australians are much better paid than us, explaining the huge exodus there. I'd have gone years ago if it hadn't been for Greg. Our minimum wage is $10.80 for youth and $13.50 otherwise. Reemember though that our dollars are both smaller and buy a lot less; people who visit the US are stunned at how cheap everything is there, especially clothes. The average salary here is $50,000, and that hasn't gone up in years despite inflation.

[samantha-vimes.livejournal.com]

The Americans who visit New Zealand are the Americans who can afford to visit New Zealand.

The average median personal income is $26,000 in the US.

[vilakins.livejournal.com]

I gather from tourists who go there that you can buy a lot more with it though. Clothes and petrol are a fraction of the price here. I buy cheap and online and the average garment is still around $80.

[samantha-vimes.livejournal.com]

Wow, yeah, your clothing is WAY expensive!

[samantha-vimes.livejournal.com]

I mean, even assuming your dollar is worth half a US dollar, that would be $40 for a cheap shirt.

[vilakins.livejournal.com]

Anything below $40 is a bargain!

[samantha-vimes.livejournal.com]

$25 is fairly typical, but I don't buy stuff at that price, I get shirts from clearance racks at $10 or less. Not that I've bought clothes in a long time, but I still know places I can find that. $12-$20 for trousers. Dresses, same. But I am a very cheap person.

[vilakins.livejournal.com]

And it's not the only thing that is.

[samantha-vimes.livejournal.com]

But what about the necessities of life? Is bread $8 a loaf, rent $4000, and an asthma inhaler $500 out of pocket?

[vilakins.livejournal.com]

I can buy for as little (for us) as $15 when an item's on special and I often do, but I've also bought for as much as $120. Of course it's easier now I have full-time work.

[samantha-vimes.livejournal.com]

I'm confused-- $15-120 for a loaf of bread?

[vilakins.livejournal.com]

Sorry, somehow I missed this thread and thought we were still on clothes. Sorry!

Bread is around $3 - $5 depending on type; I buy decent sourdough wholemeal or rye; I'm sure the supermarket sliced stuff if a lot cheaper. Rent is around $200 a week for a room in a shared house (as I know from my ex-boarder) and I think about $500 for a house? I'm guessing that one.

Asthma inhalers are on prescription only and cost $5 per item (like most prescribed drugs; a few are expensive) till you've gone over a certain limit in the year, then all are free. We do have a good health system compared to the US, even if it's nowhere near as good as the UK's or Australia's.

[samantha-vimes.livejournal.com]

OMG! We pay the same amount for bread. More than twice, closer to three times, for housing. And medicines are a fucking mafia shakedown operation-- $135 for the cheaper inhaler before I started buying Canadian, and that was *with* insurance paying part of it.

So if Americans paid so little for *necessities*, poor people could buy $40 shirts!

[vilakins.livejournal.com]

True! Of course tourists from here would notice things like clothes, petrol, cars.

I still don't know why our clothes and shoes are so expensive; the clothes are all made in China after all and some of the shoes are. Until I got a full-time job I lived in Crocs.

I also don't know why so many Americans are afraid of a national health service like the UK has, and we have to a lesser extent. The rich probably prefer survival of the richest--I often suspect that of our right-wing governing National party--but surely the majority should realise they'd benefit.

[samantha-vimes.livejournal.com]

The majority aren't really good at risk calculation, or maths in general, and they see the fact they will have to output money and like to think they will never really get sick. Plus, the current model-- mandating *private* insurance, actually mandates a profit-making private sector (because anything else is socialism), while single-payer actually can be run nonprofit.

Add to that, huge numbers of Americans are paranoid about government (some for religious reasons, did you know Obama is the Anticrhist?), so they assume bureaucrats would just let them die rather than send them for treatment. After all, "If Stephen Hawking lived under the British National Health System, he'd be dead by now."<--True quote from American wingnut who couldn't be bothered to know the location and nationality of his celebrity example.

In short, many Americans are completely ignorant and proud of it.

[vilakins.livejournal.com]

Oh, man!

I have no other words.

[samantha-vimes.livejournal.com]

As for why Americans aren't good at this: when a teacher tried to teach critical thinking to a group of eighth graders, she got in trouble. The parents were complaining because the children were asking questions in church and at home. Authoritarians want obedient children, not smart ones, and America is overrun with a religious and economic authoritarian view.

I get very angry.

[vilakins.livejournal.com]

It's certainly a very conservative society; strange when once it was so go-ahead.

[thisbluespirit]

That sounds very strange to me. I can't say I've seen it here in the UK at all. We have memorial benches and I've even seen someone with one of them in their front - well - not really a garden, but in a car? It starts making wonder if the car's safe or something...

Hmm.

[vilakins.livejournal.com]

On a car rather, the rear window to be exact. But yes, it must restrict some of the driver's view through it because the text does cover a lot of the window.

[thisbluespirit]

:lol: I was thinking more along the lines that I'd instantly start wondering if the person died in the car, or it was some done-up write off, or a really bad joke... But, yes, that too.

V strange. A car seems an oddly transient place to hang up a memorial.

[vilakins.livejournal.com]

I thought so, but apparently it's fairly well known in California and another part of the country going by two responses. I suppose cars get seen by a lot of people and that's the reason.

Herr Flick!

[jhall1.livejournal.com]

I've never seen it in the UK either. If it obstructs part of the rear window, then the driver could be rejoining his/her loved one unexpectedly soon.

[vilakins.livejournal.com]

I'm sure the lettering obstructs a fair bit of the window! Advertising on company vehicles is on the bodywork, not the windows as in this case.

[executrix.livejournal.com]

I see them very often here. I think they're often gang-related.

[vilakins.livejournal.com]

The two I saw definitely weren't. I'd say from what people have said here that they'll get a lot more common. It's a much more public memorial than a gravestone after all.

[threeoutside.livejournal.com]

I've seen them in Omaha (Nebraska, middle of USA) for maybe 10 -15 years? Some in obviously Hispanic cars, others in what I'd call blue-collar type appearing vehicles.

It's a nice remembrance, I guess, but it's kind of in the class with the "I believe in you, Jesus" billboards you see sprinkled around rural Nebraska. Really? Is he going to be driving by out here, and see this, and say, "Whoa, that's cool!"? I mean, rear-window memorials and Jesus billboards make me wonder who the audience is..

[vilakins.livejournal.com]

I rather wondered too since I've only seen the two (and Greg hasn't seen any) but I suppose it's a much more public memorial than a gravestone and I don't find memorial park benches odd. It definitely seems to be a US thing that's beginning to catch on here.

[muscadinegirl.livejournal.com]

I see "In Memory Of" ones all the time here, on all sorts of vehicles, from super-expensive SUVs to old pickup trucks. Sometimes they say "In Loving Memory of Our Mother/Father".

I don't think there's any particular socio-economic class doing this here; I even saw one on a car at my uncle's funeral (not for my uncle, though).

[vilakins.livejournal.com]

That's interesting! So at least I can tell that it's come from the US. I wondered where it had originated. I'm sure I'll see more and more; two is a very small sample.

[imhilien.livejournal.com]

I saw one recently for the first time and was puzzled / curious.

[vilakins.livejournal.com]

It started in the US about 12 years ago (see the link in the DW comments) and seems to have reached here. Oh well.

[imhilien.livejournal.com]

I see... thanks.

[zoefruitcake.livejournal.com]

Never heard of that before, it seems pretty odd but if it helps someone grieving anything ones I suppose. I hope it doesn't start here

[vilakins.livejournal.com]

I expect cars provide a more public memorial and I don't mind park benches that do that. I still think cars are a bit odd though.

It started in the US about 12 years ago, I've been told. I suppose I'll see more and more if it's just getting here. :-P

[sheenaghpugh]

Never seen that in Scotland, nor anywhere else in the UK.

[vilakins.livejournal.com]

It looks as if it's only a matter of time.