What’s the Best Smell in a Car?
The internet is littered with content that suggests that what smells good to some people evokes the exact opposite reaction in others. The latest According to You question will likely add to that, but first, I owe you an explanation: This question’s origin wafted up from a very non-automotive source.
It stems from my personal wake-up call that osmophobia is real. Smells can trigger headaches in some folks, and I’ve discovered that one spice (cumin, probably) is the trigger for painful sinus headaches for yours truly. As a South Asian American, it’s unfortunate that such a delicious part of my culinary heritage does this to me, but I’m thankful it only happens when the smell is very strong.
Be it spices, freshly cut grass, a light rain, or chemicals in vehicles, we all have different reactions to smells. It’s been suggested that not everyone smells things the same to everyone for valid physical reasons. And for this very, very personal reason, I began to think about the positive angle of this topic—what’s my favorite smell in cars?
Allow me to pick the lowest-hanging fruit. Leather seats smell absolutely wonderful to my olfactory nerves. (Thank goodness they don’t trigger my headaches!) And, for me anyway, leather paired with new car smell is downright addictive.
There are other smells I enjoy, like the contrast of old engine oil versus fresh synthetic oil after performing an oil change in my own driveway. That’s the smell of satisfaction for a job well done. But it can’t touch the smell of leather in my book. So I kick the question back to you, dear members of the Hagerty Community:
What’s the best smell in a car?
the smell of imported motorcycles in the showroom !
I’m with Old Guy Rick. The 60’s new car smell may have been from more natural fiber materials. After that the new car smell was more plastics. I also like the aroma of an old shop – the combination of old wood and the old greases.
My 66 Chevrolet still has a unique smell. John really has hit it on the head mentioning the plastics in newer cars. They also seem to get a weird film on the windows which never happened in the cars from a long gone era
The exhaust smell of a long dormant engine that you just brought back to life. I inherited a 66 Bug that had sat for 10+ years. With fresh oil, a little fiddling and a new fuel pump, it not only started but idled!
AirCooled Porsche with the Oil+Leather+seat fibre’s combo. They always smell fantastic inside. Every G-body 911 I’ve ever been in smells virtually the same. Add in a Vanilla air freshner and you’re golden
My dad’s 48 jeep when I was a kid. The smell of gas and gear oil.
The smell of my 110 race gas outa my Vette.Well worth the 10 bucks a gallon.Brings back the old days of Sunoco 260.
My wife
When I put the top up on my Porsche 356 it creates a small enclosed space filled with a lot of leather. Not sure if the encompassing smell is the leather or the blue dye in the leather. In either case I love it. The only drawback is that I don’t want to put the top up.
The Royal Pine little green trees seem to go hand in hand with an old classic. If you’re at a local show n’ shine, and you stick your head in the open window, that’s the smell you expect.
Fart!
English Leather in an old MGB or TR6.
Back to the 70’s I would say the best smell ever was the smell of burning bean oil in a two stroke motorcycle. Next from my gas station days was the smell of premium fuel. later in my race car days would be the smell of racing gas and the smell of it being burnt. Of course the leather smell ranks up there as well. Am I addicted?
The leather seats and wool carpet smell of my uncle’s E-Type when I was 7 or 8 years old. Never forgot it and it’s the same smell in a MK9 I drove or one of the XJS’s that I owned. Blindfold me and sit me in one and I can tell you it’s a Jag.
As a Jaguar restorer, # 1 would be the smell of a vintage Jaguar and other British marques with original leather seats, wool carpets and real wood it is like stepping back in time. I’m working on a un restored 1963 Jaguar Mk2 with its original seats and rugs and I’m going down stairs to take a whiff. #2 is the smell of rubber and 110 racing fuel after doing a burnout at the drags in my big block Camaro.
The smells of 50’s cars, cloth insulation on the wiring, horse hair interiors, dust warming up on radio tubes, leaded 93 octane and grease and grime cooking under the hood…….heaven!