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?
Ask the guy who sold Christine to Arnie.
Absolutely, hands-down, it’s the smell of new leather. It elevates the status of the car. I have a low-mileage late-model car that still smells new every time I get in. That’s a reward like nothing else. 🙂
That half eaten 3 day old chilly dog in a paper bag on the passenger side floor on a cold morning.
My Dad had a Hillman Minx? Manx? 1959 when I was the ripe old age of 4 and I don’t know why anyone would buy a car like that in the states. Hell gas wasn’t that expensive then and there weren’t many folks around that could work on these things.
2 smells – my first interior job was replacing the leather seats in my wife’s car (Christmas present). Learned a lot and came out great if I don’t say so myself. But my favorite isn’t inside… it’s outside. My dad owned a radiator shop and the smell of antifreeze, airborne lead, and caustic soda is a mix I grew up on. I lost my dad at an early age – no doubt to the non-osha approved environment he worked in – and on occasion if I have the right mix of spilled antifreeze and misc chemicals in my garage, I get a smell that makes me smile… with a tear.
The smell of burning rubber, the old 57 Pontiac did a lot of that back in the day.
The most evocative smell is the distinctive scent of a 70s VW. My 78 Scirocco and my roommate’s 74 Beetle both had a sharp smell from the trunk carpeting. They must have changed materials because our 80s cars didn’t have it
Almost all unmolested advance design chevy trucks 47-early 55 have a distinct smell when u first open the doors, provided the varmits haven’t invaded them. The lighting of a cigarette with the old lighters that used lighter fluid, along with fresh coffee poured from a thermos
Back in High School,(pun intended) mine personally was the “Cheech&Chong” smell!:) Opening the doors as pillows of fragrant, scrumptious smoke clouds exits promptly! Then laughing and saying,”That’s that sh$&@#%ttt!! Not as much today, but still love that smell.
nine pages of comments? it rivals those of the article on ‘worst car smells’. and probably has all of the below comments.
interiors of new vw’s of late 60s/early 70s. as a kid, it was like nothing else
gasoline from the same period above. we’d be at a chevron full service station and while my dad was getting new tires, and the whole area had that leaded gas smell. then they started adding f-310…
a ’22 challenger, my first new ‘american’ car (ok, north american). as a dealer tech long ago, performing pdi’s on new nissans for many years took the luster out of their, um, fragrance. back to the ’22, ahhh, the smell of accomplishment!
Whitman Strong
Your comment made me tear up. Thank you
My rodent-proofing packets of Irish Spring shavings placed in the four Corvettes I have owned since 1989. Knock on fiberglass (And sheet-molded compound), no chewed wires, nests, or turd piles so far. Last year, I enjoyed the scent so much, I left the interior packets in for a couple of months. My spouse said she likes the manly smell too.
Favorite: leather interior.
Least favorite: Salem cigarette whiff that engulfed my mom’s ‘70 Cadillac with the windows up. Hey, can you crack a window? No! My hair will get messy.
The smell of sunshine as you drive your paid off Corvette convertible down a country road just made for it.
I had a leather interior installed in a pickup truck I built, it was all leather, and boy, did it ever smell sweet! That and good old nitro out of a top fuel dragster.