How Poor People Buy Cars
13th September 2026
Everyone knows there’s cultural knowledge in elite circles. How to get your kid into a good college. How to pass a consulting or finance or Google interview.
There’s just as much cultural knowledge to being in the bottom two quintiles. I see it written about much less.
My first car was a Datsun PL510, a previous owner of which had glued fake fur to the roof such that you appeared to be riding in an inside-out wolfhound. And the door panels had been reupholstered in red plus that had since sun-faded to a nice peach color. And the shotgun-seat door didn’t open from the outside.
Cost me $1,000 of my own money. Did me all five years of graduate school. Don’t dare return to Indiana because the friends I left it with never changed the registration and eventually it was impounded for traffic and parking tickets. (I know they’re still looking for me….)