My guess is that you could listen to the sound of a seventies Ferrari or Lamborghini V-12 ripping through the gears for hours. If not, the low burble of a muscle car might be your thing, or the high-pitched scream of a twin-cam four in an Alfa or Honda. Forget turning on the radio; that’s music to any enthusiast’s ears.
That said, there are automotive sounds you’re probably less pleased to hear. Telltale signs of impending mechanical doom certainly make the bad-sounds list, but I’m talking about skin-crawl-inducing noises that are self-imposed by the car’s engineers or owners, or sounds that are just normal for cars.
When I hear an eighties Mercedes-Benz diesel idling, it sounds to me as if it’s about to eat itself at any moment. It’s just awful, even though I know it’s normal and the thing will keep making that racket for fifty more years and 500,000 additional miles even if you run it on the dregs from a fondue pot.
Speaking of Mercedes, I once owned a 1990 W126 420SEL which had a seatbelt/key/headlight buzzer that was pure torture to listen to.
It was the identical part and sounded exactly like the one in this same-era R107 SL:
I just found a video of the game Operation, and the buzzer in that thing was less bothersome. Seriously, the Benz buzzer is identical to this sound:
Adjusted for inflation, this was a $198,000 new car, yet Mercedes put in what seems like the cheapest buzzer Radio Shack sold. Even an $8,000 new Chevy had chimes at the time.
Also, one of our cars (probably that Saab) had a power window that lowered only a few seconds when you pressed down on the button and then stopped.
It made exactly the sound of the guitar in the chorus of Led Zepplin’s Whole Lotta Love:
Oh, I know the sound of brakes on rusty rotors goes away in less than a block, but BOY do I hate that sound. The sound of fingernails on a chalkboard is an ocean sound generator by comparison. Yeesh!
How about you? What car noises do you absolutely hate? Also, if you have a car with one of those exhausts that make loud backfiring sounds on deceleration, you DO NOT sound cool, OK?
Top graphic image: Beverly Hills Car Club
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