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Why Do People Buy Two Identical Cars?

Those of you who are into car collections know Sheikh Hamad Bin Hamdan Al Nahyan. Back in 1983, he bought seven Mercedes-Benz 500 SELs, which each of them being finished in a rainbow color. I’m not here to argue with the car taste of a man who owns the gigantic Jeep Willis from Richard Hammon’s twitter profile pic. But what if you’re not a member of the Abu Dhabi Royal Family, but you still go ahead and buy two or more cars of the same kind?
You know, like American comedian Dane Cook, who has made so many people laugh that he recently afforded to buy not one, but two Lamborghini Huracans (one Black and one White). I really don’t get it. Why not a Huracan and a Mclaren or a Ferrari?

What drives these people to act like the car of their dreams is the only dream car in the world?

This is a question that’s been bugging me ever since I was in high school. That’s when one of my neighbours, whose retail business had finally become successful, went to a VW dealership and came back with two Passats. They were not identical, though. One was the basic model, which he used for everyday hauling of the goods, while the other was a range-topping all-wheel drive version.

Get this: the guy was shifting gears himself from Monday to Sunday while working in his first Passat. On Sunday, when he could actually enjoy a drive, without the traffic and his tasks, he slipped into the second Passat, which had an automatic.

Sure, I tried inquiring him about the “special” vehicle choice he had made (that was the exact word I used back then) and he was happy to talk about it. But don’t imagine that led to a good explanation for the purchase. Unfortunately, the economy is not as strong today, at least not for this guy, so he’s stuck with the pair of Passats. Which means I get to see them all the time and it makes me crazy!

I want people to keep buying cars, so that the industry and myself survive. What they choose to do with their money is none of my business, but I’m still searching for an answer here.

It makes sense to buy two bottles of your favorite drink, so you can share with your friends. But cars are not whiskey, or underwear. Why the hell would you choose to ignore so many other brilliant rides and go for the twins scheme?

There are many superb new cars I’m in love with. But I’d never be able to buy two Vipers, for instance, simply because choosing SRT would also mean getting a Hellcat.

Not even the Porsche 911, one of my favorite contraptions, would convince me to acquire more than one piece. To be honest, I’d be extremely happy with a Turbo daily driver and a GT3 RS toy, but I would only go down this route if I afforded, say, two dozen cars.

But if, like most car people out there, I would only be able to fill my garage with two or three cars at a time, I simply couldn’t resist the temptation of diversity.

Yes, I know people such as my Passat-obsessed neighbor aren’t exactly the connoisseur kind that can't go through life without sampling a Lotus or a stripped-out hot hatch. But still, he could’ve gone down the usual Audi-BMW-Mercedes route for his second car.

I already said I won’t talk about the choices Sheiks make today. So I'll stick to Western men. Perhaps getting two instead of one helps them achieve their bigamy dream. I know it’s a far stretch, but think about it - if you can’t have two wives, perhaps a pair of similar/identical cars may serve as a fantasy. You know, because buying two different cars is mainstream.
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About the author: Andrei Tutu
Andrei Tutu profile photo

In his quest to bring you the most impressive automotive creations, Andrei relies on learning as a superpower. There's quite a bit of room in the garage that is this aficionado's heart, so factory-condition classics and widebody contraptions with turbos poking through the hood can peacefully coexist.
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