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A wink and a nodfrom the past to the future

Wedge-shaped and retro-futuristic, the 1987 Chevrolet Corvette Convertible is an eye-popping icon of its era. The embodiment of synthwave aesthetics, it summons a nostalgia for late-1980s pop culture that makes it easy to picture this doyen of geometric design cruising through…

About Culture and Media

The automobile has never been just hardware. It is the hero of road movies and chase scenes, the subject of countless songs, the prize in racing video games and the reason millions of people spend their weekends in parking lots admiring each other's paint jobs. This page follows car culture as it is lived and broadcast: the shows, creators, clubs, films and online communities that turn machines into shared stories.

Television and film made cars into stars. Steve McQueen's Bullitt Mustang, the DeLorean of Back to the Future and Bond's Aston Martins became icons in their own right. Top Gear, relaunched by the BBC in 2002 with Jeremy Clarkson, Richard Hammond and James May, turned car reviewing into global entertainment and inspired countless imitators, including the trio's later run on The Grand Tour. Video games such as Gran Turismo and Forza introduced new generations to cars they might never drive.

The center of gravity has moved online. YouTube reviewers, streamers and social-media creators now rival magazines in reach, some building audiences in the millions with quirky details, track tests or project-car sagas. Cars and Coffee gatherings and club meets fill weekend mornings in cities worldwide. Documentaries and streaming series have drawn new fans to racing, and debates about electric cars, autonomous driving and the future of the hobby play out daily in comment sections and forums.

Coverage here includes media and entertainment news, creator and community stories, car clubs and meets, documentaries and films, and the cultural arguments that keep enthusiasts talking. It is where the car world goes to tell stories about itself. As the cars themselves change, from gasoline to electricity and from human drivers to software, the culture around them is changing too, and the creators and communities covered here are often the first to notice which way the wind is blowing.

Culture and Media

Top Gear and its offspring, YouTube reviewers, car films, video games and Cars and Coffee meets: how the automobile lives in pop culture.

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