First-year Claire Taylor drives a 2022 MX5 Mazda Miata with a soft top. She inherited her love of cars from her dad, and her passion took off in her sophomore year of high school.
She envisioned herself driving a Miata at Pepperdine, and after enrolling, she split the cost of the car with her parents.
While she wouldn’t say that the car someone drives reflects who they are, she thinks it is a cool part of someone’s identity.
“People who appreciate nice cars, it’s not necessarily like a bad thing or like a reflection of them,” Taylor said. “It’s just something that people like — the same thing with sports, like people are really into sports. Some people are really into cars.”
Cars as a status symbol
Seaver alumnus (‘05) James Riswick, senior editor for reviews & West Coast coverage at “Autoblog” and former editor-in-chief of the Pepperdine Graphic, said cars have long existed as status symbols. In the beginning, the rich would use leisurely drives to show off their wealth.
“That continued, to a certain extent, the idea that what you drive is in some way reflective of your style, your wealth or status,” Riswick said. “That way, it’s not that different than fashion.”
The type of car a person drives can also shed light on what they think of status, Riswick said. Someone who “couldn’t care less” what people think may prioritize function over form, whereas others — such as the automotive enthusiast — will choose something that garners respect.
In Malibu, the high concentration of wealth means the people living here often have interesting cars, and while one shouldn’t need a car in college, Riswick said that is not the case at Pepperdine.
“I distinctly remember being on the tour as a high school senior and them saying, ‘Oh, no, you don’t really need a car,’” Riswick said. “Well, OK, yeah, but you don’t really need shoes either.”
Having a car at Pepperdine opens up a world of possibility, senior Sabrina Musharbash said. Her dad owns a car lot and while her daily driver is a 2019 Honda Accord LX she has a 2012 Corvette at home, which she calls her “baby.”
“I had never tried Korean [food] before college,” Musharbash said. “But K-town is like the perfect distance to drive before you hit the intense traffic on the 10,” Musharbash said.
Cars, Musharbash said, are a status symbol.
“If you think that first impressions are so important, how you pull up is the first part of the first impression,” Musharbash said.
Sophomore Mikail Wahidy said he drives a silver 2002 Porsche 911. It has been in his family since he was born. He knew growing up that the car would one day be his.
“When I was a baby the only way that I would shut up was if they put me in the car seat and we all went for a drive in the [Porsche] 911 and then I would just be sound asleep,” Wahidy said.
As he grew older, his dad gave him model cars. He would flip through car magazines and eventually made his way to YouTube, where he would watch “Motor Trend” and other automotive channels.
No matter what someone drives, Wahidy said, they should be proud of it.
“Any car can be cool to anybody,” Wahidy said. “Whether it’s a Toyota Corolla, or if it’s, like a monster Audi.”
Cars as a form of expression
Musharbash spends a lot of time in her car, and when she first got it she bought accessories to personalize it and make it feel “homey.”
“I got this fat mirror that attaches to the visor thing,” Musharbash said, laughing. “So I can like, look at myself.”
First-year David Zhou drives a 2023 MX5 Miata. His passion for cars developed when he got his license.
“I love my little Miata,” Zhou said. “I got it myself so it’s got a lot of me in it.”
His car came with incandescent light bulbs, which Zhou said he switched out for LEDs. He also got an after-market grill for the front and an exhaust pipe.
“I don’t think it’s too loud,” Zhou said. “I don’t think I am a huge part of disturbing the peace.”
His car is a way he expresses himself, Zhou said. He and his friends have a joke — where someone’s car either matches them or is the complete opposite.
“The Miata, some of my friends said that it represents me a lot, because it’s a silly little car,” Zhou said.
Taylor said her Miata is a four-cylinder without four-wheel drive, and while most Miata’s come with a manual transmission, hers has an automatic.
“There’s only 12 black — like my style — 2022 Mazda Miatas in the United States that are automatic,” Taylor said.
To name or not to name
Riswick said he has never contemplated naming the car he drove at Pepperdine — a 2000 Volkswagen Jetta VR 6 — and that most car enthusiasts don’t.
Perhaps, because they focus on the make and model, Riswick said.
“‘I have a blue [Corvette] C 3 2.8,’” Riswick said. “It’s not like ‘Oh, I have Shirley.’”
While Zhou didn’t name his car, he said when he first got the car, he had the option to engrave it, and a friend said it would be funny to engrave it with the name Alexis, to relate to his previous car: A Lexus IS.
Taylor said her Mazda is named Raquelle — like the Barbie character, and a good family friend’s girlfriend.
Cars create connection
Cars heavily influenced Wahidy to come to Pepperdine — other universities he looked at back home in New Jersey either did not let first-years have a car or did not let students have a car at all. Eventually, he found the unofficial Pepperdine Car Club’s Instagram — a “golden ticket.”
His time in the Car Club has been the highlight of his time at Pepperdine, Wahidy said, and he has made a majority of his close friends there.
“Forget the cars, like cars are cool, but it’s really the people that make it what it is,” Wahidy said.
The Car Club, Wahidy said, is aware of the danger that Malibu roads pose. The group doesn’t speed — or obnoxiously rev their engines — and meet-ups occur at Malibu Bluffs Park, where members park and hang out around each other’s cars.
“I would say it’s a nonjudgmental thing,” Wahidy said. “I mean, there’s even people that show up that don’t even have cars, that love cars and just want to be around them.”
While his life is not all about cars, Wahidy said he sees his passion continuing in the future.
“Just based on the connection alone — you never know who you’re going to meet,” Wahidy said. “So why stop it now?”
Like Wahidy, Zhou said he met some of his closest friends through Car Club — where he joins other students for safe drives in controlled environments.
“The people in it [car club], are super nice people, even if some of the people in there have really loud, or like some say, like obnoxious cars, very big personalities,” Zhou said.
Driving his car brings him joy, and also relief from stress, Zhou said.
“It’s not the miles per gallon,” Zhou said. “It’s the smiles per gallon.”
Cars were something Taylor and her dad always used to talk about — he is also into Porsches. However, when she was 12 she said she got into a bad accident in her dad’s Porsche – which altered their relationship.
“We didn’t talk about cars for a while and then when I got to college that love for cars sparked up a little bit,” Taylor said. “Our relationship has been very positively impacted because of that passion.”
Her car has two seats, which does occasionally make it difficult to drive friends around, Taylor said.
“I don’t necessarily need to drive it every day, but I love it,” Taylor said. “I adore it. I wash it by hand a lot of the time.”
Hand-washing her car helps her bond with her dad, Taylor said. In Dallas, she was a part of a Mazda Miata club.
“That’s what we would do on Sunday mornings, me and all the old guys in Dallas would take our Miatas out and we’d have coffee together,” Taylor said. “And it was just awesome to have a community like that.”
Taylor plans to continue her passion for cars through college — it’s something she and her family bond over, and she has since made it her own. After graduating and getting a job, she hopes to buy herself a Porsche, and her dad his dream car: a 911 Carrera S.
“That would be like the dream is to eventually be able to afford him his dream car, which is something that we’re both really passionate about,” Taylor said.
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Contact Samantha Torre via email: @sam.torre@pepperdine.edu
