Jane Austen’s heroines often have an astuteness when it comes to identifying the problems of others, which is only reluctantly applied towards themselves. The Elizabeth Bennett of Pride & Prejudice ascribes to Mr. Darcy a tendency towards superiority that is acutely active in herself. The titular Ms. Woodhouse of Emma assumes a worldly knowledge of all happenings in her small world, only to discover that she was clueless even to her own heart.
And speaking of Clueless, I just watched the all-time classic ’90s high school adaptation of the aforementioned novel, and it struck me that few other films capture a specific kind of ’90s high school car culture. Having lived through the mid-’90s in a wealthy area, there was a certain kind of status-associated automotive hierarchy that Clueless absolutely nails.
I shouldn’t be surprised. Writer and director Amy Heckerling, also known for Fast Times At Ridgemont High, has a gift for capturing mood. She famously embedded herself in the elite Beverly Hills High School in preparation for what would become Clueless. While everything is over the top, viewed 30 years later, the exaggerations don’t feel particularly exaggerated to me.
If you haven’t seen the film or read Emma, there will be spoilers below. Also, if you’ve gone this long without seeing any of the many Emma-based films or reading the book, you have forfeited your right to complain about spoilers. I’m going to take these cars on a character-by-character basis.
Elton’s 1995 Camaro Z/28
The best villain, always, is a villain you don’t see coming. In the novel, Mr. Elton is a seemingly well-meaning clergyman who is intent on ingratiating himself with Emma and her friend Harriet. In the film adaptation, he’s a cool kid whose father is in the entertainment industry (the Los Angeles equivalent of working for God, I suppose). He appears to welcome Cher’s yenta-like desire to pair him up with her new friend/pet project Tai.
In a twist, Elton is clearly smitten with Cher and has no interest in Tai beyond how she can help him look better in front of the true object of his desire. Upon being rejected, Elton drives off and leaves Alicia Silverstone’s character to be robbed at gunpoint. What would a villain in the ’90s drive? A 4th-gen Camaro Z/28, of course.
I’m not entirely sure why, but certain cars are just obviously villain cars. If you owned one of these new in high school at the time, it meant you had money and, also, your parents didn’t think twice about handing you a car with the higher-output LT1 V8. Should a high schooler be trusted with that much relative power in a vehicle with that little relative handling? Probably not! The presumption involved is how you end up with a jerk of a kid, is all I’m saying.
At the same time, my local driving school had a bunch of Corollas and one 4th-gen Camaro in V6-trim. I made sure to sign up for the instructor with the Camaro so I could get a chance to drive it, only to realize that the terrible visibility made it extremely difficult to parallel park as a novice. After that, I was all Corolla.
Dionne’s E36 BMW Convertible
The joke about Cher being named after Cher, and Dionne being named after Dionne Warwick, didn’t stick the first time I watched the film, but very much tickled me on my most recent watch. The red-over-tan 325i BMW was the default choice for wealthy children, specifically young women. This is especially true in Southern California, where you can get away with having the top down almost permanently.
A 325i isn’t the exciting trim, and, upon closer inspection, she’s got the slushbox. If you’re going to get your kid a ’90s convertible, this one is a relatively safe choice. Based on her many outfits, Dionne isn’t short on funds, but the spoiling seems to have some limits.
A few years later, when I was driving age, one of my high school girlfriends got partial custody of an E46 convertible, and the general thesis of the car feels correct, even if she was more into Tim Burton than Calvin Klein.
Christian’s Nash Metropolitan
One of the more ’90s modifications of the book is that the Jane Fairfax character, who is at first seen as Emma’s rival, mostly doesn’t exist. Without spoiling the book’s biggest twist, I’ll just say that her absence leaves no big secret for the Frank Churchill character to keep. Clueless addresses this by making Christian (the stand-in for Churchill) a young gay man.
Christian is an early version of a metrosexual, a term that became more popular after the film, used to describe a well put-together fellow who seems to love clothes more than anything. What’s clear is that, sexual orientation aside, the character has an appreciation for old Hollywood style. And what’s more stylish of a convertible than a 1954 Nash Metropolitan? A creamy mustard-yellow convertible version!
While you’d be unlikely to find a Nash at most high schools back then, the idea of a tasteful throwback was pretty common. I, myself, drove a yellow-ish W123 Mercedes purchased from someone my grandmother knew from her pool.
Mr. Horowitz’s NSX And Mercedes S-Class
Based on the house, and the Claes Oldenburg in the backyard by the pool, the impression Cher’s dad gives is of a somewhat new money, hard-working lawyer. This is quite different from the novel, wherein Mr. Woodhouse is the gentlest of gentlemen and seems to have little interest in work. In fact, the Emma of the novel looks down her nose slightly at the new money, hard-working Cole family.
What’s funny about the S-Class is that the super wealthy old-money parents at my affluent high school didn’t drive them. Instead, they tended to drive E-Class wagons, which were nice and practical. The S-Class sedan was reserved for people who generally only recently got their money. The gorgeous NSX, too, just feels right. It takes time to get a Ferrari, but anyone can buy an NSX.
Cher’s YJ Jeep Wrangler
Silly boys, Jeeps are for Girls as the popular bumper sticker says.
This and the Nash are inspired choices. What Cher’s dad inherits from Mr. Woodhouse is a fear for his daughter’s safety and well-being. He genuinely loves her and, as a litigator, seems to be wary of the world at large. While all the safety equipment described by Cher may not be accurate, it serves the purpose of explaining why she’d end up with a Jeep.
She wants a convertible that can act as just one of a dozen fashion accessories she seems to need to move through her environment. The YJ has a classic look that’s been tastefully modernized. Dad wants something that looks tough, and in fact, the SUV craze would be justified by buyers who accepted the illusion that a heavy, body-on-frame truck would somehow protect them from physics. The Wrangler is a perfect compromise.
A lot of my classmates had these and, not to be a bummer, but a beloved classmate and three of her friends were killed when their YJ flipped over (I think drinking was involved). Given Cher’s driving at the beginning of the film, it’s not the choice I’d make, but it was nevertheless a popular one.
If You Went To School In The ’90s, Does This Feel Right To You?
I realize that this is a specific time and place, which means that it may not quite conform to your experience even if you were of school age in the ’90s. Does the film feel accurate to you?
Top graphic images: Clueless/Paramount Pictures
Decently accurate for upper-middle class suburban Alabamians, especially the Wrangler. More Civics and Integras, though. I was a weirdo for driving a Golf (except to my several Latino friends who all thought it was awesome).
I personally identified as an NSXual. Is that an ok term?
I grew up in Kenosha, so the high school parking lot mainly consisted of Encores, Alliances, Eagles, and Spirits.
Nobody in my high school had any of these. One guy had a Porsche 928. Most of the cars were a bit older or more mundane. There were plenty of muscle cars and old trucks. Mini trucks were big. It was an agricultural area. I had a 1969 Plymouth Valiant Signet 100 2 door that was brown on brown. Friends had Darts, Bugs, AMC Javelins, and old pickups. All were cheap cars then. Class of 1995 and central coast of California.
“I’m not entirely sure why, but certain cars are just obviously villain cars. If you owned one of these new in high school at the time, it meant you had money and, also, your parents didn’t think twice about handing you a car with the higher-output LT1 V8. Should a high schooler be trusted with that much relative power in a vehicle with that little relative handling? Probably not! The presumption involved is how you end up with a jerk of a kid, is all I’m saying.”
The precursor villain car of my HS was the IROC Z and its C average driver was a notorious jerk/bully/coke fiend/shitty, drunk driver who went through a couple of them. He’d wreck one about once a year and shortly afterwards he’d pull up in a brand new one.
There were lots of rumors that he had been upset he had not been given a Corvette at 16, that his family was “family”, that his parents had bought off a judge with a case of good wine, he dealt coke at school, that sort of thing. I can’t say if any of that was true. I did once see him driving drunk and fast, weaving gutter to gutter down an expressway his IROC full of also drunk friends.
He was an awful person, suffering from chronic testosterone poisoning and toxic masculinity, exactly the type you’d expect to be driving an IROC. Last I heard he had a giant, expensive house and a beautiful wife. My guess is he continued the family business.
A female friend of mine in High School in the early 1990’s dated a guy who was about 5 years older than her and was a drug dealer. He had a 1970’s sports car, a 911 I think. After they broke up I saw it in a ditch and him standing next to it looking nervous, probably wondering where to ditch his cash and stash before the cops showed up.
Nah Ferris Buellers day off, Fast Times at Ridgemont High, brads old convertible, risky business, now it is a girl car flick but having no car specific scenarios not even in the running might as well use a car auction scene.
Silly Matt…the ultimate 90s high school car movie is in fact Dazed and Confused. Came out in ’93.
Oh wait, you meant…
The correct answer is the 5.0 Mustang.
Thanks, I needed a laugh!
What I find interesting are the differences and similarities between this and the Menendez Bros – Where their father drove a W126 S Class, Mom had an R107 SL – and the boys had an Alfa Romeo Spider and a Ford Escort GT…
…then after the murders – the boys bought a Porsche 911 Targa, a Jeep and a Saab Convertible for the girlfriend.
’98 – Seattle, catholic school, not a lot of big money new cars, lots of Explorers, Jettas and Legacys.
Graduated from an upper class HS in 74. The popular cars included Corvettes, Camaros, Mustangs a few Volvos, a Mercedes or two, Caddy’s, Lincoln’s and Chryslers, Oldsmobiles and Pontiacs. The rest consisted of 60’s and early 70’s cast offs, a few half tons and some Vans a few VW, Fiat and various UK and Continental flotsam. There was the usual collection of indifferently modified muscle iron as was popular at the time.
I graduated in 98 from a small, redneck town HS in Michigan. I had the sweetest car there, a dark purple 86 T-top Trans Am. Some of my classmates even chalked in a special spot for me. Most of the other cars were older Beretta’s, Delta 88’s, Shadows, Chevettes, Cutlass Supremes were definitely popular, as were Cavaliers, Probes, and lots and lots of full size trucks. We didn’t have luxury like BMW’s and Jeeps!
Mid 90s, rural MI here. Add K-cars to the list.
Oh yeah! I forgot about the K-cars and their variants! Also, the odd Mercury Monarchs, and Fox Body Fairmont variants! Dirt cheap and usually rusted and dented.
I remember this movie feeling oddly familiar and oddly foreign when I first saw it. I didn’t make the Emma connection until just now, but I do remember the cars being outward presentations of the characters, even if the characters mostly seemed too one-dimensional to be relatable.
I remember a female friend who had a YJ and she almost rolled it because we were being dumb assholes and jumping up and down while holding the roll bar doing like 35 MPH around a curve. The whole thing was wagging around because of it. She stopped and started screaming at us because she was so frightened. Smart girl.
Having graduated in 1991 from a private all-male prep school in Matt’s current town, these seem right.
The preppies had a bunch of BMWs and Acuras, the guidos favored Camaros and Mustangs. There was the usual assortment of hand me down cars from the less well off families.
No YJs that I recall, but a friend had a XJ you never wanted to ride in since it always reeked of weed and sex since he and his gf spent all their free time at their hiding spot in the woods.
my school also had the the kid with the Risky Business 928. But instead of driving it into the lake, he wrapped it around a brick pillar
Interestingly – though not surprisingly – the person at the helm of the YJ who nearly squashes the bicyclist does not appear to be Ms. Silverstone.
I’d never noticed that but will keep an eye out for it next time.
I started high school in the late 90’s at a private school in the LA suburbs, and the cars here are pretty dead on for kids in LA from families with money. Our parking lot was as follows:
This question kind of assumes more agency than kids at my school had (I graduated in 1995). We mostly had hand-me-downs. I felt fortunate that my favorite car from when I was a wee lad was a VB Beetle, and my sister’s husband had to sell his for 500 dollars. So I had a car that I wanted. Most of us had beige early 80s things. I think the standouts might be a mini truck of some note, and one gal who got a brand new econobox in the senior year.
Same. I lived in a very fancy area around Detroit, but only the Chaldeans had ‘Vettes or anything flashy. Most of us had hand-me-downs or base version of nicer cars. Looking back on it (for the first time in forever) it seems the general consensus around town was to not be the parents of some spoiled rich son/bratty girl. Which, I’m grateful for.
It was one of those things where you’d go to someone’s house for the first time, and it was a lot of, “Holy shit, THIS is your house?” lol
Having graduated in ’89, I am perhaps too old to comment on this.
However, there was a kid at my school who drove a brand new 3 series BMW. His parents were both surgeons, and he was an insufferable prick.
The lanes in the parking lot at our school were all one way, and open spots were rare. One day, I was leaving early (theater class let out early), and as I backed out of my parking space, the doctors’ kid pulled up in his shiny red Beemer (going the wrong way) and proceeded to blare his puny horn at me, trying to get me to move out of the way so he could grab my spot.
I put my ’60 Chevy El Camino in gear, revved the engine, dumped the clutch, and did a burnout, straight at Mr Entitled. He threw that thing in reverse, and beat a hasty retreat with me in hot pursuit.
It was a glorious day…