What’s The Weirdest Thing You’ve Used Your Car For?

Photo: Lauren DeCicca (Getty Images)

Most car enthusiasts know that a car can be way more than a form of transportation. It can be a home away from home, an oasis of peace, or a mobile work space. Today, though, I want to know about the off-the-wall ways you’ve used your vehicles. I want to know about the ones that just don’t make sense. What is the weirdest thing you’ve ever used your car for?

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Are you a farmer who’s had to use a sedan to transport livestock? Have you been responsible for whipping up a potato salad for a tailgate in the backseat of your luxury car? Have you repotted succulents from the passenger seat, just because it was the best place for you to do that nonsense? These are the stories we want to hear today.

When I moved to Philadelphia, I was rolling solo. I didn’t have friends in the area, I didn’t feel like renting a moving truck, and I also decided to show up at IKEA behind the wheel of my 2013 Mazda 2. That was the day I discovered my dream bookshelf and made a very sudden purchase. Then I got that shelf out to my Mazda, and I realized, oh, I’ve got no way to get this home.

I made it work. I crammed that 11-foot-tall bookshelf box into the hatch of my Mazda by scooching the passenger seat all the way forward, then pushing the back of the seat as close to the dashboard as I could. I wedged the box all the way forward, then begged for help from a poor fellow who was getting a kick out of watching me struggle. With the extra pair of hands, I managed to close the hatch, but it was precarious. It was tough. I managed to transit that beast back to my apartment complex, at which point I had to then trek it up to the ninth floor. And did I mention that I was recovering from pneumonia during this whole endeavor?

This, I know, is extremely tame compared to the various other situations I know my fellow Jalops have endured and the things they’ve done with their cars. Head to the comments, friends. Tell me about it. What’s the weirdest thing you’ve used your car for?