Sure, but loans for tangible property can usually be secured by the thing itself (assuming it doesn't deprecate, etc), so I think tangible thing==>secured loan

Sure, but loans for tangible property can usually be secured by the thing itself (assuming it doesn't deprecate, etc), so I think tangible thing==>secured loan is not a crazy rule of thumb. Assuming you could talk a lender into taking the risk, I see no reason you couldn't get an unsecured loan for a car. Obviously, you could put up collateral to secure any sort of loan too.