Yep, I drive a reliable but beat up ~300k-mi 90s car in CA and whenever I visit family in the west chicago suburbs by car I get viewed as white trash driving su

Yep, I drive a reliable but beat up ~300k-mi 90s car in CA and whenever I visit family in the west chicago suburbs by car I get viewed as white trash driving such a piece of crap and constantly checked out by city police. The salt destruction completely redefines what it means to operate such an old car there. The prevailing attitude is that only ghetto poor people drive old beat up cars because they can't get a loan for a new one, presuming everyone needs to replace their car often. When I'm in CA, people in parking lots often strike up conversations about the car like it's a classic and make offers to buy it. Police never take any interest in me since it's so common for people to drive old cars in a place they continue working just fine. The culture is completely different, I often wonder how much of it is due to the road salt alone.