The beater car is a near-universal aspect of gearheadish-ness. The rationale behind owning one is simply to prevent racking up too many miles and/or exposing the gearhead’s main, cherished car from things like road salt, rain, or any other road-born debris. Most of the time, the beater car will be some sort of older, modest car that’s already seen a good number of miles and doesn’t typically look factory-fresh anymore, hence the “beater” aspect of the beater car.
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