What are these stripes on the sides of cars I see everywhere? Usually they are a gold color and sometimes the endings have a different design pattern but they are generally the same. One thin line directly above a thicker line that runs from the trunk fender to front fender across the doors, on both sides of the car.
I was down in Florida and first noticed it on my friends brand new 2018 Civic Hatchback, I asked him about it and he said it was on there when he bought it, looking at the window sticker reveals nothing. I noticed it was really common in Florida. Saw it on BMWs, VWs, Kias, Hondas, Toyotas, Nissans, Dodges, Fords, etc old and new alike. Back in Ohio it was not as common but by no means rare, walking around any parking lot reveals multiple cars with the stripes. The oldest car I saw it on was a 1980s BMW 3 series. So clearly this design element has been occurring for a long time and continues to this day and it's not company or country specific. I've tried Googling multiple things but nothing has come up.
Pic is a brand new 2018 Camry SE with the stripes.
I can't even tell if this is bait or the current state of Veeky Forums is honestly just this awful.
Gabriel Brown
OP here. This is not bait, genuine question.
Justin Rogers
They’re to accentuate designs and hide soft curves and weak design characteristics. Just like all men with beards have weak jaw lines
Jackson Edwards
They're stripes.
Bentley Carter
>1980s BMW 3 series Those didn't come with stickers, must have been added by someone
James Cruz
It has to do with the Free Masons.
Parker Howard
So why doesn't every car have them? Why can't I find it as an option on car manufactures website. And asking the dealer who sold the Camry with the stripes reveals they have no clue what I'm talking about.
Here is the pic I took of the car. From a distance the lines look fine but close up they are in quite poor condition. The rest of the car is completely stock. I can only assume those stripes are factory.
>So why doesn't every car have them? Why can't I find it as an option on car manufactures website. And asking the dealer who sold the Camry with the stripes reveals they have no clue what I'm talking about. Because you're not a Free Mason and the dealer is.
Benjamin Murphy
Please explain. Googling reveals nothing.
Aiden Sullivan
You don't find Free Mason secrets on Google, kiddo. If your friend isn't a FM he must have gotten those stripes by accident and he's going to be in some pretty big trouble if he doesn't get rid of them. They'll ruin his life for posing as one of them.
Hudson Perez
How is it a secret? It's pretty visible on a lot of cars.
Jordan Cook
now this is a meme I can get behind
Nathan Hughes
>lowriders are the ultimate freemason car >Von Dutch is the NWO
Dominic Scott
Its call pinstripes, or pinstripping OP. Some people love it, others hate it.
Nolan Price
It's a Southeast US thing, some dealerships advertise for the auto paint company that comes and puts the stripe on, I've been to one that was touting that it's done by hand with actual paint instead of a vinyl sticker. I have no idea why it's popular, but many people seem to want them or just assume they are on all cars. Every car I've ever owned has had them. My parents' cars have had them. It is a mysterious auto culture meme that just seems to exist without explanation.
Dylan Stewart
>he expects everyone to have been born in the same year as him and have had the same experiences. It's a valid question since pinstriping is good enough to look factory but cars outside of Florida don't have it. How's he to know the dealers do it?
Wyatt Martin
I didn't know these new Camrys had these stripes as an option. I've seen many new models on the road and none have that
Brody Ramirez
Jesus, I assume you all are burgers. Not everyone has 10m wide parking lots in the middle of nowhere. These stripes are bumper protection for the car doors. If some old lady opens their door into yours, only these parts gets scratched and they can be easily replaced.
Kevin Harris
They're pinstripes, they're a styling accent that have existed on american cars since like the 30's, but is now used by dealers to accentuate a vehicles styling or give it a more premium upscale feel. It's not standard but it's not uncommon, usually they are put on by the dealer, some dealers even just have them done on every car they get, usually a vinyl, rarely but sometimes can be hand painted (probably with a template? i dunno).
Don't dwell on them too much.
Bentley Thompson
makes the car more aerodynamic, gets you a few more miles to the gallon
These stripe patterns were designed during the Cold War to signify where the dealer-installed bulletproofing ended on your car. Typically automakers don't feel the need to waste valuable money on any armor above the door handle. They are popular down south as that is where most automakers felt that the south would have the most potential for a mass-scale armed conflict in the US at the time.
Bentley Wilson
the vinyl ones the dealership stick on started as just capitalizing on a hip trend that trickled down to normies and never fully went away. But they did used to be a hand painted, custom thing, reflective of hot rod culture and the "bad element." Kinda like tattoos for your car.
this would make sense if the stripes were the on the most distal segment of the door which they aren't.
Joshua Clark
I've worked at a dealer. Literally dealer add on and a way to keep the pinstripe guys in business by putting them on cars off the truck and making customers pay for the addon. It doesnt mean shit, it has no benefits. Just a way to take money from you
Lincoln Allen
>What are these stripes on the sides of cars I see everywhere? When I bought my car, I mistakenly thought the pin striping was a factory add-on I couldn't avoid. So I paid for it. Turns out it was a dealer add-on created to generate more profit from every car. But it was listed on that window price sheet as if it were just another factory feature. Pin striping costs the dealer very little, but they get to sell it at a high markup. It was sneaky of the dealer to add that on.
>bad element My high school gf had pink pinstripes on her black X5, which also featured at least one vineyard vines sticker. I think she may have singlehandedly murdered that entire element of bad in pinstriping.
Cooper Lee
I love it.
I'm not sure it's a southeast only thing. It's somewhat common up here in Ohio.
It's the only new Camry I've seen with it.
Did you even look at the picture I posted? These are stripes near the windows of the car. Side moldings are a lot lower.
