My Car Mask

If you live near me, you may have seen my car, and hopefully smiled.  I have a car mask on the passenger seat headrest, and although this is a simple thing to do, it has brought me more joy over the past ten years or so than I can possibly express here in words. 

It is amazing fun to have a silly little Halloween mask on the head rest of the passenger seat of my car.  It gets reactions everyday, and I see it make others smile, so in turn, it makes me smile. People laugh.  People point... people stop, and back-up their cars, just to see what it is.  I've seen motorists nearly have accidents because they needed to see a closer look.  I've witnessed kids on school buses call the entire bus back to the rear window.

I've seen girls scream, mothers return with their kids.

Some of the more interesting reactions are from the people that don't immediately smile.  They're not sure what to think or how to react.  I can tell some want to smile, but they're just not sure.  Some people are too cool to smile for some reason.

I've received thumbs up, high fives, smiles and laughs.

I even got out of a parking ticket once.

Like I said.  You can not comprehend how much fun it has been for me just to see the reactions people have.

When I switched to a new car in 2007, I replaced the mask to a new less scary face.  The selection process took months,m as I attempted to find just the right one.  I wanted something that looked enough like a real face that it might take a second glance to realize it's not just a real person.  The pirate mask show above was a good choice for a few years, but the new face shown below was better.  The added Santa hat, which I kept on it all year round made the face friendly and less creepy/scary.   

I'm on version 4.0 now.  Each mask ages and deteriorates over time because of the sunlight it receives. 

I am now up to version 4.0 of the mask, replacing the old plain face of 2007 with a new mask.  The newest one is actually a scary creepy Halloween style with pointed ears and fangs, but I put a hat over his head so he's less creepy.  It was the best I could find after months of searching for a better choice.

The sun and stretch are hard on these masks, so they don't last more than a year or two before deteriorating.  I'm already searching for my 2009 replacement. 

Now that I've shared my fun... I hope it doesn't catch on.  I like it because it makes people smile.  If everybody does it, and I don't get rich off it, it'll make me sad.