In Colorado, approximately 1.8 million automobiles were registered in 2016, according to Statista. Comparatively to the 5.5 million who lived in Colorado at the time, that’s almost a third of the population who registered a vehicle. 

Cars are important, and Grandview’s car scene is very loosely defined. It is difficult to give it one word. I talked to Junior Misha Skibitskii and sophomores Bode Duncan and Rylan Gardner about their experiences with cars and how they would describe the car scene at our school.

Q: What car do you drive?

Skibitskii: I drive a BMW e36. [I’ve been driving it] about 3 months, 4 months.

Duncan: I drive a Hummer H2 and a Toyota Tacoma.

Gardner: A 1992 Dodge w150.

Q: What’s the story behind it?

Skibitskii: My dad owned it for 12 years. It was parked for about five at my grandma’s house. Fixed it up, and I got it as my first car.

Duncan: The story behind the H2 is that it’s a family car. We’ve had it through childhood. It was me and my sister’s favorite car, and it became a family heirloom. It’s on 22s by 10s. 

Gardner: I’ve been driving it for about a year. It’s restored. Was a piece of garbage when we got it. Now it’s just less of a piece of garbage. I restored it with my dad over the course of a year. 

Q: What have people said about your car?

Skibitskii: I get a lot of compliments with it; “cool car, I like your car, what mods.”

Duncan: Some people really like it, some people really hate it because it’s really big and annoying. A lot of people think it’s the dumbest thing out there because it’s got those big tires and a loud exhaust. But it is what it is.

Gardner: Has a lot of character you know.

Q: Is it the car you want to be driving?

Skibitskii: Absolutely. I’m buying another one for a drift car.

Rylan: It is the car I want to be driving. 

Q: Do you work on cars?

Skibitskii: Yup. Since a very young age. Always have been helping my dad. 

Duncan: Oh yeah.

Gardner: [Yeah,] it’s just fun. Best hobby.

Q: When did you start getting into cars?

Skibitskii: [Since] five or six. My dad. He used to race the car I’m driving now, the e36 on small track days. I still remember going out with him and having some fun.

Duncan: My dad at a very young age. We could go to mini car shows. He’d start teaching me and I’d start being able to remember and I feel in love from there.

Gardner: I was little playing [racing] video games. Forza Motorsports three when I was like five.

Q: Are cars a form of bonding for you?

Skibitskii: Absolutely. Me and my girlfriend work on my car all the time. Trying to get her into cars. 

Duncan: Definitely a big bonding experience with my dad, and a lot of friends too. It’s definitely peaceful working on them, and whenever you have the chance it’s a bunch of fun. 

Q: What other connections in your family are there to cars?

Skibitskii: My dad drives an S54 swapped e46 wagon, and that’s basically it. Just my dad.

Duncan: [My dad and I] worked on our ‘69 Mach 1. It’s a bunch of fun cause you learn a lot about something you didn’t know a whole lot about at first, and then you start getting into it and it’s a whole bunch of money, but it pays off in the end and makes you more happy at the end of the day.

Q: How would you describe the car culture at our school?

Skibitskii: Very diverse. We got a couple lifted jeeps, a couple lifted trucks, got another e36, and there’s a 328i, or 318 I think. I don’t think we have a very good car culture. All of my friends who were a part of the good car culture have moved onto college. So the whole car culture I remember is gone. We had a WRX. The fastest car was a Mazda 6 speed. Mini S. Boosted Fusion. Everyone was just destroying their cars, we were just having too much fun. 

Duncan: It’s definitely a big pocket of various cars. We have a bunch of trucks and a bunch of Mustangs and Pontiacs, but it’s pretty cool. My favorite one here is probably our buddy Rylan’s first gen. That thing’s pretty wild. But yeah I feel like it’s good community. It’s definitely not bad.

Gardner: It’s solid. It’s like syrup, a little more solid though. We got trucks, we got cars. We got manuals. We got BMW drivers. We got a Pontiac. Firebird. We got a Mustang. Squarebody- two squarebodies. It’s good. There was that one dude in the hallway, he tried to get us to go to a car meet. That’s good. That’s solid, but not rock solid. Like squishy leather.