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The Car's Breaking!

The car breaks down, much to Mom's dismay.

Car in the ravine

The car in the ravine.

"Now I know what they mean when they say you can't go home again."

—Calvin, while running away from home after they break the car.

Calvin's parents have a car that is involved in a few of the story arcs. Calvin sometimes wrecks the car, but never in a story arc is it totaled or even damaged, and this mostly appears in throwaway jokes or single strips. One time, when he and Hobbes were clearing out the garage so they could have G.R.O.S.S. meetings in it, he accidentally pushed the car into the ravine across the street from his house. This is the paramount story arc involving the car.

Another time, Calvin tried to sell the car to get some money (single strip). [1] Yet another time, Calvin wrecked the car so badly that he imagined that if his dad] could find it, he and Hobbes could pretend it might be fixed (again, this was only a single strip), after which Hobbes gives Calvin a book (likely a Spanish dictionary, as Calvin is reading the book and saying "Que pasa, señorita? I am el fugitivo! Which means "What happens, miss? I am the fugitive!) While Hobbes Is holding a suitcase and says "You keep the book, I'll call the bus station."[2]This suggests that the damage to the car is fairly severe. Calvin also tells his parents to do daredevil stunts, like pulling him behind with a rope [3] or jumping off of a ramp made out of snow, "[leaving] a patch of molten rubber in the garage." [4]

Type of car

This article analyzes the various strips to see what car Calvin's dad drives. The results are as follows:

  • The car Calvin's dad is seen washing in the first strip is a Ford LTD. However, as mentioned above, this car may have been wrecked by Calvin later, as it wasn't seen again.
  • The car generally associated with Calvin's dad's is a Mk II Volkswagen Golf.

Trivia

  • In one Rosalyn strip, when Calvin and Hobbes noticed their parents leaving, Hobbes suggested the idea of jumping into the other car and learning how to drive. It has never been depicted of there being another car in the garage, although it's possible this could refer to the old Ford LTD seen in the first strip.
  • In certain strips, the car has a slightly different taillight design. It's possible that these are rental cars.

References

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