According To You: Best Smells in a Car

On Jan. 29, McDonald’s unveiled Hamburglar’s Burgercuda getaway car - a custom 1970 Plymouth Barracuda featuring the character’s signature black-and-white stripes and burger-themed features – including a burger warming console. McDonald's

Last week we asked you, dear members of the Hagerty Community, about the best automotive smells you have experienced. Boy, were there ever some doozies in the eleven pages of replies in our comments section!

So I sifted (snifted?) through all the responses, found some commonalities, and noted that some good smells have a bigger impact than others. Do you agree with these takes on delightful (or not) smells? I look forward to reading your comments below.

Race Gas

period charger direct connection mopar dodge vintage drag strip wheelie
Stellantis

Stevie B: My favorite has to be the smell of race fuel coming out the tail pipe- Sunoco 110 or VP C16 have a particular smell—sweet and pungent at the same time.

Vern: Nothing has a smell as pleasant as 140 octane av-gas.

Chuck C: I’m with you on the race gas…gets in my clothing and people ask me what I’m driving at a car event.

hyperV6: I love the smell of Nitro Methane Fumes in the morning. It smells like Victory!

Paul S: 100/130 Avgas. Used it in helicopters and would occasionally slip some in the tank of a Healey 3000 to cure the unleaded gas-induced pre-ignition.

Drew W: High octane, leaded petrol in an old Alfa.

Steve: The provocative aroma emitting from the tailpipe of a race engine while it ferociously gulps down 110 octane fuel…

Bob G: The smell of my 110 race gas outa my Vette. Well worth the 10 bucks a gallon. Brings back the old days of Sunoco 260.

jbbush: Unburned Sunoco race gas that’s been run through an engine. Toxic? Probably. Bliss? Beyond a doubt.

Permagrin: Mid-winter and missing the excitement of the race season, l would go to the shed and pop the bung on a barrel of 118 octane av-gas l ran in my dragster. A good snort of those fumes would actually give me an adrenaline rush!

Gary B: Best smell outside? Race Gas exhaust. I love the smell of Race Gas in the morning.

Glenn R: Nothing like the smell of racing fuel out of the open headers of a Super Late Model Dirt car in the middle of July. It’s the very best.

Jabip: I worked for 30 years building aircraft engines so naturally I ran AV GAS in my modified stock car, in all my boats, all my race bikes, and my Hotrods, including my restored 1958 Corvette! I had to stop for the RXR crossing in the Summertime, it was hot out and the people behind me in a convertible were hollering what are you running for fuel, they loved the smell but it was burning their eyes a bit. If you’re around it for so long, you get used to it and want that smell to be around you I guess.

Gary W: The magical aroma of high-octane racing fuel, early in the morning. It evokes excitement and the adrenaline surge of the track sessions to come. Practice, qualifying, racing, whatever. Yeah, baby – Let’s GO!

Tommy M: The best auto odor to me is a high-performance engine burning 100 octane racing gas.

Bj: The smell of victory at the end of a quarter mile.

Castrol R Racing Oil

Castrol Facebook Page

Mar4357: At the track, it was an unexpected floral odor as certain cars went by. I talked with my usual supplier who wasn’t sure, but said that Castrol, at one time, had a special oil blend that smelled something like that, but he thought it was no longer available in the U.S.

Keith: Old Races when Castrol R (Bean Oil) wafted from the pits…yeah I’m old, but that smell brings back many wonderful races.

Raymond B: Castrol R!

Kurt C: Smell of Castrol Oil, race gas, and a fresh bag of salted peanuts in the pits of Laguna Seca (beer in hand).

Silver Fox: I vote for the 2-cycle exhaust from my Yamaha 400 Mono Shock burning Castrol.

GTOGS: Yep. My KDX 200 smells so good burning that Castrol racing oil.

Kenny T: The best smell of all whether racing motorcycles or cars. If I go to Goodwood and smell Castrol R I am immediately taken back to 1956/7 when I raced a couple of Nortons in Southern Rhodesia/Zimbabwe.

Food

Dairy Market Express Drive-Thru
Bettmann Archive/Getty Images

Joseph C: A fresh cup of coffee.

Steve P: Hot freshly baked bread in the back seat, cold pizza left overnight on the front passenger seat when you first open the door and remember you left it there. Then add Connolly leather in a late ’60s-to mid-’70s Rolls Royce. That’s what luxury smells like.

Thos. B: The best smell in a car is a warm bag of White Castle cheeseburgers.

Ted N: A fresh In-N-Out Burger just picked up at the drive-thru window.

Sajeev Mehta: As a Texan, I feel obligated to mention the smell of a Whataburger Patty Melt mixed with old leather…but I’m being real good these days about avoiding fast food.

MJ: That half-eaten 3-day-old chilli dog in a paper bag on the passenger side floor on a cold morning.

Definitely Not Food

Plastic Welding interior parts
Ah, the smell of fresh plastic in the morning!Sajeev Mehta

James: The smell when soldering during electrical repairs.

John P: The smell of plasticizers used in vinyl and plastic parts in a new car from ages long ago. These slow solvents would dissipate over the period of about a year. But they reminded you the car was still fresh and new.

Wes C: New car smell plastic off-gassing, and fresh tires.

jim999: Diesel! The smell of diesel exhaust belching from a fleet of ’90s-era Mack tractors, idling in the yard, with 6-cylinder mechanical fuel injection engines—emissions be damned! Pre-dawn dead of winter warmup, sleepy drivers wandering out to their assigned beast-of-burden, waking up as they inhaled that smell—the smell of power and torque. It always woke me up and energized me more than any coffee ever could.

Kenny: Going to the Shell gas station back in the ’50s with my dad to smell that leaded gas being put into his ’55 Buick.

Bruce S: Has no one said WD40 yet? Of course leather is number one but WD40 smells like everything is running smoothly and nothing is sticking.

02 original owner: How about Marvel Mystery Oil?

buster51: Automatic transmission fluid and parts cleaner in my dad’s automatic transmission shop.

BES: 90W gear oil!

Gary C: 80/90W gear oil.

Old Gearhead: The faint smell of gasoline that always lingers inside a car with a carbureted engine when it has been sitting for a few days, right before you fire it up for a drive, followed immediately by the exhaust smell of the oil that burns off at startup!

Tom B: The exhaust smell of a long-dormant engine that you just brought back to life. I inherited a ’66 Bug that had sat for 10+ years. With fresh oil, a little fiddling, and a new fuel pump, it not only started but idled!

David W: The smell of a cigarette being lit with the cigarette lighter from the car. Both of my parents smoked when I was a kid. I don’t and never did but I love the smell.

Porter: The slight hint of coolant smells when the heater is on. Reminds me of being a kid in the back seat of my parents’ Honda Accord.

Clifferd: Conventional 90wt gear oil, of course! That or Ford limited slip additive!

Tinkerah: My favorites have already been named so I’ll go with an alternate: the forming oil burning off a freshly installed exhaust pipe. It’s extra sweet because it’s always paired with a suddenly better-sounding system.

Mike S: Sure, leather seats are the best. But as a kid, I was always aware of the stench/perfume of the aftermarket clear plastic seat covers. A company named Fingerhut would send the new owner of a car a little catalog claiming their covers would protect one’s auto seats forever. My dad always fell for that scam. But, thankfully, not for the matching man/woman “genuine matching leatherette jackets.”

Leather

Mercedes-AMG Performance Studio Germany interior leather options
Tim Graham/Getty Images

Peter G: I have to go with the leather smell. In addition, all the smells my 50-year-old British cars emit, and there are plenty.

Dadmog: Agree. After a drive, I close the garage door, and it smells wonderful…and just like my Dad’s Hillman Minx 60 years ago.

Brushmore: Not sure what is so different about it but the smell of the leather in the SAAB Viggen was the best.

hyperv6: The leather in a well-kept British car is great. But the older ones reek of leather. Leaking oil on a manifold and mildew from a leaking roof. My dad’s buddy’s Austin Healy is still in my memory. He was a struggling artist. With a cool car in need of restoration.

Bill: I have had my 1986 Jag XJ6 for 34 years. It’s garage kept and only seen rain three times in the time I’ve owned it and never seen snow. Whenever I get in it the leather smells as beautiful as it should.

Clinton J: My absolute favorite smell is the interior of British sports cars from the ’60s and ’70s. The combination of leather, carpet, and other materials is the best. My 1969 MGB still has the same smell after all these years.

Thomas M: A coworker had a ’90s Volvo 240, I loved the leather smell in that car. It reminded me of the tack room in my uncle’s barn.

Scott R: The smell of a classic British Car. One person said that when he bought an MGB and went to take his grandfather for a ride, his grandfather said it smelled like a WWII British tank!

Paul G: I had a leather interior installed in a pickup truck I built, it was all leather, and boy, did it ever smell sweet!

Tim: Absolutely, hands-down, it’s the smell of new leather. It elevates the status of the car. I have a low-mileage late-model car that still smells new every time I get in. That’s a reward like nothing else.

William F: Leather and old car smell.

Stu N: The smell of the leather seats is my favorite smell. It reminds me of my black on black 1997 Cadillac STS, in a much simpler time when I thought that car was a rocket ship.

Brakeservo: The Connolly leather, wood, and original Wilton wool carpet smell in my 71-year-old Bentley are better than ANY new car smell!

Allan W: I had an immaculate 1986 Series III XJ-6. Same smell. Absolutely glorious. Smelled like a humidor in a really good tobacco shop. I’d go into the garage just to sit in it and bask in the olfactory sensuousness. Still smelled the same when I sold it 13 years later…

UsedCarMike: The leather seats and wool carpet smell of my uncle’s E-Type when I was 7 or 8 years old. Never forgot it and it’s the same smell in a MK9 I drove or one of the XJSs that I owned. Blindfold me and sit me in one and I can tell you it’s a Jag.

Marc S: Connolly leather. Not leather like you find in a Ford or Toyota. REAL leather, like in an English car. Also, mix it with a whiff of tailpipe unburnt hydrocarbons and you are all set.

Dave R: The smell of the leather leather combined with whatever’s leaking at the time in my ’66 XKE.

Bunka: When I put the top up on my Porsche 356 it creates a small enclosed space filled with a lot of leather. Not sure if the encompassing smell is the leather or the blue dye in the leather. In either case, I love it. The only drawback is that I don’t want to put the top up.

CW: English Leather in an old MGB or TR6.

Burning Rubber

Bullitt Movie Steve McQueen tire smoke
Warner Bros. Pictures

David W: Burning Rubber (tires, that is)!

Carmen D: The smell of burning rubber, the old ’57 Pontiac did a lot of that back in the day.

Pete: Goodyear, Hoosiers, Firestone, Mickey Thompson, M&H, and more. spinning really fast.

Ed M: The lingering smell of a good long smoking burnout.

Unexpected Nose Tinglers

UK Open road countryside
Unsplash/Illiya V.

Baldspot: As an old road builder I love the smell of fresh hot asphalt during the paving process. Whenever I pass by a paving crew I put down the windows and breathe in the bitumen goodness.

Alex: My favorite was the diesel exhaust smell from a Trailways bus. I don’t know why it was different from other diesel engines, but it was.

ParaboTech: My dad worked at a tire and rubber factory when I was a kid. It was a weird smell back then. Today, that new tire smell triggers me to think how nice it is to have some new performance rubber on my car. Nowadays, riding around in my van carrying new tires for several days before installation makes me sick and nauseated.

A-Guy-and-his-Honda: Meguiar’s car waxes and other products (Pina Colada). Mother’s Soft Wash Gel car wash soap (Cherry).

Paul I: My rodent-proofing packets of Irish Spring shavings placed in the four Corvettes I have owned since 1989. Knock-on fiberglass (And sheet-molded compound), no chewed wires, nests, or turd piles so far. Last year, I enjoyed the scent so much, I left the interior packets in for a couple of months. My spouse said she likes the manly smell too.

Air Fresheners

Air Freshener Little Trees
Murilee Martin

Billy B: Those little green Christmas tree air fresheners.

Timothy H: I remember a little skunk air freshener that was in so many cars in the ’60s. They were just the best-smelling air freshener ever. Wish I could buy them today.

RWG: The Royal Pine little green trees seem to go hand in hand with an old classic. If you’re at a local show n’ shine, and you stick your head in the open window, that’s the smell you expect.

Tim B: The best smell was the Little Tree Spice air freshener that is no longer sold. Who knows why they stopped making it, but I got lucky and found 100 of them on eBay a few years back.

Ricky B: For many years now, I have finished the spring detailing with an air freshener. Not any freshener, but a Little Tree Royal Pine. The scent brings me back to memories of my big brother’s ‘63 Corvette.

No Smell

2024 Nürburgring 24 Hours muddy road in
Alex Sobran

steve: No smell is best. Just clean, fresh, air, saturated with oxygen.

Sue: FRESH AIR!

Old Cars, Brand Specific Smells

1970 Volkswagen Beetle junkyard find interior seats
Murilee Martin

Wendell B: VW “horsehair” seats

Jer64SS: Just about any air-cooled Volkswagen. Sit down in one blindfolded, and you can instantly tell what you’re in. If you’re really good, you can tell the approximate vintage. The exact source and composition of the smell is a source of endless conjecture and debate, but you’re onto much of it. The headliner material and coconut fiber seat padding fiber also contribute.

02 original owner: In older German cars, as they age, the unmistakable “fragrance” of the seats’ rubberized horsehair padding (the charming German word is gummihaar) as it slowly turns into brown dirt.

Chuck T: A familiar smell that brings back memories. When I smell the interior of a 60’s Ford product it reminds me of the 1964 Mercury Comet Cyclone I had many years ago.

Blu: My Dad’s 1948 Jeep when I was a kid. The smell of gas and gear oil.

Joel E: I’m sure it was off-gassing of chemicals contained in new car interiors, but nothing smelled better than the new car smell in a ’60s automobile. Probably a good dose of old-fashioned nostalgia is very prevalent in that smell.

Mark D: I think that many 60’s vintage cars have a similar smell that comes from the jute backing under the carpet. It’s from an aged combination of spilled beer, cigarette smoke, burnt rubber, and sweat (if you have vinyl seats).

John M: My 10-year-old olfactory system was instantly overwhelmed when first I climbed aboard my grandfather’s Humber Super Snipe, built in England sometime in the early 1960s. They had to pry me out. This wasn’t really a car. It was a four-wheeled platform that transported an Edwardian drawing room.

MKH: The smell of the interior when first sitting in our ’64 Vette convertible. Gives the smell of long-ago cigarette/cigar smoke, old well aged vinyl, previously heated fiberglass, left-over spent exhaust gas from the side pipes. Always a thrill, makes me wonder about her past.

Cole: Air-cooled Porsche with the oil+leather+seat fiber’s combo. They always smell fantastic inside. Every G-body 911 I’ve ever been in smells virtually the same. Add in a Vanilla air freshener and you’re golden.

RedRyder: The original fox body Mustang smell is unmistakable. Mine and my friend’s unrestored originals all smell the same. Decaying plastic, old rubber seals, a bag of Doritos from 20 years ago, Hubba Bubba gum, Mountain Dew, a quart of 10W30 behind the seat, and the Joshua tree….ahh, gives me goosebumps.

Jay M: Older BMWs—and probably other cars from the mid-20th Century—used a material called “horsehair” as seat padding. Don’t know if it really came from horses, but it gives those cars’ interiors a distinctive smell, probably like the mohair that Whitman Strong referred to.

Tom B: Just that pure hot rod smell of oil, gas, and sweat of an unairconditioned hot rod interior.

Gayle M: The smell of old mohair and wool interiors of a car from the ’30s ’40s and early ’50s is only surpassed, for me, by the smell of the leather of an old Jag.

Joe C: The most evocative smell is the distinctive scent of a ’70s VW. My ’78 Scirocco and my roommate’s ’74 Beetle both had a sharp smell from the trunk carpeting. They must have changed materials because our ’80s cars didn’t have it.

LD: Almost all unmolested Advance Design Chevy trucks from 1947 to early-55 have a distinct smell when you first open the doors, provided the varmints haven’t invaded them.

The Smell of True Love?

embarrassed man with hands on face
Getty Images/PhotoAlto

Jack D: Riding in my first car with my first true love and she let one go. It meant that she both liked and trusted me!

Click below for more about
Read next Up next: John Kraman, “The Professor” on Mecum Broadcasts, Has Died

Comments

    Two people mentioned fresh air. The bulk of the remainder seem to favor the scent of things that will likely give them all lung cancer if inhaled in sufficient quantities. We’re a weird bunch, we are!

    I don’t have that kind of money, but Classic Car Studio did an interior for a high end shop in town in Leather, and oh-my-GAWD did the inside of that truck smell insanely good. Just wow.

    Also, off-gassing clear when you step into the booth after the bake cycle. Mmmmm. Polishing compound, and curing Bondo, too.

    The off-gassing I wanna smell after the bake cycle is by stepping into the Krispy Kreme shop when the “HOT” light is lit! 😉

    [I don’t eat ’em, I just smell ’em!]

    Oh, I would absolutely EAT the Krispy Kreme doughnuts. However I’m like you with coffee. I absolutely love the smell of freshly ground and freshly brewed coffee. I just can’t stomach drinking coffee. It always seems to taste like hot muddy water to me. 🤢

    Mrs. DUB6 is the same about my coffee – she loves the smell when I’m grinding my beans and when it’s brewing, but she wouldn’t take a sip for any amount of money. So, in the spirit of a good marriage, I give her donuts and she gives me coffee. She, me, AND my doctors are happier all around!

    Hey ParaboTech –
    Something in your response kept nagging at me, and I finally remembered! When our grandson was born in 2007, we went to Elizabeth City, N.C. to attend. While driving through town one morning, I spotted the Muddy Waters Coffeehouse, and stopped in for a delicious mugful. Bought two big, heavy mugs that keep my drink hot for surprisingly long periods. Now, every time I select one of them for my morning “cuppa”, I’ll not only think of that special event, but I’ll chuckle a bit over your comment! 😊

    They have already been mentioned, but two things come to mind:

    1. Back in about ’78-79 when we could no longer get premium gas and retarding the timing did not eliminate the ping, only made the car run like crap, I kept a drum of 100/130 Avgas in the carport and shared it with my buddies. One gallon per tank cured all in the 240Z and most other high performance cars, maybe one and a half gallons in a pal’s 65 E-Type. And the smell was delicious.

    As a kid in ’61-62, dad would take me to Mosport for the race meetings. The smell of the particular oil, (Castrol? Castor oil?) is unforgettable. I asked if we could have it in our car but my dad explained that that kind oil had to be drained after each race as after it was run hot it would turn to gum as it cooled so was no good for a road car. By the mid sixties, that smell had disappeared with the advent of better mineral racing oils, but never forgotten.

    The smell of 100LL avgas coming from my ’71 Alfa Spider exhaust. The Alfa and its injector pump loves it, and I always get questions from mechanics about what fuel I’m running. Second is the interior smell of a TR3A, a combination of moldy carpets and old leather.

    I still think there is nothing like the smell of bean oil burning in a 60s and 70s vintage two stroke motorcycle! Those cool damp Sunday mornings in socal were unforgettable.

    What about the lovely smell of transmission oil dripping on the exhaust pipe, or the eau de cologne of your brake pads vaporizing, and the scintillating aroma of overheated wiring under the dash? Oh, best smells you said? Sorry.

    or the leaky carburettor dripping onto the exhaust manifold of a straight six. Real security blanket that is.

    The fragrance of burnt Methanol drifting across the track at the first sprint car race of the season… Yes, it’s racing season!!!

    Ran Castrol R in my HD XLCH race bike 60 years ago. Saved a can and even today when I take the wrapper off the top of the church key open can (no screw top lids!) you can still smell that beautiful odor. Ahh the memories!

    For me its the smell of alcohol/exhaust at sprint car race. Sound and smell was awesome! Second place, entering the cockpit of a vintage TWA Constellation. Aviation fuel is a sweet smell!

    Don’t know if they still make it, but Pro products used to sell Carnauba Cream wax. Wonderful, unique smell!

    Cox .049 fuel. We raced Jerobee RC cars. The noise and smell of 15+ cars on a track was the best!!! Of course the “track” could still be seen on the parking lot long after we were done…

    Owned several Corvairs, the smell of the air-cooled engines heater. Kind of a mix of all the smells mentioned gas, oil, hot metal and old materials.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Your daily pit stop for automotive news.

Sign up to receive our Daily Driver newsletter

Please enter a valid email address

Subject to Hagerty's Privacy Policy and Terms of Conditions

Thanks for signing up.