This is the item to post your sightings of white motorists displaying one
of those crowns on their dash or rear deck.
 
    Please report date, time, location, make/model of automobile, estimated
age of the caucasian driver, gender, # number of passgeners in the
vehicle, & any other pertinent data.

76 responses total.

 30 JAN 93, 3:03PM EST.  A single white male in a grey Ford Crown Victoria,
headed East on Washtenaw Avenue at Oakwood in Ypsilanti.  Approximate age: 50.
 
   Location of crown: center of rear deck.

I saw an older couple in a van with a crown on the dash the other night.

What's the deal with those things?  And why are they allegedly,
as it seems to be implied here, an inherently "white" ornamentation?

Where do people get those things ?
does it come with their butter ? or What ?

   What do they mean?  I only startred seeing them about 3 months ago.
It seemed that the time that only africian-americans had them.  So what
does it all mean?

Parkay......butter.

They're deodorizers for your car.  Don't know WHY they picked a crown for a
container....????

 They are predominantly a BLACK thang!  It is very rare to see one in the 
car of white folk, hence, my effort to track sightings...

WEll, being anti-racist, I shall have to go out and by one right away!

A few weeks ago I went to Murray's Auto to buy some windshield wipers, and
they had stacks and stacks of crowns on display.

(In case anyone wants one)

Ditto
( The first I had ever seen these crowns was when I went to Murray's to
buy windshield wipers.  Of course Murray's has all sorts of perverse
auto deodorants )

Geez, and here I thought they were a symbol of the Pope being the Prince
of Christ.  :)

They're also available (or a variant thereof), through a mail order offer
off the back of Royal Crown (I believe) hair dressing, a thing used by
some blacks to do stuff to their hair

   Yes, but what do they mean?  I really don't care what type of human cares
to install them in a car.  I would however, like to know what they mean!

That the car stunk/stinks - before or after.

I've noticed them and I had started to think that they were the sign of a
secret society.  I am so glad I belong to Grex where I can clear up all my
misconceptions.  

   Well, so far we've only cleared up some misconceptions.  I STILL want to
know what they mean!

Re #8:  I know a Phillipino with these crowns and an Indian (from India, not 
        Native American) who is getting them.

The crown doesn't represent anything.  It's just a car fad, like really 
darkly tinted windows, loud stereos/huge speakers, and the lights that travel
around license plates in a circular pattern.

It's funny, because I have only seen these crowns in the cars of African
Americans, UNTIL TODAY!  I actually saw a red Bronco with a white male driving
with one on his dash.  Amazing!

I have also seen huge stacks of them at Murray's Discount Auto near the front
counter.  I don't ever recall seeing them anywhere else.

(mcnally blatantly introduces item drift..)  Also, when did all of the
Masonic emblems start showing up on the backs of cars in the Detroit
area?  The ones I'm talking about are on circular badges about 2 1/2"
across.  I'm sure I've never seen them in western Michigan..  Are they
a Detroit-area thing (actually I see them mostly in Dearborn) or are
they just a recent development..

If it's an air freshener, why do I see people driving around with four or
five of them sitting on the dashboard?  Something must be really wrong with
them or their car....and whatever happened to the Playboy air fresheners that
you see hanging from the rear-view mirrow?

Into the feminist wastebin.

I once had a Mr. T air freshener, but at the last minute decided not to 
open the cellophane on account of I didn't necessarily want my car to 
smell like Mr. T.

Re 21:  It's not for air freshner purposes, it's a fad, the more the better.
        I've seen up to 4-6 in one vehicle.

The interesting thing is that 99% of the ones I see are in cars driven by
members of a particular racial group.  I dunno why.
 
 I used to think that the crowns had something to do with Marty King, but I 
asked some bruthas, & they said no...

RE 20:  They figure they run everything now, so they can comeout into the 
open?

I don't think I want one of those in my car...of course they're not as bad as
those stupid "baby on board" signs or the stuffed Garfield dolls with suction
cups on their feet that stick to your windows....

I prefer the 2 green dice hanging from the rear view mirror type of air
freshener.

  There's always the traditional green cardboard pine-tree shaped
air-freshener.  "Find one in every car.  You'll see.." (Repo Man)

I was in a taxi in Boston a couple of weeks ago and the cabbie 
had about a dozen in the car.

 If said "cabbie" utilized his/her shower device in his/her house they
would not need 12 little pine trees. In my taxi (The Aerostar) I have
no little air cleaner things, and do not need them since I DO use the 
shower device in my home every 24 hours. I also do not permit smoking or
eating. 
My policy is... you smoke or eat... you walk.

My friend who had NO idea that these things were car deodorizers
was told by her roomie that it was a black thing.  Well they
got to talking, and thought maybe it had something to do with
Martin Luther King.  SO, the next day, she went in to work, where
she works with this Doctor who happens to be Black.  So, she,
being the niave kid, asked him if they were a black thing, something
to do with Martin Luther King.
Well, needless to say, he got a big laugh out of it and said,"No, 
Annette, It's an AIR freshener."  heh heh
She hasn't heard the end of it.

The air fresheners started inhabiting dashboards and decks shortly after the
Rodney King beating. I've heard that the crowns symbolize one's support of
the case against the police officers charged with the beating.

I saw a crown air freshener in a white guys car.  I even RODE in his car.
He also listens to rap music.

Glad to hear there's nothing hanging from aa8ij's rear view mirror,
being a cabbie and all.  Besides, the driver with the Santa Claus
annoyed many stopping at the corner of Main and Huron right after the
light.

Now why didn't I think of sewing a pine air freshener into my Garfield
before sticking it to the window?

 It IS a black thang.

10 FEB 93, 3PM, a blue Dodge RAM van travelling west on Michigan at Central in
DeTroit. 1 crown on the dash, vehicle was driven by a white male, appoximately
45 years old. Passenger was a white female of the same approx. age.


10 FEB 93, 3:04PM, a white Chevy Cavalier, west on Michigan at Lonyo, in 
DeTroit. Vehicle was occupied by 7 Hispanic males in their 20s - 30s, & single
crown was located on the rear deck.

10 FEB 93, 5:30 PM, a blue Subaru, on Paislet Ct in Ann Arbor - parked.  2
crowns on the rear deck.

I don't believe it!  My Uncle had one in his car!

 Eric, we're trying to keep track of sightings of the crowns in vehicles
operated by white folk.  Thank you for your report, but can you state with any
degree of certainty that the blue Subaru was owned/operated by a member of
the white community?
 
    Assuming Jeff's uncle is white, this is a major breakthrough!
 
   Jeff, could you please ask your uncle about the circumstances which
prompted him to place said crown in his car?

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