Typical Boy Stuff? Identifying Cars

My daughter notices the ones that look like Transformers. I frequently hear "there's Bumblebee!" or whatever when we're driving somewhere.

Pretty normal.

Eventually, they add other things, like movies (they will identify a movie by half of a quoted line, or an actor and then give you his entire theatrical resume), musical artists (will recognize which group/artist, what album and which song after about 4 beats), and girls (this is the oddball one, where they will all amazingly become detail non-specific, and be referred to only as "my friend" without ANY other clarifying details).

Totally normal. My son and daughter can distinguish cars that are exactly like their grandparents' (and ours, and aunts'/uncles') by model and color. Helps that we love cars too, I guess. Partly genetic? Our whole family is into cars. If you can, try to take a video of him identifying either real or toy cars. You'll love to watch it together when he's older. :)

My four year old is the same way with cars and dogs. People are amazed when he points out a Japanese Spitz, as we walk by! He points out car models, as well.

You know what? Kids ARE strange :) Unless it's a determent to them, rude, or harms someone else (almost never is)...I don't worry about my son's strange inclinations.

My cousins son did this too. He could identify makes better than my husband! He could identify the make of every car we drove by.

It was funny though, because our grandpa (who had a cattle ranch) drove a Ford pickup. So while Ford cars were "Fords," their trucks were classified as "Cowboy trucks." Lol.

My nephew, who just turned 5, has been able to identify pretty much any random tractor pointed out to him for a while now... At least the past year and half, maybe longer! I don't know if it's typical but your son isn't alone. Lol

Maybe it can also be how much exposure a child has to a parent that is crazy about cars?

My husband is crazy about certain cars. Our daughter could/would identify for him certain makes..

I think she was so used to him yelling. "That beetle is a 1963.. blah, blah, blah.." Or "Look at that Volkswagen bus.!!. " "convertible Beetle!" The logo was familiar to her, because my husband had one on his dresser.

She also recognized certain pick up trucks, because we had one, my FIL had one and also my Stepfather. Rams (the Ram head logo) and Ford extended cabs. because she could sit in the backseat of the truck,. Hee, hee..

Our neighbor had an old International Scout. We all called it "The Beast", so any time she saw one on the road, she would yell, "there is a Beast!"

And of course the Explorers because I swear every family we knew owned them..

My son (since he was about 4) could identify who had been in our driveway just by the tire tracks they left behind!

Updated

My son (since he was about 4) could identify who had been in our driveway just by the tire tracks they left behind!

two of my brothers did it obsessively. so did my older boy.
perfectly normal. and kinda cool.
:) khairete
S.

My son started doing that around 2. He would name cars all the time. Same with store fronts, when we drove it was always "look mom there's IKEA! Look at dodge caliber like daddy's! Look its Macy's!"

Pretty typical. I use to babysit for a 4 yr old who could name almost every car on the road. It was freakishly awesome.

My niece did it, so I would say typical kid stuff, not necessarily boys.

I think that that is pretty typical, at least in my family. My 2 of my nephews (who are more than 12 years apart in age and from different sib's families) could list all the Thomas the Tank Engines trains and spout off in detail half a dozen of the stories. My son could tell you the names of at least 20 different dinosaurs (and say them correctly), along with whether they were herbivores or carnivores by the time he was 2.5 years old. For other kids, it's all the characters in My Little Ponies or superheroes or something else. :)

So, no, it's not weird.

My 7 year old just remembered that we picked up the vacuum cleaner from my older daughter house. She was two when this happened. Some of them just have very sharp memories.

Very normal. It seems like every little kid zeroes in on something and can remember EVERYTHING. They are little sponges!

Pretty normal. My boys could identify vehicles that they were familiar with. Also, it depends if they hear adults call it a "Toyota Avalon" or just "the car". My friend called all construction equipment "tractors", so her boys called them all "tractors". My boys were always correcting them "that's not a tractor, that's an excavator!"

I think it's in the x chromosome.

I still couldn't possibly identify a car, other than by color.

But that is one smart little boy and very "visual". No wonder with his mom!

Normal, and smart.

Right after college I worked with a little boy who was a champion sorter and organizer of information. He's now pursuing a PhD in biochemistry. Some brilliant minds are just wired like this.

Even my daughter did this. At 3 they start to sort. This is the beginning conceptual framework for math.

My sons remember levels of Nintendo and electric guitars. I think it's all what we are about. My husband refers to everything and everyone by their car (he is a machine mechanic). I remember I never got an actual Barbie Doll. hmm the rest of everything else is a blank

Yes - all three of my sons knew makes and models of cars, and who drove what. It's a boy thing.