Why Sammy Speed Is The New Kim Kardashian Of Millennial Car Culture
By Paulo Acoba
Insta-fame. If you’ve got an eye-catching car, a set of real wheels and happen to be gorgeous. Congrats. Fame is at your fingertips.
So there I was scrolling through my Instagram as I usually do on any other night after I’ve worked out and had a bit of dinner. Suddenly, I see my friend posted up this video from with some lady talking next to her car. Like a Costco free sample, I was hooked so I headed over to the full 10-minute video of Sammy Speeds MTV Crib/Car tour, got a pad of paper down and decided to attempt to dissect this Insta-famous model for what she really was. It’s been said that you only have to eat a slice of the pie to know what the whole pie tastes like, and four minutes and 30 seconds into the “tour” where Sammy Speed starts talking about “Tushy Tuesday,” I got it. She’s smart.Like in a street’s smart sort of way. Sammy Speed knows she’s hot and like other “car girls” out there, she’s using it to her advantage, leveraging her assets and making somewhat of a name for herself along the way.
First Sammy somewhat gives us a quick tour of her Subaru pointing out the wrap and stating quite proudly that, “this is a green car” which has taken off on Instagram in its own special way. Then she points out her wheels, and up until this point I was somewhat interested until she states, “my second favorite part of my car is my wheels, B—-s these are more than your Louis bags, so you guys can go F— O–.” For the nine minutes after that, I pretty much tuned out.
From there we get a tour of her house, some of her free swag she’s accumulated over the years, a trip to the nail salon and a stop at her workplace.
I hate to say it but the only name that kept popping up in my mind was Kim K. And it made sense. Lots of followers, plenty of sponsors and supporters with an equal amount of haters all built on a foundation of newfound celebrity.
"…contemporary celebrity is not necessarily associated with any form of talent, achievement, or power. In other words, famous people have always been celebrated, but the last decade has seen an unprecedented rise of the empty celebrity cult, that is, our tendency to worship people just because they are famous."
If you look close enough in any hobby or craft your bound to find this cult like celebrity following be it once models suddenly turned serious cosplayers to fixed gear riders who bought a single speed and are suddenly “all about that life.”
And with 2000 plus facebook page likes, more than 61,000 Instagram followers, probably a good amount on snapchat and a handful on twitter, Sammy’s certainly got the beginnings of a personal social media empire on her hands.
Sammy’s car. A 2008 Subaru WRX with a green wrap, a couple of bolt-ons underneath the hood, some choice aero pieces here and there and three-piece Brada Nine1 forged wheels. Put it all together and you’ve got a car that’ll break necks for sure, but nothing to write home about. We all know that when it comes to cars, it’s “the grind” so to speak that we gain respect. Installing things with our own two hands, working overtime to afford that authentic carbon fiber lip and contributing back to the community with your help and time. So as far as this Subie is concerned, chalk it up as one fast handbag.
So welcome to being insta-famous. You’ll have more haters than lovers. You’ll get more memes made out of you than Drake and you might just be written off as “one of those car chicks.” But you seem to be taking it in stride and I’m sure your sponsors don’t mind.
