The cars that we see in the NFL Super Bowl halftime shows tell us more about America than you think

Last night’s Bad Bunny Super Bowl halftime show was a full-blown party, which included surprise celebs like Lady Gaga and Ricky Martin, an alleged real wedding, and the appearance of a beloved car from the streets of America.

When we were teased with just a single refrain from Benito Antonio Martínez Ocasio AKA Bad Bunny’s hit single Gasolina, his dancer’s peeled back to reveal the Puerto Rican singer standing on top of an American classic.

In a performance packed with symbolism, it’s no surprise that the singer decided to pick this particular vehicle to perform on top of.

Bad Bunny is not the first Super Bowl Halftime performer to use a car to make a point in his performance, so let’s take a look back at some iconic car inclusions and the cultural impact they had in America’s biggest show.

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The Weeknd and his 2002 Mercedes-Benz SLK 32 AMG

During his 2021 Super Bowl LV halftime performance, The Weeknd began his set with a car that left a lot of viewers scratching their heads.

With the neon aesthetic of the singer’s Blinding Lights song and the Vegas influence, some viewers initially thought he was sitting in a chopped-up Tesla.

It was actually revealed to be a bit of a ‘Frankenstein’ car, it was a 2002 Mercedes-Benz SLK 32 AMG chassis and engine with a custom widebody fiberglass shell designed to look like a 300 SL Roadster.

While Mercedes is a famously German brand, this design was about as American as you get, as it was created by a California-based body shop and packed with tech designed by American companies.

Apart from the actual football and the halftime show itself, many people tune in to watch the iconic commercials, and the opening still from the Weeknd’s performance was clearly a nod to this.

Dr. Dre and Snoop Dogg’s Chevrolet Impala lowriders

While most viewers couldn’t take their eyes off the cultural icons Dr. Dre and Snoop Dogg and their posse of famous friends who joined them in their 2022 Super Bowl LVI performance, we were distracted by three entirely different American cultural icons.

During performances by Mary J Blige, Anderson Pak, Eminem and a later Super Bowl halftime Hall of Famer, Kendrick Lamar, we could spot not one, not two, but three gorgeous vintage Chevy Impala Lowriders.

According to eBay, searches for the iconic vintage car jumped a whopping 160 percent immediately after the performance, truly cementing themselves as a cultural icon with a much bigger impact than just being in the show.

The 1963 and 1964 muscle cars scream America at full volume, because what is truly more American than the guy who rapped on California Gurls performing next to a Chevy muscle car?

Kendrick Lamar and his 1987 Buick GNX

During last year’s Super Bowl, rapper Kendrick Lamar blew us all away with his halftime performance, which he began sitting on top of the hood of a 1987 Buick GNX.

The Buick GNX has a very personal connection to the rapper, being his daily driver of choice because it was from the year of his birth as well as being the car that his dad drove him home from the hospital in just after he was born.

No one was surprised to see the iconic muscle car in the performance, considering the name of his sixth studio album was literally ‘GNX‘, but no one could have predicted how popular this show would make this particular muscle car.

According to eBay, the searches for the Buick GNX surged 78 percent globally and following the performance, Google searches just for the word ‘Buick’ rose to a whopping average of 985 times per hour.

When he said ‘you can’t fake influence’, the rapper was certainly telling the truth.

Bad Bunny and his 1968 Ford F-250

That brings us to last night, where Bad Bunny put on a fiesta for the whole world to enjoy, and amongst the celebrity guests, piragua stands and people dressed as blades of grass, we spotted an old faithful.

The Puerto Rican singer was performing on what looks to be a vintage Ford F-series pickup truck.

Some eagle-eyed viewers think that it looked to be a 1968 Ford F-250, but it was certainly a classic all-American vintage pickup truck.

In a show built on togetherness and how diverse America is, Bad Bunny’s choice to pick a classic vintage pickup truck was not just coincidence.

The truck is definitely one you will spot on the streets of the US and the whole continent of America, wherever you are, and it was a universal symbol of unity.

So it seems clear that whether it’s a German supercar, a classic vintage muscle car, or an all-American pickup truck, when there’s a car at the Super Bowl Halftime show, it’s never just a car, it’s a symbol for America itself.

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