In October 2002, Arnold Schwarzenegger returned the Ferrari Spider which he had recently purchased, explaining that it did not fit his new image. The flashy car, he told the dealership's president, might give potential voters the wrong idea: "I feel I need a car that would better telegraph my image as a candidate for California governor -- a car that says I'm a man of the people."

In March 2003, Schwarzenegger bought... an Austrian tank (called a Pinskower) modified to render it legal to drive on city streets.

[Schwarzenegger also remained the official spokesman for the Humvee (aka the "Hummer"), GM's $50,000-$100,000 version of the military's biggest, baddest jeep. According to the Boston Globe, Schwarzenegger, inspired by the Gulf War, "spent many months convincing AM General (a company bought by GM in 1999), to produce these vehicles for the public."]

["I'm a Republican," Schwarzenegger remarked during a visit to the Nixon Library in 1991, "because of Richard Nixon."]