Festive Floor Fillers – Top Five Automotive Christmas Songs

We do enjoy a Christmas tune or two but you can keep your Mariah Careys and your Mickey Bubbles because they’re not crooning about classics, sadly. When we stick a festive banger on we want car references and surprisingly there have been quite a few Christmas songs over the years featuring various vehicular references so grab a mince pie, sit back and join us as we pick our top five festive floor fillers – Car & Classic edition.

1) Big White Cadillac – Little Joey Farr, 1960

Kicking things off is ‘Big White Cadillac’ by ’50s Rockabilly singer Little Joey Farr. Tapping into the universal appeal of wanting a brand spanking new car for Christmas, Farr, with the help of her electric guitar, delivers her wish for a big white Cadillac in incredibly cutsie fashion somewhat akin to little orphan Annie. Cadillac has been producing grand old boats since the turn of the 20th Century and has been the luxury division of American automotive giant General Motors since 1909. An intrinsic part of American car culture it’s a solid choice of Christmas present.

2) Santa’s Got a Coupe de Ville – The Four Imperials, 1962

Another Cadillac and the first of three songs referencing the type of car Santa would drive if his Reindeer all developed a severe case of foot and mouth, ‘Santa’s got a Coupe de Ville’ was a 1962 hit for the Four Imperials, four singers from Detroit who started harmonizing on street corners in the mid ’50s. A fitting choice for old Saint Nick the first-gen Coup de Ville was Cadillac’s luxury full size car, complete with grandiose tail fins and a 6.4-litre V8. According to the lyrics it was a four-door limousine capable of 110mph. These cars only came with an auto slush box though so the Imperials’ reference to the car’s ‘stick’ is a little erroneous…

3) Rusty Chevrolet – Da Yoopers, 1986

We’re sure many of you can relate to picking up the Christmas shopping in a down at heel classic. We’ve done it many times ourselves and ‘Rusty Chevrolet’ describes the process in vivid detail. Categorised as a ”novelty band” Michigan natives the Da Yoopers lament in their 1986 song about the Chevy “I need new piston rings, I need some new snow tires, my car is held together by a piece of chicken wire” before going on to declare what fun it is to drive, and if that doesn’t sum up classic car ownership then we don’t know what does. As far as festive floor fillers go, it’s pretty accurate.

4) Santa’s Gonna Come In a Pickup Truck – Alan Jackson & The Chipmunks, 1993

Trading in his Cadillac for a pickup truck in country music star Alan Jackson’s 1993 Christmas jingle ‘Santa’s Gonna Come In a Pickup truck’, Mr Clause needs a more suitable vehicle to deliver presents down south in the U S of A where there’s no snow. Joined by none other than Alvin and the Chipmunks, Jackson croons about Santa’s “big red pickup with four-wheel drive and all”. The exact make and model isn’t disclosed but we’d wager it’s a Dodge Ram…

5) Santa Drives a Hot Rod – The Brian Setzer Orchestra, 2005

Santa has quite the fleet of classics it would seem as our final song in the list sees him cutting about in a hot rod, care of The Brian Setzer Orchestra and its 2005 song ‘Santa Drives a Hot Rod’. Former lead singer of the Stray Cats Setzer and his swing band argue that the only way Santa can successfully deliver all those presents is with a hot rod. “I do believe that Santa’s sleigh got a big block Chevrolet if he’s gonna make it ’round the world on Christmas Day” poses Setzer. He does have a point to be fair.