This is a story about the fine line between passion and pose, freedom and staging. The images were taken during the annual German‑American Friendship Festival in Heidelberg in May 2025, which celebrates the city’s long‑standing relationship with the United States — including a US car meet on the airfield, a former US Army airbase. The photographs explore the bond between men and their cars — and the question of what stories they seek to tell when they rev the engine. The car often serves not just as a status symbol, but also as a backdrop for a version of masculinity that is often more about appearances than reality.