Usually, unless we’re talking about race cars with a dedicated panel or modern, software-intensive vehicles that are connected to the cloud, cars come with keys. Keys on their own can get easily misplaced, so there’s a good chance you’re rocking some sort of keychain or lanyard on the key ring of at least one of your vehicles. The question is: What sort of keychains are you rocking, how did you come to own them, and are you happy with them? I’ll start.
Admittedly, I haven’t always been a key chain guy, partly because many of the car I’ve owned have featured a separate fob for the remote locks from the physical key, and that’s been enough to keep things from getting lost. However, I now own two cars with integrated fobs, so key chains have become necessities, and here’s what I’m rocking.
On the ring for the fob on my 3 Series, I’ve got a keychain with an orange E30 M3 printed in it that I got from One Hell Of A Town. It’s been durable, and there’s some greater meaning to it too — not only do I love E30s, this one’s a depiction of the one on the cover of Frank Ocean’s Nostalgia, Ultra and that’s one of my favorite mixtapes ever. This one’s a 10/10 keeping forever sort of scenario.
Now, my Boxster’s key is attached to an actual chain with a lovely metal Porsche pendant on the other end. It came with the car and I believe it to be period-correct, although I’m not entirely sure whether or not it’s an actual Porsche accessory. It’s a little worn from decades in pockets, but that sort of patination feels like an honor rather than a burden.
So, what stylistic accessory lives on your key ring? It could be a key chain, it could be a lanyard, it could be a jet tag, whatever the case, I want to know all about it in the comments below.
Pete piping in … I’d also like to know how you’re keeping your keys findable at home. Are you a key-hook person? More of a key bowl fan? I really like this miniature amp setup as shared by Shitbox Showdown author Mark Tucker:
Meanwhile, ya boy Stephen! Walter! Gossin! favors this fantastic Time Machine key-keeper, which is clearly getting a workout:
I’m a fan of this very clever and fun Lego setup. It’s easily DIY-able, you definitely don’t need the official boxed item.
To the comments!
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I don’t have any personally, but I makes them as part of my wood turning hobby:
https://www.instagram.com/turningsbytim/p/C8N7mrXOxUw/
Those are quite good looking – bet you sell a lot to owners of the good stuff looking to elegantly coordinate with their interiors.
Thank you. I need to get my hands on some affordable burls.
Lilac-colored daisy in leather from Coach (Sentra SE-R); Saab logo (Saab); Hardy & Beck keychain (BMW E12); Old brass ‘Fiat’ keychain (Fiat Spider); VW logo (JSW); Luftgekuhlt 6 leather fob (911); leather fob in the shape and colors of Zambia (everything that isn’t a car)
Nothing. I usually have the fob with an aftermarket cover and that’s it. My main keys have a fob for the office. I carry no other keys… The house locks are keypads and I have a garage app on my phone.
One of these! https://newwavetoys.com/products/insert-coin-key-chain
The battery doesn’t last super long, I suspect it gets pressed in my pocket quite a bit.
Right now I’m using Hot Wheels’ Coupe Clip (purpose made without wheels for a keychain, sort of a Shelby Daytona coupe knockoff), because why not?
https://hotwheels.fandom.com/wiki/Coupe_Clip
My motorcycle keys live stashed in my desk drawer with a Honda Racing keychain picked up from my one visit to SEMA, and for some reason, a bottle opener from a brewery in Saskatoon (Paddock Wood, shaped like the logo for their Black Cat lager).
That is just fantastic; talk about things I didn’t know about that I absolutely now need.
I use a Forged Pacific Ridge key case to handle the house keys with two fobs attached to it. https://ridge.com/products/forged-pacific-keycase
I have a period-correct Keihan Fisherman’s Wharf keychain on my ’90 Toyota Crown.
The fisherman’s wharf, like most 90s Toyotas, was a product of the bubble era, and it’s long been demolished. It used to be a tourist stop on one of the islands that the Seto Ohashi (one of the 3 giant bridges that connect Japan’s main island of Honshu to Shikoku) went over. I used to live in Okayama where the bridge’s north end is, and I always found its history fascinating.
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/3/34/Keihan_Fisherman%27s_Wharf-01.jpg/1280px-Keihan_Fisherman%27s_Wharf-01.jpg
On my daily driver Civic, I have a replica of a station sign from the train station I used to live next to. There’s someone I found on eBay who makes them for lots of popular stations, and I asked if they’d make one for mine
Bottle opener from my second job is the base ring, but I have like 8 store deal fobs that bury it, plus the big keyless fob for my other car. It’s a bit of a pocketful.
The house and office keys get to hang out with an old VW key ring (first car) and two bottle openers; one I got at a 10-year college reunion and one my mom gave me when I turned 20. That one will no longer reliably open a beer, but I will always carry it.
The car – just the fob. It also rides in a separate pocket from the key/keychain/beer opener crowd; can’t be scratching that “For the drivers” on the side.????
My 4-4-2 gets a little pewter Millennium Falcon.
My Miata has a little plastic bottle of Bacardi Limon. The previous owners gave it to me with the key, and they had gotten it from the original owner. I thought that was cool so I kept it.
Nothing for the BRAT yet. Partly because the plastic part of the key where it ring would hot it is broken.
Looking at the big bucket of keys
Cars that run
Apple AirTag
Cars that don’t run
A triumph tr3 reproduction fob
A parts heaven fob on the porsche key
A dairy cow brass herd number on the Thing
Cars I don’t have anymore
Oh my, I know most of those keys are to things I don’t have but some useful keys are mixed in.
I’m rocking a steel cutout of an EJ headgasket on my Saabaru keys. Buddy of mine got it as a present for me recently. Pretty sweet. Got it from https://disagree.de/en
I had one of those for my Subaru, but it broke.
…and no, this is not a head gasket joke.
I was not trying to write a poem there but it does flow nicely.
One of these guys:
https://fansbrands.com/products/formula-1-keyring-f1-logo-black-2022
I simply have my keys attached to an old, weathered carabiner that I bought the last time I visited my alma mater’s (Virginia Tech) bookstore 9 years ago. When I get home, they go in a bin inside my closet.
Unless I’m feeling lazy and I leave them on the kitchen counter.
For the cars that have memory seats tied to specific keys, we have keychains my kids picked to identify them – one set has Lego figurines and the other has rubber Mario Bros figures. For the other, no keychain, just keys. All are hung on one of those dumb “Family – Live, Laugh, Love” key hooks that a family member gifted us and we feel obligated to use. The hook setup is functional and convenient, but I’d love to replace it with one like SWG has.
My car and house keys are on the fob more my Mazda CX-5, which you can tell I’ve had a while because the chrome is worn off.
My motorcycle keys are currently attached to a plastic fob from Intel Pacific Rim Manufacturing Development (chip fabs and test floors) with an old Bob’s BMW fob in reserve.
My wife has a “tsunami warning, run like hell” souvenir fob from Jerry’s Jet Boats in Gold Beach Oregon, and my son has a fob from Bob’s Red Mill that was swag at a Cross Crusade race
To minimize the giant pain in the ass that keys can be, I use a KeySmart keychain. It holds the keys to each of my parents’ houses, a thumb drive, and a bottle opener. Clipped to it is a quick release clip that has the fob for my car, fob for my wife’s car, keys to my office, keys to my house. Depending on what I need, I unclip it from the keysmart and use it.
E39 – just the key to my office, MG – a logo fob from the PO that I always thought I’d replace, but here we are 18 years later.
Mine are boring, but I’m posting to share this which my wife just got for her E46. I am fully supportive.
Prius – none, key is always in wallet.
Rav4 Prime (spouses) – steel caribiner so it hangs on my magnetic key holder with house key.
’64 F100 Coachbuilt crewcab – small aluminium caribiner to keep weigh low, has gas cap key and separate door and ignition key. Steel ring for hanging.
’91 F350 long bed dually crewcab – Souvenir shark bites kids keychain with one of our kids with their friends. Also has 2 gas cap keys, and 3 trailer hitch keys for rear steps and front hitch, and camper key.
My daily driver keys are just key fobs because both mine and my wife’s 2016 Mazdas are push-to-start. But I have a Twister keychain from the Twister Movie Museum in Wakita, Oklahoma that I visited in August 2022.
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1S6fOyBcjkx57dQNoZGMw6xnFg1VDi_br/view?usp=drivesdk
My Pontiac Sunbird’s keys just have one ribbon keychain with my name on it. Because I found it in a souvenir shop in Gatlinburg, Tennessee and it is extremely rare to find things with my name on them.
Just the fob with a small octopus pendant my sister got me and a house key. I usually leave them in my pants pocket. Grew up in a haunted house and shit like that would disappear for hours only to reappear where you originally left it, so I started leaving them in my pockets and that stopped happening. Became a habit, but it’s still useful as, if the house is on fire, I’m probably throwing on my pants or at least grabbing them if I’m not wearing them and no worries about keys.
On my current key, my UppU crab.
A small knife and a handcuff key. One handcuff key also doubles as a bottle opener. And to answer the question, Yes. The key has come in handy for more than opening bottles.
Like Mike F, I have a 5 gallon donor keychain from the Red Cross that has my blood type on it. I love that one, but my favorite is from Wamsley Pontiac, my grandfather’s dealership. The dealership has been gone since the mid 70s, but I still have a dozen or so keychains left. I keep my corvette keys on it.
I don’t keyring/chain… but I do have an extensive assortment of keys, keyrings and titles to things that have been gone for up to 40 years. Lots of keyrings from defunct transmission shops and auto parts stores. For the Michigoons, there’s a Murrys Auto Parts keyring. My fave is just a charred set of Fiat keys from a beloved 850 Sport Coupe that burned with the intensity of 10 gallons of Amoco Gold I’d just put in.