A Volkswagen Beetle
Bosnian pensioner Momir Bojic drives his wooden Volkswagen Beetle car in Celinac, near Banja Luka, April 2, 2014. Bojic,71, an avid Volkswagen fan, created the car from over 50,000 separate pieces of oak and took two years to complete it. Reuters/Dado Ruvic

If you have a beautiful car, then you'd better watch out in Washington. A 63-year-old has made love to more than 700 cars—so far. It is only now, at last, that there is just one "true love of his life."

Edward Smith is not Bluebeard though but a mechaphile; that is, he is sexually aroused by cars and other machines. He told Phillip Schofield and Amanda Holden in ITV's "This Morning" show, as per Daily Mail, that currently, a Volkwagen Beetle called "Vanilla" is his passion. He admitted his yearning for cars as far back as 2008 in nydailynews, but he has become a celebrity of sorts due to the TV interview in the morning show.

Apparently, Edward "lost his virginity" to his neighbour's Volkswagen Beetle when he was just 14. This roused in him a desire for cars that led him to car parks and showrooms for "threesomes." He has gone for Mustangs, luxury Jaguars and even attack helicopters and planes, according to Mirror. He said just as some men like to look at "boobs and bums" on women, he liked to ogle at the "front and rear" of beautiful cars.

Strangely and fortunately, Edward can thank his stars he is not in the U.K., where mechaphiliacs are considered to be criminals and listed in the sexual offenders' register. When he was a teenager, he would probe car magazines. In an explanation to Metro.co, he said that he got "tempted one night to step outside to gently caress the car." He said that it roused something within him. When he realized it, he began to search for cars that attracted him. He agrees that it had been risky, moreover, with so many car lots in his neighbourhood.

How did he make love to a car, though? There was no "penetration," he said. He would just hug and kiss it, hold it close and have long conversations, apart from "physical satisfaction" that he would get next to the car. However, it was always with his clothes on. "I basically just unzipped," he said To Daily Mail. He added that he never got naked on a car in front of others.

In school and college Edward had some human girlfriends too, and even when he was an adult in San Francisco, 1971, he went through a relationship, but never consummated it. He admitted that it was not a greatly gratifying experience.

On the other hand, his love has always been his favourite cars--- Vanilla, Cinnamon and Ginger, even though he frets that they may break down. His girlfriend now is Vanilla, with whom he has "settled down." He says that she has become special, as he got her in 1982 and she will be 30 years old on Dec 23, he added. He had "met" her when he had got involved with another Volkswagen Beetle called Victoria. He does not feel the same energy reaching out to him from all the cars uniformly, he clarifies. With some there is more intimacy. With Vanilla, it was love at first sight.

He said that he first met her when he lived at Yelm. The local Jehovah's witness church driver drove up in her, but he was hooked by the car. Years later, he was shocked when he saw that she was up for sale in a dealer's shop, and decided to buy it. But he greets her every morning, and gets close to her, though he is careful not to be spotted in public. He has some feelings even for two other cars, but admits to Daily Mail that Vanilla is "very forgiving and doesn't get jealous."

He confesses that he knows cars are not conscious, yet he feels deeply about them and truly believes that they stay together for keeps. He is the only one who is allowed to wash his cars, which is like giving them a bath, he says. He likes to talk to them, play music and "suds them all up." His feeling are so strong he says he would be "devastated" if there were ever to be a mechanical problem or a crash involving Vanilla.

Isn't it crazy? Yes, he admitted. But then there are a lot of weird things in the world, he pointed out. If he is not harming anyone, what is the problem here, he wants to know, according to Mirror.