"Look but don't touch"....

Last year at the track I had taken some time to watch from the stands and had left the Scout parked in my pit area. When I got back there were 3 guys in thier teens / early 20's hanging around it with one of the 3 sitting inside. He was looking around and playing with the starter switch. (Over ride switch at the back was off) I walked up and gave them a compliment for owning such a cool truck. The guy inside never missed a beat and started talking about it like he owned it. His friends kinda backed off but then one of them actually joined in backing up the bullsh%t. They talked about the 800 hp big block (500 hp sbc actually) running 9's (11's that day) and pulling big wheel stands (True all day). I kept playing along by asking him to fire it up... The kid started to stammer something about charging it up and fidgeted around with the switches again. After a minute or so I leaned into the truck and very quietly told him who I was and to get the #$!% out of my truck... The kid turned white and did so post haste. The 3 wandered off quickly. 15 minutes later the one kid who did not participate came back and apologized. I gave this kid all the time he wanted to talk / ask about the truck. I then offered him a chance to help me in the staging lanes (pushing). He agreed and did so the rest of the day. Never saw his friends again.

 

man, theyd break my running boards completely off! lol

 

No...I will relate since 55 chevys dont have running boards: you would be slightly irritated if some random dude you didnt know at a car show was using the bumper of your 55 to prop there foot on to tie there shoe. You only paid a half G for that bumper and a couple hours putting it on and lining it up.....see what I mean?

Now there is a exception to the rule: if your blond and about 115 pounds...step on them and get in!

 

Our 41 Ford has running boards. Yeller painted ones. In all the years we've owned it, us, our kids, or their friends have never ever put a foot on one of them! Rules is rules. If we don't step on our own running boards and we tell others not to, shouldn't they be nice enough to keep off?
Still, at shows and cruise ins, or the grocery store, we have told people who want to sit in our 41 our simple rule, only to have them step up on it and inside. Then they wonder why we get slightly unhappy !
It ain't like climbin on a 4-wheeler with a lift kit.
As for the comment about take the running boards off if ya don't want someone stepping on them----Cars after the early 30's have intigral running boards that don't easily come off or look good off.

 

My project truck isn't ready to show yet, (some mechanical issues to resolve), so I take my 2011 Ram to club events. (We don't get judged anyway). Granted it's not a HAMB piece, but I had some custom paint done to it. The hood and body sides have striping inspired by the '73 Roadrunner. The tailgate has a handpainted pinstripe graphic and the hood has a 10 inch rendition of the Dodge emblem with the logo and flying wing on it. Everyone wants to know where they can get those decals and don't believe me when I say it is all paint. Next thing you know they are over at the truck running the edge of their fingernails across the pinstriping to see if it really is paint! Then they have to touch the side stripes which were done with a textured paint. I usually tell them to get their meathooks off the truck now. One of the more popular responses is, "It's just a truck". To which I answer Yeah, and I suppose your mother was JUST a mother?

They don't usually like that one.

As for the comment that these vehicles are just a commodity I respond,
And I suppose your mother was JUST a mother?

 

I personally don't mind if they touch, maybe because I need a paint job, but the thing that really gets to me is when people started reaching in the car, even if it is to just point at something I don't care I still feel like they are trying to steal something!

 

Start by saying I agree 100 percent about respecting other people's property. I commonly tell people on the plane when they are shoving and moving my stuff around in the overhead "is that your bag? No? Then maybe you should leave it alone"...

And I also agree that in general "the masses are asses" and that it seems no one respects other people's property and that parents don't seem to instill this kind of thing into their kids anymore, etc...

But...reading this thread I see some people get this and others are just elitist, arrogant, snobs with over inflated self worth.

What the fuck does how much money someone has have to do with anything? I know plenty of people who can't and will never be able to afford the cars they see at car shows that have plenty of respect for other people's stuff! I also know plenty of wealthy people with a sickening sense of entitlement.

Yeah, I may be a prick when I tell someone to leave my shit alone in the overhead but I sure as shit don't say "don't touch my bag, it cost more than you make in a week"...

 

If stupidity was a snow flake we be up to are eye balls in snow

 

Yes.I'm sure you are well aware of it...At many aircraft museums there's signs stating not to touch the planes.Many are the last one known to exist and if every visitor puts a finger on the wing,eventually damage occurs.So I see visitors look around and then reach out and touch the plane.

 

When I had my 54 Chevy I had an older fellow come up with his blind son (son was likely around 40). You could tell that he had been blind and been in the care of his dad for likely his entire life.

He proceeded to tell me that a 54 Chevy was his favorite car and everything there is to know about the car. I guess there is a good bit of braille information or something.

I told him to "get in". He was reluctant but I assured him it was O.K. He ran his hands all over. Made his day.

I had my bike at a show. A little kid instinctively tried to get on. To her credit her mom grabbed her and told her she couldn't do that. I said it was O.K. and did she mind? The mom said it was fine. I lifted the kid on the bike and she smiled the biggest smile. They of course took pics and thanked me.

Yes, in both cases people didn't just do things on their own and I certainly understand someone getting upset when someone leans on their 10K paint job but on the other hand, sometimes people can be real asses about their cars also.

 

Is that a song also? hahaha....

 

Ya and if a dumbass was a grain of sand we would would be lookin around thinkin we were in the frickin Sahara desert!

 

Couldn't agree more!

On the other hand, I was at a show at a high end rod builders shop and two eight to ten year olds were running around between cars and sliding on the showroom floor like they were major league baseball players.
There was a salesman for the shop sitting at his desk, in the showroom, and I loudly said "Some people refuse to control their kids".
My wife said "they are HIS kids".
Iv'e never gone back.

 

My dash card. I give these out, and have seen pictures of them from shows all the way out in the midwest. Feel free to print and use.

 

No, but Sea Salt Sally is....

Boy those Sallys get a name don't they?

 

YA and they deserve them I bet! The only Sally I knew should have been called....oh never mind...I doan wanna git kicked off this planet.....hahaha...lets just say she was.....NICE!!!!!!

 

I keep a small handy dandy air horn in my pocket at shows and when I see some jackass or mrs. Jackass gettin frisky on the car I calmly walk up behind them and blow the damn thing in their ear. It's works for animals and a jackass is an animal.

 

i wear a chain wallet. at a local cruz-in i was walking around lookin at all the cars. not getting to close. when i saw one i was interested in a took my wallet and put the chain in my pocket.the man that owned the car came up to me and thanked me because he had done run off a bunch of kids with wallets like mine. i pointed at 2 cars down the road and said those are mine.enough said.i walked away and he was still lookin at me like he couldnt fiqure out what just happened. it was kinda funny. ok i quess you had to be there.lol

 

Ol'Chevy,
You nailed it as well. I love that! That is the same idea I was going for - just different wording. May just need to use that!

 

I was slighlty embarassed when I cussed a 5 yr old smooth the fuck out for WALKING up the fender of my buddy Billy's yellow sedan. It was a little out of line but its better than throwing him off a cliff like I really wanted to do at the time.

I was fortunate enough to be raised in a "car" family. A proper one at that. I was taught automotive etiquette at the earliest age possible. I was taught that you simply NEVER EVER touch ANY vehicle without permission. Ferrari or Kia, doesn't matter. I would almost rather you kick my girlfriend in the butthole than molest my car. You're getting fucked up either way but that's just me. I'm scared that I'll get in a fight over it one day. It seems that every year at the RoundUp someone tests me. A few years ago some fucking idiot thought he was impressing us by doing donuts in the dirt showering our cars and campsite with THICK dust and dirt. I can't believe the disrespect some people have.

 

Feel free.

 

Funny thing is he was polite to you. Didn't call you names. Just politely asked you to not use a racist term. Hmmm...

 

This is impossibly bad advice, and an example of a non-equation.

A car is an object. Touching one, while it might piss-you-off, is not a crime.

Touching a person is without their consent is Battery, and is a prosecutable offense.

Touching a person's sexual organs is without their consent is Sexual Battery, and is a prosecutable offense, on the FELONY level, and could get you that, and on the list of registered sex offenders.

Just don't do it.

 

"Touching a person's sexual organs is without their consent is Sexual Battery, and is a prosecutable offense, on the FELONY level, and could get you that, and on the list of registered sex offenders.

Just don't do it. "


Not sure when boobs became sex organs?

 

In the US, in the eyes of the courts, they most certainly are. Might be different in Canada, but certainly not here.

 

I am very hesitant to touch my friends cars even after working on them for months LOL, I dont know if its respect for the cars, or what, but I just dont do it, I dont touch cars at shows, cruis-ins, or any other gathering, and the same goes in a buddys garage for the most part for me....Jim

 

^^ I'm with you guys - I can clean it up after they've looked and I can fix it if something gets broken. I build cars to be enjoyed - by many.

The rest of you are just waytoo uptight" - perfect HAMBers...

Of course, truth be told, I've RARELY seen someone disrespect my rides.