Folks Of Interest Cruise Night Mutterings

Had a homeless lady tell me my car was so shinny she wanted to take a shower in it. Not in the car though in the shinnyness. As she reached out to touch it I yelled at her to "not f***ing touch it"!!! She didn't.....


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In the 90's I bought a Rambler for $125 because the family took it away from their granpa because he was too old to drive (he drove it into the closed garage door, crunched the fender)

Then a drunk driver smashed into it outside my apt in the middle of the night. Raked the whole side and rear quarter, bent the axles. My sister and I were sharing it, it still drove around, we nick-named it the "death-wobble-mobile". Couldn't go faster than 20 mph, it swayed from side to side like a horse, but that's ok it was Los Angeles.

I ended up selling it to this homeless old guy for $20, so he could live in it. He would start it up and move it from one side of the street to the other to avoid street cleaning. A tank of gas would last him 2 years. He knew that the front seats of a Rambler folded all the way down to make a bed, that's why he approached me to buy it. I thought that was a cool factoid, so I accepted his offer. Smart guy. Homeless people don't bother me, I'm one argument with my wife away from being homeless myself.


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Wow, I bet that made you feel better, you got to scream an obscenity at a poor old lady that just complimented your car.

Mick

 

At a cruise last night and a fellow Rodder had a kid step on his running board, (paved parking lot, did not leave a scratch) we thought he was going to have a heart attack, ran over yelled at kid and parents, ruined his evening, (bitched rest of the evening) and he will be bitchin for weeks over this. I agree this is wrong and sadly parents today don't watch their kids and these people did not speak English, but the father was apologizing in his language it appeared. I put rubber covered running boards on my 32 for 2 reasons, like the look and the painted ones were getting scratches from kids eyeballing car. I have seen many cars put carpet "No Step" on their boards, seems like a great idea to avoid this problem. I'm old and grumpy myself, but want to enjoy the hobby and hope I never get to that point that crap like that spoils the deal for me as many people have commented on here, it's not just kids that don't have respect, courtesy at events, I think we all agree it's the obnoxious know it all that explains what's wrong and how you should have done it that wears thin quickly. Fortunately the good people still make it fun, we'll see what the future holds. Everyone, Enjoy your day ! No guarantee on tomorrow !

 

There's a two day car show at our local mall. The crowd isn't comprised of "car people"
I always treat them politely even when I get every stupid question and uninformed comment.
Its little wonder the hobby is suffering with the way some of you folks respond to people who are merely expressing interest or trying to start a small conversation.

 

I had a young kid at a show last month ask me why my coupe had training wheels on the back. i thought it was funny, and he was a nice kid. I told him they where training wheels for wheelies . The kid and his dad and I continued to have a great conversation , and a good laugh . ITS ALL GOOD AT THE EBD OF THE DAY. The point is Just be nice untill its time not to be nice.

 

Wicarnut. AGREED!!! Bruce.

 

Yeah, no sense in being a jerk if it's not necessary, though kids that are not properly supervised at car events can be a problem. It's all fun and games until one of the poor little guys decides to grab a hot header or hot radiator shell.

 

None of my cars are even close to perfect...so I don't mind if kids want to crawl on them or whatever. I had a green Fury four door sedan that was just an old beater....I had more interesting conversations in parking lots and stuff when I drove that car. Don't know to this day what it was about that car that people liked so much.

 

Is that a Bronco ?
How much Nozz are ya runn'n ?
I thought International Harvester only made tractors
I'm think'n that's really a Bronco
That didn't come stock with a supercharger did it ?
My dad has one just like this
Bronco... I'm sure it's a Bronco
What'r them little wheels on the back fer ?
Your tires need chag'n, the tread done wore off
I thought this was a Bronco from over there...

 

For years I had open wheel racers, Midgets and wing 410 Sprint cars, after the races myself, wife or a crew member would watch out for the kids, help them in and out of car when they wanted to sit in it, make sure they did not touch headers, used to be a huge deal, when I was kid sat in all of the cars as I grew up at race tracks, my Dad had a Midget racer, I don't see much of that anymore at the few races I attend, also do not see many kids at races, like so many things, change happens. After following this thread and others here, I think some of my fellow car guys need to think about stopping being such a smart ass know it all to the walk in/non car person and be nice to kids, rather than scream at them, calmly show them your car and explain the Please no touch deal. With that being said, some of the brats I've observed are beyond help at preteen, Sad sometimes to see what our great country is reducing itself to. End of Rant ! Be Happy ! No Worries !

 

Two young (1rst grade) boys looking in the trunk of my friends pro street Cougar, one points at the fuel cell and asks "whats that".

The other boy smacks him on the back and says "you dummy thats where they put the nitro glycerin"

 

I was stopped at a light some years ago when a guy pulls up next to me, and says "That's a Street Beast, ain't it?".

 

zzford, now thats about the worst insult anyone could receive.

 

yeh she drove a gto .

 

The two Is, Innoscence & Ignorance.
Some people are drawn to shiny, just like a Crow.
they are oblivious to the $ & effort involved!
I seen a lady put her purse on the fender of black mid 50s t-bird..........,
or rub there hands all over my q-panels, WTF.
As car guys, we are there to educate.
Do not strangle!(at your discretion!)

 

My Ford is 50 shades of primer. I haven't touched the body since I got it. But people come up to me all the time, best place is the local Rite Aid parking lot. I was just talking to this nice older lady the other day. Nice shiny cars are intimidating I suppose. Mine has that lived in look.

 

Cruise nights are generally free, so anyone can come in. Hot summer nights attract a nice crown, if there's an ice cream truck people bring their kids. The kids I have no problem with. I think some of the wives drag the husbands in. Hard to resist us hot guys and our hot cars.

 

Thats right!

 

I also raced sprint cars and in the early days used an open trailor.
One Saturday we are headed to the track and stopped at a fast food joint and overheard a couple employees talking about the racing jeep parked outside. I was curious so I go out to look and saw nothing but my stuff. I went back in and asked the guy and he says, it's still there, it's the red 98 jeep on the trailor! From then on we always referred to sprint cars as jeeps.

 

I had a young gentleman stand in front of the Scout and argue with me that the 4 fuel lines leading into my Hilborn 4 port injection were "Nozz" lines. At one point I asked him if he even knew what "Nozz" was and he was offended I asked, then got it wrong (ish). I guess they have never heard about Nitrous Oxide in relation to "Nozz".

The follow up to this was we went over to "his" car and he proceeded to walk me through a very well done turbo'd Civic that I remembered from the track. It ran 12.30's/130 on street radials... It became very obvious very quickly he didn't know what he was talking about (Didn't know the turbo size, boost pressure... showed me the "Nozz" that was really water injection etc...) and in the end I assumed it wasn't his car.

I hate the term "Nozz" it just tells me you have no idea

 

Thank you Fast and Hilarious movie franchise for wrongly educating the masses. A little extra effort from all the money raked in at the box office and you could have corrected some of the "falsehoods" you've spread, if not by the second then at least the 10th sequel.


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Or maybe his only experience with building the car was writing the checks.

 

I pulled into a gas station in my chopped 39 Ford convertible sedan in primer and a Carson top, the kid asked me " Is that some kind of "WWII Army Vehicle?". I said no its a custom Tub?

 

Hey! I went to high school with the 1910 Fruitgum Company guys. Linden, N.J.

 

My 1948 Jeepster is constantly referred to as a "Thing" by some automotive expert.
I simply remind them by saying "No this is the vehicle that won the war".

 

One day a number of years ago I stopped at a Rite-Aid with my 1930 Model A roadster, which was Buick-powered with a toploader four-speed, no hood. When I came out there were about four or five people standing around it. A guy around my age ( 58 -60 years or so at the time) says; "Chevy huh?" I said, "no, it's a Ford". He then, while looking at the engine says, "flathead huh?". I said, "no, it's a Buick". He replies; "automatic?". I said,"no, it's a four-speed". He then just briskly walked away and a little, white-haired old lady in the group says to me,"boy, he sure doesn't know much about cars, does he?"

 

Last time I heard about kingpins on a 1953 Ford Mainline and a cracked flywheel in a 1966 Thunderbird... But what annoys me is negative comments regarding the appearance of my rides. I understand the ratty look isn't for everyone, but I try to do as much of the work myself, with limited budget, experience, and resources, learning as I go. At the end of the day, that's one more old car/truck that someone is rolling around in, opposed to having it sit in a hedgerow or crushed.

 

Here in Brazil we don't have many cruise nights (at least were i live, i've heard of some in larger cities), but i've heard lots of stuff in car shows, usually it is the traditional " i had one just like this one, except it was a (insert a totally unrelated car)"
As far as bad behavior i've seen things from kids climbing on Jeeps and other open vehicles to adults ripping off a window of an OT late 60's race car trying to open the door.