For no good reason I just thoght of something from many moons ago. When I was a little fart in school I loved T shirts with iron on car stuff- Rat Fink style & other Hot Rods etc. I had a ton of 'em. One day my shirt caught the eyes of a group of older boys who told me that I wore that stuff too much & if they saw another one the next day I was done for. The next day, there I was, car shirt & all outside at recess when they saw me. Three of them tried to drag me off behind a dumpster but I held onto a hand rail to keep from being dragged to a surely shitty fate & put up enuff fight that they just let it go. They didn't give me any problem after that, not that I was a badass, just not worth the effort to them. Sometimes being different gets you a little to much attention. It's worth it. They probably drive mini vans these days and I'm still pretty damned different! Anybody catch crap for being a gearhead?
back in my stock car racing days me and friends were absolutely rabid about it and we got told to live like normal people in a bar one nite i was just thinking about this today and now i am almost a rabid custom car fan nowdays but dont mouth off much anymore and stay out of bars too!!
I always feel like the outcast at work groups of guys only talk golf constantly , another group hunting , guys in another dept. all sports football, basketball,baseball . My wife says you are not a normal guy . Because I dont hunt,fish,bowl,golf,watch sports on T.V. no normal guy stuff .Just cars all the time only cars. At family gatherings I had a relative listen to a car story I was telling afterwards she looked at me and said dont you speak English ? She did'nt understand half of what I said to many car terms. I might as well have been speaking Chinese.
I remember buying those iron on artwork pieces at car shows. My mother always wanted to know why I would want to ruin a good T shirt but she always ironed it on for me. We thought they were so cool.
well at school time the guys only talk about soccer,just hate it haha.i know how to build&rebuild engines but soccer don,t understand the game at all cheers.all they say is you with your strange interest&hoby,s,thats it
you'll haffa come to our get togethers,so i wouldn't be alone..or try working in office with NOTHING but women {only 1 has any clue about cars} & damn near none of the men are much better! i actually had one ask what a distributor was??????
I got asked to leave a job because they were uncomfortable with my car. It was only a 38 Ford Coupe, not like I turned up there in a fucking corvette! Some people just don't understand real cars. Doc.
I am never really "cast" as an outsider but I feel like one. A true car guy or mechanic can spot a fake (or someone who doesn't have a clue) immediately. And this day and age, there are few real car guys anymore. I know we still exist, but we are a dying breed. I love talking cars, hot rods, racing I can stay interested if someone is talking about anything mechanical. I was working a vendor show for military/police stuff. The organizer was a bit of an Alpha Dog. There was a really nice 66 GTO sitting in the parking lot. You could tell someone had put a lot of time in the restoration, and he took pride in doing his own work. There was some vendor booth eye candy standing around and the "Alpha Dog" thought it was a good idea to start bragging about the GTO he bought from the dealer when he was in college. Either trying to impress the women standing there or the guys, I am not sure. He bought a 67 GTO from the dealer with a 426 and a 5 speed (he even did a little shifting move with his arm). The other guys started to chime in with Ooooohs and Woooows. And then they all started in with stories. Every single one was either a lie, or they had no clue what they had. So there I stood. A true car guy ready to talk about this nice GTO........as an outsider. I stood there with my hands in my pocket and didn't say anything.
Those making the most noise usually make the least sense. I hired a guy I met through coincidence to help with a problem on my project. He came over a couple times to get it right and only charged me $50. I was really happy. Later I talk to other people who know the guy and they tell me Ya the guy does pinstriping, tin bashing,painting,,you name it but he never let on at all that he could do any of these things,all he mentioned was he had installed a couple wiring kits and he spent 2 hours chatting with me and looking over my project as it was near road ready.
Nowadays i do what Snafu said when meeting non-believers in social situations. I just stand their with glenched fists in my pocket, politely smile through gritted teeth and say nothing, see my sig. I'm not looking for folks approval, never have and never will. If folks don't like my lifestyle and choice in cars it's their problem and aslong as they keep out my way and keep their comments to themselves, all's good for everyone. Ask my Ex-Wife I have a real cheesy fridge magnet that was given to me that sums up how i feel when i'm at a show, cruising or hanging about with my own sort of people .... "I know i'm in my own world - it's okay,they know me here" Happy Days
Been a misfit all my life, I can't say that I enjoy being a misfit, but it is what it is. Once I was with a group of dirty no good by a camp fire up in th Red Wood Hills. I don't recall what i did but it no doubt was something completely off the wall. one of the older fellas looked across at me and said, "Ya know benno, even among misfits you are a misfit." He was probably right.
I guess I'm a bit of an outcast. My family, son & grandkids tolerate me but really have no clue. I do like sports, dont hunt (had enough of guns in the USMC) fish (talk about wasting time) or golf (I tell them I'm not old enough for golf yet. That really sets them off). I'm just going to plug along till I cant plug anymore.
I belong to your club too. There is only one other person at work I can talk cars with, but his knowledge is limited. In grade school, the teacher got fed up with me and my drawing of cars during class. I had some other boys into it too. She decided to hold a contest. She got us to agree that after the contest that was it! No more drawing of cars during class! I won. I see now the mind game she was playing with me. Pretty smart teacher.
I'd always thought THEY were the odd ones, Why would a man know what the 49ers quarterback's dog name was ????
My Dad was a machinist. That's what he did for a living but he also drew up the prints and then built the house that my Mom still lives in. He did ALL the work except the plumbing and electric and he'd have done that too, if he had time. He also was a gearhead so he did ALL of his own work. So it was totally normal to me that you had to be competent at everything. My uncles were the same way as were his friends so that's how I thought everyone was. After I got a little older (teens, I guess) I began to realize that we were the ones who were different. I'd listen to people talk and knew they were full of shit but they were adults so I kept my mouth shut. I'm so thankful that I was raised by these people. My son is 27 and he knows about chokes, and point ignitions, and how to pack wheel bearings, and drum brakes and how bad body work sucks because of them thru me. You see, he's different too. We get along ok with most people we just don't fit in with them, and I really couldn't be any happier about it. KRH
School daze hell I grew up in a family of Greens. To this day I speak to my brother only when I have to. I Have thrown him out of my house twice because he thinks my job as a mechanic helps to encourage the destruction of the environment and I would be doing the world a favor if I was on welfare instead.
Ditto! I always tell the guys " I can't just sit on my ass all day sunday and watch the games, I got too much work to do in the garage!" A girlfriend in High School used to tell me "you're really a nerd, your just a car nerd instead of being into computers and stuff" I took it as a compliment!
I think being different than the norm is what makes it so much fun! A lot of people would be thrilled if we all drove a tan prius.... priuses?.. priusi?
I was bent over, and given two good wacks with the cane. All for having a hot rod mag on my desk. This was the seventies, and people would ask me why would you do that (hot rod) to a car? All i knew, was i liked them.
I dont know but with the sports guys I always thought it was gay to wear some other guys name and number on your back . If you was his girl friend maybe it would be considered cool to wear his jersey but a another dude wearing it thats just gay. And then to stand around with other guys and talk about how big they all are it just creeps me out and makes me uncomfortable .
You guys are bringing a tear to my eyes. All my life, I been like this, a social outcast. I thought it was just me. I have finally found a home............
Almost got my ass beat for pointing this out to a group of them once. I started laughing when they got pissed then things got serious. Ended up a little roughed up, but still thought their reaction was funny. Sensitive, I guess. KRH
I say give the deer a gun and lett'em shoot back! Then we will see how MANLY these great white hunters are..... I reserve the right to arm bears! jmho....
The Jalopy Journal
