What is the best reaction you have gotten from people?

I had a girl take off her panties and offer herself up on the hood of my car. That was 35 years ago and I was driving a new Corvette.

 

Awesome! I'm thinking of painting my T Bucket, BIG flake red this winter. I hope I get the same results.

"Blinding the uninformed for 50 years."

 

rat rod.... people that don't know what it takes to build a car. It's a mild custom in progress WHILE I DRIVE IT

 

One time a coworker invited me and my wife for dinner at their place, so I followed him down there. I did notice he drove like 35 in a 45 mph zone, but whatever it's not like we were in a hurry. Then when we got there he said "I hope I didn't drive too fast for you, you know, since you have such an old car". Dude, this is a 460, I can go up a 6% grade and still bury the speedometer in the triple digits.

Sent from my Verizon 4G LTE smartphone

 

I pulled into a small quick mart with my Dusk Pearl '57 chevy. The retired lady working the counter, who I had never met, had to come out to get a better look. after taking it all in for a few minutes, she said it was "Subtlely Stunning". I get a lot of compliments on the color a lot, but that lady hit the nail on the head. It was the perfect description of what I was trying to achieve with this car,but didn't know how to word it. I'll never forget her or the compliment.

 

Not a friendly interaction but I found it very entertaining:

I was at home depot buying sheet rock and other remodeling items with my 46 Hudson pickup. It was pretty loaded up with stuff. I was securing things for the ride home when an crabby old man came up and started telling me that I should not be using that truck to haul things and should only take it to shows and whatnot.

I politely informed him that it was in fact a TRUCK and it was MY TRUCK and it would be used as I saw fit. I did have a for sale sign in the window and I let him know if he wanted to save the poor beast from this abuse, I would entertain an offer.

He grumbled something about my mother, called me a smart ass and scurried into the store.

 

I was walking into Home Depot and a guy coming out spied my '55 Chevy pickup. As he passed me he said "Where's Lassie?"

 

I raced 55 chevys in the mid 60s. I did not have a lot of money to spend on the body. The body came from Pac. Tel it was army flat green and I got a white hood with a scoop in it for 5$. Also had wrinkle wall goodyears, so I measured with a pencil and string and radiused the wheel wells with left and right sheat metal shears. I did not have a lot of money and it all went into the engine and rear end. The car ran on the national speed record for 2 years , so it was fast . It did not look so nice.
One day while in the staging lane at Half Moon Bay I saw 2 younger kids look at the engine through the gap where the headers left the front fenders, one said look this piece of shit has hilborns. I will always remember this with pride!

 

The other night I had the local police stop by, long story short they had busted a guy who had some items of mine on him that had been stolen out of a car in my driveway. When walking the officer out through the garage to the driveway he got a glimpse of my Bel Air when we opened the door and said "Hey, that's a nice car!"

Then I turned on the shop lights and he exclaimed "Wow, that's a REAL nice car!", we ended up talking about it for a good ten minutes.

 

This morning at a convenience store getting the morning paper.

"What do you call that thing?" I wasn't in the mood to educate with why it's a T Bucket, so I just said it's a hot rod.

 

Went out to pick up some food for lunch today. Old boy in the parking lot asked me about my '49 and said his father had one just the same that he used when he first started driving.

"Dad hated the tudor, always said he should have bought a four, but I loved it. You know what the best part about a tudor is? Once you get 'em in the back seat they can't get back out!"

Ooookay gramps haha

 

About 10 years ago I had just finished building a chopped '49 Merc for a guy and he had insisted that I install a polished stainless firewall. The 302 motor was decked out and the reflection of it was gleaming in the firewall. This kid that I'm guessing was 11 or 12 years old came by the shop with his dad and when he looked under the hood, he said "Dad! Look! This thing's got TWO motors!"

 

The anticipation is interesting. You see someone walking your way and it is obvious that they are going to make a comment or ask a question about the car. I try to guess if the person will say something stupid....like what kind of car is that? About half the time, the comment or question isnt stupid and they are worth the few minutes of conversation. At a truck stop in Gila Bend, AZ, it was 117 deg. Some older guy walked up and said "my dad bought me a 39 coupe for my first car...but it wasnt this nice!" He was worth talking to. The other group has only three questions, "what year is it?", "how much did it cost?" and "how fast will it go?" When someone says "what year is it?" I answer 2013.

 

I know what I'm going to start saying now!

I like that my vehicles interest people with no knowledge or experience with old cars, I think that means you are doing something right and if i have the time I am happy to answer the usual questions, I prefer them a hell of a lot more than the ones that think they know everything but don't.

 

I got a back handed compliment from one of my sister-in-laws last week that will make a guy sit tall in the saddle for a long time. Sis (fifty something) came to visit my wife about family stuff, but stepped into my man cave to say hi and saw the steering wheel for my next project laying on a file cabinet. She normally is quite reserved, but she picked up the wheel and with an incredulous look on her face asked where I got it and how much I had to pay for it. When I told her I had made it from scratch, she turned to my wife and said, God I wish I had a husband like yours

 

Drove my ElCamino to the parts store, which was next to CVS. As I pulled into the stall i saw a little boy, holding his moms hand calmly watching me. When I shut it down, he walked up to the door and said "Mr, nice car", and then they walked into CVS. That was Cool.

 

I think my cars seem to attract that kind of people.

My 2nd best were sitting at a light in my built '57 sedan and watching peoples' reaction to the right headlight sucking air for the engine, a '66 Vette 327 blueprinted, balanced, and injected, with '64 Vette Rochester injection back in the 70's.

The best was in the same car getting ready to leave Frisco, picking up a pretty female hitchhiker just before the bridge. Didn't have time to talk as I had to deal with the traffic so I just got on it mildly and headed across the bridge and letting the engine talk for a while. I would have loved to have seen the expression on my face when her first words were "Oh, you've got fuel injection". She figured it out from the engine sound so I quickly turned off the radio and we talked the rest of the way.

 

I think the best one was back in the seventy's with my chopped radical merc. When two ederly women where looking at the car and one pointed to the driver's window and one said to the other, look dear they raised the doors on that car !!! I just about fell off my chair !!!! Priceless !

 

OK...I'll admit, my 48 Plymouth isn't the poster child of the HAMB, but when I rewired it, I went a bit overboard. The electrical isn't overly complicated, but it does have a bit of homebrew electronics in it, AND, I'm a retired electrician/electronics technician who always enjoyed electrical panel work. So countless times at car shows, I get the comment of "Wow, what the hell is all that?". It's really just a fuse/relay panel on steroids. Or so it seems. So at the last Ocean City, MD car show, I added a fake parachute pack labeled "Space Shuttle Velocity Reduction Module" just for a couple of chuckles. The view in the trunk has gotten more favorable comments than the rest of the car! And I don't mind explaining what it is that they're looking at. And the car was awarded a trophy at the last show we attended!!

 

had a guy follow me clear across town when i lived in memphis while I was driving my 63 falcon sprint (pretty much stock appearance except for the 400 horse 302/4 speed) when he finally caught up with me in a parking lot after waving me down he got this perplexed look on his face and said "that's not how I was expecting that do sound." we continued to have a nice conversation about his grandmother's grocery getter falcon when he was a kid.

 

I'm in my 60s but I had an Old Man tell me hay sonny how about a ride I was in my 37 pickup at the time He told me His Family had one back on the farm and it brought back a lot of memories for Him never will forget that Smile

 

It was pretty late at night back in '77 in Miami. I was in the left lane at a red light on US1 in my 68 Camaro with a lumpy cam when a cop car pulls up on my right. I see the driver looking over smiling and nodding...then he makes a spinning motion with his hand and looks ahead. When the light turned green I lit 'em up and left them in smoke. My heart was pounding...did I do the right thing? I returned to the proper speed limit and they passed me with a thumbs up and big smile. Guess so.

 

What is it about cranky old guys at Home Depot? Stopped off one time while driving the t-bucket, and was accosted by one old guy, asked me angrily, "How do YOU GUYS get away with driving THOSE CARS without fenders?" Then went on to tell me how he worked for DMV for decades, blah, blah, blah. I just said "I dunno, glad you weren't working the counter when I got it registered.", and walked away. Made me feel like an outlaw for the rest of the day.

 

Recently after the Picton Airfield Spring Classic at least two people both seasoned rodders came up to me and used the phrase "Pretty Impressive" with regards to my racing "With" cars with far more cubes of similar style and or weight. While I did get spanked it was not huge. No more then I would in say a regular bracket race if I lost. I appreciated the comment. It is rewarding to have folks, who know, say good things. On the last run at the same race I ran a BB Ford Altered. Thru a pile of circumstances that caused him to have a brainfart I manged to get a clean length on him out of the hole and held him off for the win. Despite the fact it wasnt a perfect start it is drag racing and Cest la Vie. Apparently he is not happy to get wanked by a slant six, heads up, no matter what the reason. Now the blown and injected BB Chevy is coming out of his RED and going in the Altered and all the BB Ford stuff is for sale. (468 cubes with tunnel ram etc)A couple of days ago I ran into him and wagging his finger in my face he said "THAT WILL NEVER HAPPEN AGAIN! EVER!' For some reason I found those words encouraging.
Nice to know I made such a big impression.
Don

 

Well I have a bunch because I drive my cars everyday. Most recent ones are, I took my falcon station wagon with airride to a local car show. All the kids fell in love with it. Well a group of kids probaly about 9 or 10 was standing beside it. I walked up and said "do you think the owner of the car would get mad if I played with the air, and just got in the car. At first they said dont just get into someones car lol. I told them it was mine and let them get in and start it up and play with the switchs. Then after them I think every kid at the show was in my car making it go up and down as they told their dads lol.
Or Getting pulled over by a cop just so he can talk to me about my car.
I still love when I pull up to a red light on my bike and I have my cut on. The people roll up the windows and lock the doors. All I can do is laugh on that one.

 

when I picked up the 50 2 weeks ago I had to trailer it home 50 miles form the P.O. sinc it doesn't have a drive triaan , the guy also painted the car with flat black house paint and with a brush .. well had to go thru the suburban sprawl , and the soccer mommies were being stupid in the rways of driving as I almost got pushed to the curb several times , finally I got on the main road , several guys sped up to see what it was on the trailer , had a few lurkers just jabber jawing to someon on the phone , finally I go ton the interstate , had a semi give me a courtesy blink to pull into traffic . about a mile later he pulls up along side , and I can see him looking the car over , its nothing special yet , he finally slides back and rand blocker on the back of the car . another truck di the same thing , but he took the front , it was like they were guarding me , light traffic and 3 lanes and I was running 55 and there speedlimit is 65 , when I got of at my ramp got a horn blast from the guy running the back , as I wiggled thru my town to get to my storage , I had 3 what year chevys ( its a Pontiac ! ) and a couple of do you want to sell it's , knowing by the looks and not knowing what the car was I know these were flippers , not for sale sorry ...

 

I drive a really plain 29 Ford roadster. Not ratty, but not very nice either. Just a fender less hood less hotrod. A years or so ago I drove it to the pool I swim laps at just for fun. A dad and his two early/Pre teen boys walked up and said "that's the coolest car in the neighborhood. There's Ferraris, Porsches, and everything else, but that's definitely the coolest car". Most kids that age like import stuff so I was touched (they all got a quick spin)

 

I have a good one:

My wife uses the Galaxie at trade shows. At night, we cover her up when we leave.
About a month ago, I went with my wife to a trade show, and she had the car in the booth. It was a very very large show.
So, the second day I get their early before just about anyone else, and start checking her inventory, etc etc., and two older women walk up and I can see them standing together looking at the car (covered).
I walk over to them, and before I can say anything, one of them says to me "Lift up her skirt".

I thought I heard her wrong, so I said "Excuse me?"

She says, "Lift up her skirt".

So I smile, and I start at the rear of the car, and I do it like a strip tease.
We all laughed the whole time.

They loved the car.
It's stuff like that that really make the hobby fun for me. Watching old people's reactions and stories.

 

He's leaving? Good.