Does the general public react when they see you out driving?

2 frequent responces i get are:
from parents w/kids
"that's our favorite truck;we see it all the time"
my favorite is when the bed is loaded;tools,scrap metal,wood,landfill-etc.
"man if i had that truck i'd polish it up & show it; i wouldn't use it for work"

 

Truckers hit the air horns, bikers give the thumbs up. Truckers, bikers, and hotrodders...sounds like a B- movie from the 50's!

 

Could have been. Had an unkl who talked about some bad ass hot rods in the 30's and 40's. They used to peel off fenders etc. off of LaSalles and Duesies to lighten them up as well as other "go fast" tricks.

 

I get waves and thumbs up all the time....even from other special interest cars.....except Corvette drivers.......then only pre '63's seem to wave. It doesn't bother me one bit.

 

I get much more reaction to my shoebox than I ever got in the '36 or the '34PU. Seems like prewar cars (or maybe black cars) just go over the heads of the general population, at least with mine.

Makes a BIG difference whether the car is freshly washed or not. Clean=thumbs up.

 

I have been lucky enough to have owned a few cool 50's cars in my 35 short years & I have always loved when a 60 or 70 year old rodder pulls up next to me or sees me at a show and gives me props on my car & for keeping the spirit of it all going. That is the biggest compliment for me. From the guys that lived it all. So thankyou to all of them for keeping it going.

 

The old timers also have some great stories from "back in the day".

 

The only thing I DONT like about getting attention on the road is the guy who rides your ass at 60 MPH tring to get a better look. That scares me.

 

One of life's unexplained mysteries: when you drive and older car, why do people who have no clue what it is only ask "What year is that?", as if they know exactly what make and model it is but are just not sure of the year?

 

Pride. Who amongst us wants to appear "out of the bubble". By asking that, they are perhaps attempting to convey that the are into cars. Probably just a little into them, but they at least want to have or show that they have an interest.

Now, the gangsta wannabe's who called my T Bucket a Deuce, on Sunday.... they are forever lost and are trying, in a lame attempt, to be into another scene. I burned plenty rubber on that Donkermobile!

 

I have a primed 54 chevy slammed with ww and red wheels... my favorite is the guys in their $50,000 bmw get whiplash trying to look at my ride... i have a 66 buick skylark nice and shiny and dont get as much attention... i also have a 53 ford pick up nice and shiny and dont get as much attention in that either...

 

Had a guy ask me what kind of car it was, and I said, "Plymouth - 1957."

He said, "Yeah I knew it was a '57." lol


Leaving breakfast the other morning, an old man was getting out of his car he parked next to it. As I approached, he said, "I learned to drive in a '57 Plymouth Suburban, but it was a four door." I was stunned... it was the first time someone got the year, make, and model right. My friends don't even know what it is.

 

I had a lady at a gas station tell me the exact same thing. She learned to drive in a 63 Merc Comet 4-door. I was amazed that someone in a minivan knew exactly what I was driving. She even asked if it still had the 170cu sixer in it.

 

Not too long ago while driving, a Bentley came up next to me. In my amazement a well, shall I say an extremely attractive middle aged blonde "super model" was waving her hands frantically at me to give me the thumbs up. She did this for about a mile, the funny thing was that a high end Jag was behind her with either her hubby or boyfriend and he had not a clue as to why she was trying to get my attention.

 

I walk up and tell kids ..... That's the first car I got lay'd in

When they look at me funny or say something smart I tell em to smell the back seat!

Kirk That was Karin...... She was once a Playboy Bunny and is a total car freak.....

 

I drive my little 86 hatch,yea it's not as old as a lot of cars on here,but it's old enough that there aren't many of them around. kids seem to love it, I have flip ups, and the best comment i got was from a little girl, she started poking her mom and said" Look mommy! that car just opened it's eyes!! " I have an aircraft themed interior, so I always let kids sit in it if they want. I also get a lot of "I used to drive one of those,haven't seen one in years!!" god was the eighties that long ago? maby to young kids it's a "really" old car. I actually bought this car ,then sold it and bought it back about ten years ago. I def think i'm going to add some flattening agent to my paint when i get around to painting it.

 

Positve response all the time. They love it.

 

I get a lot of attention. Over the years I have begun to like the attention. However, I still get startled when I'm setting at a stop light with the windows down and someone yells at the top of their lungs at me 2 feet away.

When ever kids wave I always show off by reving the motor or chirping the tires.

 

The 55 Chev gets alot of attention. I don't know if it's because of what it is, if it's the flat black or if it's the air cleaners stickin through the hood . It's always fun at the cruise ins and shows cause I just barely get out of the car and open the hood and it gets a constant flow of people asking questions about it. The only thing that really PISSES me off are the ones that want to know what color you're going to paint it and the others that say they really like your ratrod.I guess if it isn't shiney it's automatically a rat

 

funny thing really, when i had my cars [ot's, 66 chevelle ss and a 71 camaro ss] we used to get alot of thumbs up, waves, etc., but i myself would do the neck-breaker look as i passed something else that looked cool while in my cars, still do....

ya get it, or ya don't....

 

I get good reactions from young and old, and all different walks of life!!

My favorite is seeing little kids react to my car!! Sometimes they stare jaw dropped, sometimes they poke their parents to say look at that car, sometimes they just smile. It brings a smile on my face everytime!!

My least favorite is the one that slow down on the freeway and cause traffaic to look at the car, sometimes I will be trying to get in the lane they're in and I cant cause hes causing traffic.

The craziest compliment I got was from a Glendale Cop that pulled me over for rolling a stop sign. She said that she could not give me a ticket because she loved my car so much!! Some of you may know Glendale and Burbank cops are the worst and will pull you over and ticket for almost nothing.

 

Once when I was stuck in heavy traffic on the way to work, I had a guy walk over from the other side of the road through the traffic (walked between a Porsche and a Ferrari) just so he could tell me how cool my car was! Was a warm night, so the drivers of the 'exotics' had their windows down, and heard every word - you could see by the expressions on their faces! And my daily driver then wasn't even anything especially cool, just an old beater Leyland P76, which down here has a strong (and undeserved) reputation as the greatest lemon of a car this country has ever made. Was a good fun car though, $35 rattle-can spray job in matt black and flamed, V8 and 4 speed.

These days my daily is an S Series Valiant (RHD equivalent to a 1962 Plymouth Valiant). It's amazing how many people are dumbfounded that I use it as an everyday car, they just don't see how it's possible. I just tell them 'it's a car, that's what it was built for!'

I've got so used to having people look at my car/s everywhere I go that during a period when I was doing security patrols in a boring modern work vehicle I wondered why I was being ignored at the lights!

 

I got a funny response after pulling up next to a light a few months ago. Inside were two guys in a mid 80's Buick with the big chrome wheels and the fake, stick-on portholes. They gave me the thumbs up and said "the only improvement that could be made to your car would be a set of 26's".
The comment that made me feel best was at a car show. A 1%er type biker came up and looked the car over very carefully. He got down and looked under it from the front and back, never saying a word. Finally, he was crouched down on one knee and said "If Harley built cars, this is what they'd be like".

 

... I am the general public.

 

I have a '52 MG and little kids go bonkers over it(me too). The car gets a lot of different reactions from different types of people most of it positive, some indifferent, but almost never negative. It does tend to make me feel my age when guys in their 30's ask "What is an MG?" I also try to let a lot of little kids sit in it and "drive" when I take it to car shows. I am pretty sure it makes an impression on them they won't forget. Show me someone who can't appreciate old cars and I will show you someone I would not want to spend much time with.

 

I get thumbs up from old farts, bikers, and other guys driving old vehicles. And a smiling "nice car" from a sweet young thing in a convertible, accompanied by a very leisurely display of her impressive dairy facilities.

 

Never a problem driving the coupe around town ,except for those guys carrying torches and a rope!

 

I was at the gas station filling up my old 61 galaxie, it was rusty, and the paint looked like crap, and there was no carpet in the interior, when a dude pulls up in a newer model mercedes and says "I wish I could afford one of those"

 

Mostly get the same reactions as everyone else.... But people are usually shocked when I tell them its mine and I built it.... I guess its because I am only 19 and they think I shouldnt be driving or interested in a 1936 chevy....

 

I feel like a rockstar or something. People are alwys taking pictures and waving, giving the thumbs up. I laways tell people my trophys are the people that wave or give a thumbs up. Thats all the trophy i"ll ever need.