Gender gap on car comments?

Yeah, it really sucks when people show intrest in your heap.

Boo Hoo!

Sure, it's a pian in the ass, but dopey questions and comments from chowderheads kinda come with the territory.

 

When I show my 440 powered '67 GTX, some guy always says he had one just like it cept his had a Hemi, or a 440 Hemi, or a 318 Hemi. I also get the "What color is that?" ......it's red . One guy said he had one just like mine, but it burnt when he did a burnout so long the tires caught on fire!

Everywhere we go in our all-original '34 Ford coupe we get flogged by senior citizens, the funny thing is most of the time they know it's a '33 or '34 Ford. It's good to see them reminiss.

 

I usually get one of the 3 following comments everytime I drive my Cosmo:

1. Nice Merc!

2. Is that the 'Cobra' car?

3. Is that a 56'? (I'm guessing they look at the plates)

It does wear a little thin when people try to act like they know what it is. Just be honest, and ask some reasonable questions, you know?
(When I drive the Model A most people don't know what to say, so they just stare.)

 

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I think mose people just want to make conversation and don't know any other way to get started.
Frank

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I agree.
I take it as a compliment that they even asked.

 

Everyone gets questions, and yeah, some of them are stupid but it all boils down to this... If you don't like the attention, drive a honda or some other econobox.

 

Young people ask "how fast does it go?", old farts ask "how does it ride?" Answers: "fast enough to get me thrown in jail" and "who cares?" respectively.

Old women fondly remember riding in their dad's Model A. Old men remember their first car, often a Model A.

If I had a dollar for every time I've heard an old man tell me about the Model A he bought for less than 50 bucks...

Once I was talking to a guy front of his mom's house. She came hobbling out the front door with a walker and said I really like your Model A, is that a 30 or a 31? a perfectly logical question since my car has a 30 grille sheel and 31 aprons, 2 of the only year specific items on the exterior of late Model a coupes. I was impressed.

Getting the "thumbs up" while buzzing down the road is always a smile maker.

Once I was ripping down the fwy at about 80 mph and I was coming up on a very badass pro street 56 Bel-Air, only doing about 55 mph in the right lane due to steep gears. He obviously saw me in the mirror and already had his arm out the window, showing me his thumb, as I passed.

Another time I was going down the same fwy and got passed by a 69 Chevelle. As it passed the driver, with no other passengers in the car, had both arms out the window giving me two thumbs up.

This is my favorite one. On one warm summer afternoon I pulled up to a red traffic light in the left lane. In the right lane beside me was a brand new Porsche Boxter. It's 30 something driver obviously proud of his new sports car. Standing on the corner, waiting to cross the street, were a couple of fine young ladies. One of them looked over toward the street and said "nice car". The Porsche driver looked over and said "thanks" to which the girl replied with contempt "not you". That made my day.

 

With my older stock looking cars, especially the Studes the comments are mostly from women and are always like "my Uncle had one just like that" or "I like your car" and then followed with a positive story.

But with the hot rod it's too much for anyone to keep their mouth shut so I get responses from guys that obviously know nothing about cars, and being men they apparently think they have to talk specifics, year, motor, tires.

The other day some hillbilly asked "what year?" I said "all of them"
he just gave a blank stare..

Then there was the bum (bums LOVE my car!) leaned over the motor kinda squinting and teetering and asked of my Man A Fre setup "what ya runnin, dual Webbers?"

Or the muscle car guy asking "where'd you find smooth tires?" like he'd never seen cheater slicks before!

Years ago when I was bringing the rusted out shell of a '36 Plymouth home and somebody yells out "Little Deuce Coupe!"
I sang the next line to myself, "You don't know what I got!"

My favorite though is when I'm driving the hot rod and having kids stop in their tracks and watch it go by with their mouths hanging open!

That's SAYING something!

Paul

 

People are fascinated by your car regardless and you should be happy that they are. Some just know how to express it better than others. More often than not, I get people having JFK assasination flashbacks, Lee Harvey jokes, and sniper gestures. This one time at a deli, an older fella spent 20 minutes describing the entire Dealey Plaza scene and his theories on 'gunmen' plural to his granddaughter. It was pretty creepy. I get a laugh out of most of it.

Attention is one of the things that makes it all so fun.

-Dane

 

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When guys used to ask what year my car was I would respond with, " what part are you looking at? "

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That's a good one.

It don't bother me too much when people ask "what is it?" since I spent quite a bit of time changing it, but what I find weird is that when I go for a drive in it the vast majority don't seem to even notice it. I mean, you would think, even if they are not into old cars they would just look because it is a rare oddity to see out on the road.

THEN...later that same day I'll need to go to the store or something and jump into my wife's 03 Mini Couper and every other light there's someone going "Oh my gawd...I just LOVE your car!" ...whatever...

 

I definitely agree it is nice when people show interest. I'm not bitching about that. It's part of the fun. But I have just noticed that guys can't seem to express it in a straightfoward way. They always have to be "gathering data" or "checking the facts" or something. It's just wierd.

The funniest comment I have gotten recently was when a five year old child pointed and shouted "glitter man!" That's sort of embarassing and I am glad that name didn't stick.

And wierdly enough 4 out of 5 homeless people waiting at freeway ramps go ape shit over my car.

 

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If you don't like the attention, drive a honda or some other econobox.


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Django is right on that one.

I agree, I LOVE getting comments, no matter how stupid.....I just am AMAZED by how stupid some people can be. It is really scary that there are so many people out there that have little or no clue about what is going on in their surroundings. I think that is what most of us are commenting on.

To quote my Mother (God bless her)....."We didn't pay any attention to our cars, we just DROVE 'um!"

Another favorite story of mine:
I was driving my car down the strip in the local cruise spot and a Harley dude was following me......at about the third light, he pulls up next to me and yells (over the roar of his bike)..."DAMN, that thing sounds good!"

 

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I was driving my car down the strip in the local cruise spot and a Harley dude was following me......at about the third light, he pulls up next to me and yells (over the roar of his bike)..."DAMN, that thing sounds good!"


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hahaha that's funny!

..........

I must admit, sometimes when someone asks what year it is I have to hesitate,
there is so little of the original car left, I don't even know!

Paul

 

If I didn't wan't to get questioned about what I am driving I would drive an inconspicuous beige or gray sedan of common make and year of make. Not brand new or very old, because even thay would attract attention. I'd drive a transportation device, a "refrigerator on wheels" like 90% of the rest of the car drivers.
But I don't, and I don't care what the Freudian or Jungian theorists think.
If I was into racing for the sport and not the notoriety, I might have one of those enclose trailers, with no ads on it at all.
But I LIKE people noticing my weird old truck going down the road.
I LIKE the casual "civilian" saying "Nice Car", and don't correct them about it being a truck, because they know that and what with all the SUVs around now the definitive line that once existed between truck and car has blurred to indefinable anyway.
I don't have a bed useable for hauling anything anyway so maybe it is a car?
I am sometimes guilty of qualifying, prejudging people and their questions, usually by how they dress and what they are driving themselves.
A guy my age or older who is driving a 15-20 year old usta be "desireable" car, an Eldorado maybe, who asks if I "restored that old truck" or "why didn't you restore that old truck?" isn't going to get a straight answer.
They should know better.
Someone at a cruise night leaning on the hood right where in big red letters it says "GMC" asking "Is this an International?" is going to get verbally cut down so low hes going to have to carry an umbrella to keep the ants from pissing on him.
I have used the "Which part?" answer to the "What year is it?" question, but always follow up with what it actually is because even if a person knows it's either a '39 or 40, I've changed the only identifying differences on the outside of the cab and the dash is a bolt in so that could be different too.
I've found that almost all the people who say anything at all are actually honestly curious and don't deserve to be put down or ignored. After all, they are probably your neighbors and even if you don't recognize them they probably recognize you from that weird bright colored, noisy old jalopy of a car you drive through the neighborhood so you might as well be a friend and neighbor rather than a grumpy old fart or smart assed kid who they just widh would clean up their yard, if ya get my spin.
The "Street Rod" is a conversation starter, and if you don't want the conversation, keep it in the garage and just trailer it to the dragstrip on Saturday where only the competition will play you their best poker face about what they think about your threat and then sneak it back into the garage where no one will pester you about your uniqueness.

I'm just having FUN!

 

The bit I hate the most more than people asking you the year of your car. It's when your in a car with a group of people and your the only carnut in the bunch, an old car passes by and someone trys to name the year of the car. I hate it when its with one of my sis' boyfriends or one of my brother in laws homies. Atleast some people ask. I'm in the car sometimes with people and something passes by and they assume it's a 57 chevy, or I have even heard "its a 1950 BOMB" yeah and I'm a CHOLO.

 

We can always try this one on a chainer.... Since most have Glass bodies on them, tell them its a nice looking kit car.. Boy did I piss off this one fella in Branson, MO a couple years back...

 

my two favorite comments:

a young fellow examined my Galaxie for the longest time, leaned back, crossed his arms and said, "nice Impala."

second, in my old neighborhood in North Minneapolis, I drove slowly past an 8-foot-tall black woman with a coiled-octopus-on-the-head-hairdo and she puts her hands on her hips, sways, and bellows, "MAN, THASS COL'!" louder'n a semi truck horn. cool!

 

Hell, I don't mind talking to people about my car, even if they are clueless. I get alot of "what year is that?" too. I always say '49 1/2 just 'cuz it throws some people off, and it's actually a little bit of both '49 and '50. I occassionally get the "What year is your Studebaker?" I'm guessing because of the bullet in the grille.

The one thing I like the best though, is when I'm driving down the interstate, and I'll get a quick tit or ass shot along with a big smile from a good lookin' Texas girl...unfortunately, that doesn't happen nearly often enough.

And on the flip side, the one sure-fire way to piss me off is to ask me if it's "daddy's car", or the worst I've heard so far, "daddy's toy"...as if I'm too young or stupid to have been able to build it myself. I am a younger guy, but c'mon...that's just plain insulting to me.

The occassional tit shots do make up for it though...

 

dan that just reminded me of the time we were cruising minneapolis/st paul and we ended up on some street in frog town and rolled up next to a weathered black guy sitting on a bench that said... (with this rolling harlem accent) " Das one sweeeeeet cadillac" and took another puff off of his cigar.... we were rollin in the '66 convert. it ruled... then at the next pair of lights a 64 impala rolled up next to us and the guys (same age as us 19 or so) in the car all black... eyed us white boys up in the cad haha... AFTER a long pause they said, "nice car". THAT RULED.. we replied w/the same! Universal language cars are...

 

Getting tired of "is that a 59 Chevy?" question with my 60 Buick. Next person that asks that question around here isn't going to like the answer.

Have already had the "had one just like that except" conversation. Older black gentleman examined the car, stated he "had just one like it except it was a 2dr, and it was red, and it was a FORD." Got P.O.'ed when I told him it wasn't exactly like mine, seeing as how mine was a 4dr, BLUE, and a BUICK.

Anyway, nice to get noticed. Lots of thumbs up and doubletakes and smiles and stuff when driving it. Local cops like to tailgate it for some reason though.......

 

Its always enjoyable when little kids react to my '32 and I always take the time (if I'm parked) to let them see the car and if they want to sit in it they are always welcome. We have the best time with Hatch's roadster, the little kid's are drawn to it like a magnet. Steve always puts them in the car and takes their picture if their parents have a camera. Its obvious its the highlight of their day.
Last summer I ran over to the Post Office for my wife to mail a package. I pulled up and the only open parking space was right in front of the door. A little old lady that couldn't have been 4' 10" came out the door as I was parking. Her eyes lit up and she walked directly over to the car. By that time I had gotten out. Whe walked right up to me real close and said "thats a 1932 Ford 2dr isn't it?". I said yes it is but how did you know for sure the year? Her reply, 'My husband had one JUST like it when we were dating." There was a slight pause followed by "You can have the best time in the back seat of one of those." Another short pause then "I sure wish he still had that old car". With that she flashed the warmest smile, gave me a quick hug and turned to get in her car. I've never seen her before or since. I got the impression I had just 'MADE HER DAY", I know she made mine.

Frank

 

You hit it right on the head (I think).

Non-car people will ask the stupid "what year is it" question rather than just throw out a "wow, that thing is cool." This doesn't really bug me too much.

What bothers the all living hell out of me is when some stupid woman automatically thinks you're white trash because you dig old cars. This is a middle/upper class thing. For whatever reason these high maintenance, over priviledged, sorority girl types associate old tin w/ trailer parks & low life living.

I guess this is due to their disposable view on life. Use it once and throw it away. Blame Paris Hilton. Ugh!

 

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We can always try this one on a chainer.... Since most have Glass bodies on them, tell them its a nice looking kit car.. Boy did I piss off this one fella in Branson, MO a couple years back...

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Tupperware.... if it's a "kit" or "turnkey"
Actually, glass bodies have been around for half a century or better so they are as much a part of rodding as any other body.
It's the attitude of the builder that makes the glass car ok or not.
Trying o pass one off as original is the biggest sin.
And now we have all the repop steel bodies...
At what point does it cease to be an "original" with a lot of "patch panels" and become a copy?
Restorer's of the "Classic" cars dn't worry about this since it is the chassis that must be origial and the body can be hand built copy just like the origina may have been a one-off hand built body. They were all a bit different.
That's prety much opposite the rod mentality. We cherish and use the production, all the same per year body and toss the chassis.


On Street People giving the most thumbs up...
Probabaly half the responses I get in L.B. are from street people and most of the rest from 7-10 year old kids who probably think it's a full size Tonka Toy.
I usta think 'Who cares what a street bum thinks?" then I started talking to a few of them. I ran into unemployed electricians and accountants and engineersand a teacher or two who had had a string of bad luck...Layoffs, loss of housing because of no money. Bankrupting divorces that left them in the street at the same time as the loss of employment, and once they've been unemployed for a ferw years no one wants them because they must 'Lack innitiative" bull shit. They are you and me in six months if we get the bad luck curse. At least in So. Cal. they don't find them under snow drifts in the spring.


(That's all the "liberal" feelings you'll get out of me this year...)

 

i always try to be polite and answer what i can, it can get old and tiresome but one thing i have learned,especially in this state that uses the initiative process, these are the folks that wii be voting on your hobby or profession at the ballot box

i always try to say something like"i heard they wanted to crush this car before i got it running" or you know they want to put a law on the books the would keep from driving this old baby. I always get the same replies,"you got to be kidding" "that would be a shame"

thats what i want them to remember when they are in that voting booth

RACEFAB

 

On the complete other side of the coin from the people who don't know what you're driving are the ones who don't know what THEY'RE driving. Back around 1990 or so, I had a silver Dodge Omni GLHS -- the ones with the Shelby turbo. A pretty rare car, but I knew of two others in Toledo -- a black one and a red one. One day I'm coming up to an off-ramp and pass another silver Omni GLHS exactly like mine. I give him a little toot and a wave. He looks at me blankly. I point to his car and point to mine and give him a grin and another wave as I exit the freeway. He looks at me like I just proposed a biological union or something. Let me ask you -- you're driving a specialty car the duplicate of which you'll probably only see once or twice while you own it. The other guy honks and waves. What kind of meat puppet do you have to be to not understand?

 

I don't mind the attention or the idiot questions. The idiot conversations usually don't last long... and it has lead to info on other cars for sale. I figure that the guys asking what year it is are sort of testing their own knowledge. I still do that, but I try to limit it to a year or 2 "Is that a 55 or 56?"

I had just finished parallel parking my 50 Fleetline when a man walked up with his elderly mom. She was all excited about it because she used to have a white one. I talked with her a few minutes and asked her if she wanted to sit in it. She declined, but she seemed floored that I would even ask her. That conversation made my day.

People ALWAYS ask me what the traffic light viewer is for, even the old folks. I don't mind that or any other questions. The idiot questions make for good stories... and long HAMB posts!

 

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Everyone gets questions, and yeah, some of them are stupid but it all boils down to this... If you don't like the attention, drive a honda or some other econobox.

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And you can take that to the bank!Don't expect to ride down the street wearing,"the King's magnificent new clothes" without getting some comments.I try and be as nice to people as possible even if their questions may seem a little inane to us.Remember you may have to deal with that person at some future date and most people have long memories when it comes to wise asses.A little public relations for our hobby never does any harm.

 

the other day I pulled into a gas station and a young guy in a hopped up Maveric and I swapped compliments and he asked if I was looking for parts since my hood and fenders were missing.

I said maybe whatcha got and he said he had a buddy with a Chevy just like mine.
We exchanged #s and went our ways.

I didn't think it mattered that I have a Plymouth.

Parts are parts

 

It's the same up here!!
When I was selling my 66 Chevy II I had a couple young guys come and look at it.
Had to explain that the 6 wasn't a V but inline, then had to explain why the powerglide only had 2 speeds.
Sad, sad, sad....

 

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I also like it when they try to tell you that thats NOT the original engine in your car........NO SHIT!

Or when you go to the parts place and they need to know eng. size and year and make of car. "Ok, I need head gaskets for a small block 350, oh and its in a 29 Willys Wippet............................."

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The parts counter is usually my biggest nightmare. About any place I go they either don't know what it is, or how to look up the parts.

A couple of years ago, I went with friend Joe to find a fan belt for the Commander. We had broken belt in hand. The guy asked what it fit. So we told him ('55 Stude). Didn't even bother to look, just said "That's a dealer part."


I guess I just don't get it.