Hot Rods Goofy Comments From the General Public

Years ago, I advertised a 1955 T-Bird in Hemmings. It had a hot 289 with a four speed. Guy calls and drives out to look at it. First thing he says when he sees it, "...you should restore it". Dude, I'm selling it and giving you the opportunity to restore it. He mentioned it two more times. I guess he forgot why he drove out to see it.

 

Not a dumb comment, but a stroy I love to tell. My daughter, Shelby, at a very young age started showing a love for cars. I've taken her to as many shows as I can, and taught her what could. Years ago, while Momma was shopping, Shelby and I came upon a Corvette club having a small show in the grocery store parking lot. She's probably three years old at the time and begs me to take her over there. She makes a b line for a red with white coves 57, as fast as her little legs will move. I'm about 10 or twelve feet behind her and can almost see the terror on the old man in the lawn chairs face as she approached, Shelby stopped shy of the front fender and stood with her hands behind her back(as i taught her to while checking out a car) and raised up on her tip toes to look under the opened hood. The old man sees her grin and asks "what do you think?" The look on his face was priceless when she looked at him in all her 3 year old blonde haired glory and said "I dig anything with duel quads!" Dude fell in love with her, even let her set in his car.

 

That story makes my day. Thanx

 

Cool storey! Z Cad.

 

............................and mine as well.

 

thnks guys! that was one of them proud daddy moments

 

thunderplex,

That reminds me of the guy that came to look at my "free to good home" Studebaker. He kept telling me how much it would be worth "all done up". Welllll here's your chance!

I guess that he wanted me to build it and then sell it to him? I never really figured out what he was about.

 

Bout the only question people ask me about my car is "when are you going to get that thing finished"

 

And zombiecadillac wins the thread.

This is a picture of my dad's '32 in the mid '80s. More than once somebody said it was a "Candy Apple Red '57 Chevy"

 

You guys ever notice how homeless people always seem to go crazy for classic cars and sometimes really know there stuff. Well one time this homeless lady told me "Its so shinny I want to take a shower in it". Maybe the car looked wet.

 

One guy I met had a red, full fendered Model A coupe. Some guy at a car show referred to it as an American Graffiti coupe. Also, at Starbird's Tulsa show a few years ago, there was a REALLY nice black 70 Charger. I overheard some guy saying it was "just like the one from Dukes of Hazard." There's ignorance and just plain dumb. That's just plain dumb.

 

About three years ago I was in the grocery store.
The check out girl said "I have't seen you out with the 53 Chevy in awhile."
"Yeah it has a broken transmission," I replied. (I missed a shift)
The woman in line behind me said, with all seriousness, "I hope they warranty it."

 

Great story, the hobby (lifestyle) needs more young people!

 

LOL. At least she didn't say growler.

 

hahahahahahaha, yep that's goofy

 

Hehehehe, now that is awesome

 

Think I have posted this story before but here goes.
Back in the early 90s we were in southern California in the lot of a gas-convenience store.
86 Pontiac towing a pop up tent trailer.
Couple youngsters in their early teens come across the lot and spy the block heater cord hanging a couple inches out of the grille
One of them looks at it and they stop. They ask "Is that an electric car ?"
I smiled, laughing inside and went on to explain that no it wasn't an electric car but that where we lived it was so cold in the winter that if you didn't plug in your car with the electric block heater, chances were that it would not start the next day.
They had this look of awe on their faces and I got the impression that they could not wrap their sun baked little brains around the concept

 

At the parts store.
Customer, I need a new battery.
Worker, what size do you need?
Customer, it needs to be big because my trucks alternator doesn't work.

 

LOL... that's the best one yet....

 

Here is my story....

Working at a dealership, 2000ish ford focus gets towed in, about 60k on the odometer. no crank, no start. Get to fiddling with it. Discover engine is siezed. Check the oil, nothing on the stick. Put it up in the air and pull the drain plug. Nothing really comes out. Call the customer....

Me: "Engine is siezed"

Customer: "How did that happen?"

Me: "Looks it ran out of oil. Its not leaking and the oil looks like it hasn't been changed regularly. When was the last time you changed the oil?"

Customer: "what's wrong with the oil that came from the factory?"

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Stopped at a gas station 5-6 years ago and there were two older guys sitting on the porch arguing over what my car was. It was only about 40 feet from the porch. One guy says it's a Ford, the other arguing it's a Studebaker??? I heard them from a distance, once I got up there they asked me. Told them it was a Pontiac. And instantly I got a reply from Mr. Studebaker... "NO IT ISN'T." I just said ok and went on in the store.

I think what irritates me the most, is being told I should put a SBC in it. My typical reply is that I'll push it before I put a SBC in my PONTIAC. If I wanted a Chevy, I'd had bought one.

 

Is dat a Fairlane Ford or sumptin?

 

Ok, here's my continuing saga. I have a 55 Customline that is nosed and decked and has 55 Mercury SW tail lights. At shows, it never fails that at least several people will do a lap around the car and then finally ask what it is. At first I would just say it's a 55 Ford, but over time some folks would want to argue that it must be Canadian because the US Fords had round tail lights. My good buddy Thunderplex finally came up with something that stops all arguments. Now when asked we always say it is a Peruvian 58 Ford. Ford sent all those sheet metal dies to South America you know?

 

Drive my '55.1 AD Chevy Pickup to the local park with the bikes in the bed and kids in the cab. Wise ass hipster Prius owner sees it...

Wise ass: "Is that a hybrid?
Me: "Yep. It burns gas AND oil".

Kids cracked up.

Andy

 

In the '80s I worked with a guy like that. Bought a new cheap compact shitbox, I forget what, and figured it was cheaper in the long run to forget about any maintenance and just drive it into the ground. Seemed to be working, he had a lot of miles on it, though I suppose he did add oil if needed, he wasn't that foolish.

 

First a little background; We built this car back in '04 - '05 when we lived in Southern California. Brought it with us when we moved to East Tennessee in 2006.


A year or two ago we were at a local cruise in when this good ol' boy comes up to me and asks; "Is this Charlie So and so's old car?" and I say, "No, we built this back in California."

"Are you sure? I remember when Charlie was building this."

"Uh yea, I'm pretty sure I built it."

"No, I think this is Charlie's old car."

And he walked away convinced I didn't know what I was talking about!

 

I'm good with unfriendly. I listen and if they seem to have an IQ of at least 80 and are interested I talk. if they are the sidewalk version if a troll I just ignore them. Conversations with people like that never turn out well.

I had a kind of a country looking guy walk up to me at the machine shop one time; I had hauled a block up in the back of my old chevy to be bored (did I spell that right?). he said, "That thang got a hemi in it?" So I looked in the bed and said, "Nope its a 283"

 

I live in Silicon Valley and would love to put a flattie in a Prius. (Yeah, I know. What a waste of a perfectly good flattie).

 

Wouldn't be legal in Missouri, or exactly legal. MoDOT says that you cannot put an engine in a vehicle that is older then the vehicle. lame isn't it.

 

Can I drive it??.......................