Art & Inspiration "is that a real car?"

You should try pulling an Avalair into the campgrounds. It's automatically an Airstream. I gave up long ago....

 

I had an opposite thing happen. There was a car parked at 7/11 when I walked in, I met the driver on the way out. It was a well done “30’s” something, I said “nice hotrod”. Fella said “it’s a rat rod “.
I just got in my truck and drove off.

 

The insulting questions don’t bother me, and I try to be helpful when someone shows interest.
But the “ how much did that cost ?” or the “ that must be expensive to maintain” questions get a response that they were not expecting or a deflective answer.

 

This kind of thing has been covered here on the HAMB many, many times. There's such a spectrum of what the general public knows about cars, it's almost goes on into infinity. From some doofus that knows nothing about any cars, to a lot of the folks on here who eat, live and breath cars. Some of them are inconsiderate folks that don't think before they speak and others are just trying to spark up a conversation. I understand that it's frustrating when someone asks a question that seems inane about your car that means a lot to you, but I wouldn't take it personally. Just my $.02, I could be wrong.

 

X2. Snowman ⛄️

 

I am guessing that your Diamond T doesn't have the Hercules motor any more? The most beautiful truck ever produced on my opinion.
I have a chum that has Diamond T trucks and the one that chaps him is "when did Ford make that model?"
My wife gets all over me when I comment on peoples stupid questions about a car I'm driving telling me that if I don't like the attention...drive a modern.
@metalman was always animate about flathead power in his hotrods. He went to sell a very nice flathead powered one at auction and a fellow came up asking about it right as it was hitting the floor...did it run good? Could it go highway speeds, did it overheat....he bought it as the hammer fell
The buyer came up after the auction and ask... pointing to the exhaust...."is that a V-6 or V-8"

 

All these questions and comments people make about other people's cars. What is it about cars? People don't say or ask the same kinds of things about another person's clothes or house or ... etc.

 

Punters at the petrol station........."What year is it?" me......."2023"(changes every year ,you know!)
"Is that a real car?"......."no, it's a hologram"
"how much is that worth/ what does that cost?"...."about $300,000"
Always followed by a puzzled look from them while I drive away.

 

I still say the same thing I've been saying since 1950......
"Hey! Look at that ol' timey car!"

 

Ohhh yes! I forgot about that one. I’ve been asked that!

 

Yeah, this subject comes up on a regular basis. The average goober doesn't know anything about hot rods. They like your car and are excited to talk about it.
It's like this-
The older we get, the fewer compliments we get. Because not everyone is as good looking as Lloyd, lol. Take it with grace and maybe the people who you're talking to will like your car even more.

 

I get asked
"what color is it"
tell them "green"

 

I always hear some version of “is it real or plastic?”, when it comes to older style hot rods. Some even have the balls to ‘tap’ on the door/quarter to “just check” to see if it’s ‘real steel’ or not. Basically seems most just want to know if the car has some age to it (like most of the owners). These more genuine type queries don’t really bug me but I have a couple buddies that can get pretty twisty about it.
That said, I think many others that ask already know the answer and they think they are just being cute (spelled p-r-i-c-k-s) thinking they are being real whitty with what they think is a bit of a dig/insult.
A buddy of mine has the best response with what his car is but adds that he’d love to see the car of the person that asked the question.
.
.

 

I got that all the time with my 48 as it sat in my current avatar photo. You couldn't stand a 12 oz can under the bumper.

Best one I got was from a now long time friend who I had just gone to work with for TSA the first time he saw my truck, His words were "you can't take that up hunting it's too low". His whole world revolved and still revolves around hunting and four wheeling around in the woods. No, I had no intent of taking it hunting in the mountains. He is the same guy who said my 71 GMC 3/4 ton was too little to haul or tow anything and I told him any time his 88 Chevy 1/2 ton 4x4 broke down call me and I'd come tow it home for him. I think one of the other guys explained to him later that he had best go out and count lug nuts and look at the full floating rear axle on my 71.

About five years before I found the Hamb I totally bailed out on hot rod events and hot rodding in general. I was so damned tired of being asked "what's it worth"? by every sweaty mouthbreathe and so tired of the nitpickers who made their hobby picking folks cars apart that I bailed and went sailing. The great thing about that is no one cared what my little 21 Ft boat was worth, not one of the sailboat folks I hung with and still hang with ever mentioned what their or anyone else's boat was worth unless it actually had a for sale sign on it and usually then only to note the price and not commment on it. A very pleasant and different world from the car world.

 

True story.
Many years ago at Pleasanton GG's there was a deuce roadster for sale and I saw this guy nosing around, showing interest in the car (owner was absent), the guy pulls out a magnet and he's doing the metal/fiberglass test, told him he could find himself in a "predicament" if the owner saw him doing that.

 

My buddy had a 47 Plymouth sedan. Every time I saw him in it I’d yell nice Hudson, boy he hated that!

 

I wondered why I never really cared for Gene Wilder…

 

Green is nice



Cheers,
Harv

 

After driving the Dream Truck for many thousands of miles, I'd have to say the most common comment was "I used to have one just like that"..... My response...... "cool".......

 

Not much anyone can ask or say about my car or my truck that bothers me too much. I always figure its their way of starting a conversation about it.

I was a bit surprised once when a guy asked me what year my 35 Dodge was. After I told him, he wanted to know if I bought it new? I was born in 1956, and that was around the year 2,000. After the shock wore off (about 3 seconds), I replied with a big smile, "Why, yes, I did!"

I had an old lady one time come up and told me she lost her virginity in an old Dodge like mine. She had a big a smile on her face. That one shocked me a bit too.

 

I used to own and drive a fairly schmick looking 1954 Holden FJ ute. It was my everyday driver. Towed my avatar racecar hundreds of miles to race, took rubbish to the dump, it sat outside while at work for years. Never let me down. People would look at it and say "If I owned that it wouldn't come out of the shed". I'd tell them that's not why I built it.

 

When I had my restored 1932 Hupmobile, a guy asked me "what make car is that"? I replied, it's a Hupmobile. His reply was, "I thought Hupmobiles were only in cartoons".

 

Thirty years ago I'd parked my sedan at a car show (no more!) and filled out the card they give you as to what the car is. Well, this one is built out of 28 to 31 A parts and I've always called it a 28 Mercury Torpedo Salon (it's a 6-cylinder with 18" wheels unlike the same year Fords).

An elderly gentleman (such as I'm now) walked up and read the card -- "28 Mercury Torpedo Salon, huh?" Yep. "I had a 28 Mercury Torpedo" he said. Bet it wasn't the Salon model. "No, it wasn't."

Later the Mercury appeared in a Swedish hot rod magazine cover and article which validated its true heredity. (Got the Mercury patent plate right on the firewall.)

 

I would not have asked the question that way, but I fail to see the issue, since firetrucks are often low miles, usually rust free, and a truck of that size I would say that is a logical question.

 

Because it's red? That's the only thing it has in common with a fire truck...

 

Brian - - hadn't seen the roadster with steelies yet - - looks GREAT!

 

I'm just tickled when someone thinks my car is neat enough to ask questions about it. From the outside there seems to be a very high barrier of entry to this hobby. People don't pay it any mind even if they would enjoy having an old car because it seems expensive and difficult to break into. Sometimes answering a few boneheaded questions lights a fire in someone and they go home and start googling... that's how I got here.

"What'd ya pay for that?" "5 grand..." Kinda makes people think maybe they can afford it too.

A kid (16 or 17) must have spent an hour walking around my Dart and asking questions while we were working on his mom's car... a few months later he brought in his first car, a 79 Trans Am, for inspection. Whaddayaknow. It's contagious, try to spread it...

 

Hey, at least they are curious.

 

A 17 year old kid ALWAYS gets attention and conversation, a 60+ year old dressed like a Q-tip, not so much...