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Art & Inspiration "is that a real car?"

Discussion in 'The Hokey Ass Message Board' started by flynbrian48, Jun 27, 2023.

  1. Roothawg
    Joined: Mar 14, 2001
    Posts: 25,908

    Roothawg
    Member

    You should try pulling an Avalair into the campgrounds. It's automatically an Airstream. I gave up long ago....
    [​IMG]
     
  2. Budget36
    Joined: Nov 29, 2014
    Posts: 15,200

    Budget36
    Member

    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.
     
    Tman, guthriesmith and clem like this.
  3. clem
    Joined: Dec 20, 2006
    Posts: 4,665

    clem
    Member

    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.
     
  4. SDhotrod
    Joined: Oct 11, 2008
    Posts: 666

    SDhotrod
    Member

    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.
     
    Driver50x, ekimneirbo, clem and 13 others like this.
  5. jim snow
    Joined: Feb 16, 2007
    Posts: 1,928

    jim snow
    Member

    X2. Snowman ⛄️
     
    Just Gary likes this.
  6. winduptoy
    Joined: Feb 19, 2013
    Posts: 4,101

    winduptoy
    ALLIANCE MEMBER

    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"
     
    rockable, WC145, 41 GMC K-18 and 2 others like this.
  7. X38
    Joined: Feb 27, 2005
    Posts: 17,498

    X38
    Member

    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.
     
    Last edited: Jun 27, 2023
  8. 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.
     
  9. I still say the same thing I've been saying since 1950......
    "Hey! Look at that ol' timey car!" :eek:
     
  10. DDDenny
    Joined: Feb 6, 2015
    Posts: 22,127

    DDDenny
    Member
    from oregon

  11. rusty rocket
    Joined: Oct 30, 2011
    Posts: 5,251

    rusty rocket
    Member

    Ohhh yes! I forgot about that one. I’ve been asked that!
     
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  12. chevy57dude
    Joined: Dec 10, 2007
    Posts: 9,559

    chevy57dude
    ALLIANCE MEMBER

    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.
     
  13. Lil 32
    Joined: Aug 12, 2018
    Posts: 144

    Lil 32
    Member

    I get asked
    "what color is it"
    tell them "green"
     
  14. RockyMtnWay
    Joined: Jan 6, 2015
    Posts: 586

    RockyMtnWay
    Member

    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). :p 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. :mad:
    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.
    .
    .
     
  15. Mr48chev
    Joined: Dec 28, 2007
    Posts: 35,837

    Mr48chev
    ALLIANCE MEMBER

    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.
     
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  16. DDDenny
    Joined: Feb 6, 2015
    Posts: 22,127

    DDDenny
    Member
    from oregon

    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.
     
    winduptoy likes this.
  17. SS327
    Joined: Sep 11, 2017
    Posts: 3,785

    SS327

    My buddy had a 47 Plymouth sedan. Every time I saw him in it I’d yell nice Hudson, boy he hated that!
     
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  18. I wondered why I never really cared for Gene Wilder…
     
  19. Harv
    Joined: Jan 16, 2008
    Posts: 1,451

    Harv
    Member
    from Sydney

    Green is nice :D



    Cheers,
    Harv
     
    Lil 32 likes this.
  20. cabong
    Joined: Nov 29, 2005
    Posts: 931

    cabong
    Member

    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".......
     
    jim snow, rod1 and SS327 like this.
  21. gene-koning
    Joined: Oct 28, 2016
    Posts: 5,620

    gene-koning
    Member

    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.
     
  22. spanners
    Joined: Feb 24, 2009
    Posts: 2,197

    spanners
    Member

    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.
     
  23. BJR
    Joined: Mar 11, 2005
    Posts: 11,188

    BJR
    Member

    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".
     
    Paul likes this.
  24. Stan Back
    Joined: Mar 9, 2007
    Posts: 2,686

    Stan Back
    Member
    from California

    Bonneville.jpg
    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.)
     
  25. 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.
     
    Last edited: Jun 29, 2023
  26. flynbrian48
    Joined: Mar 10, 2008
    Posts: 8,682

    flynbrian48
    Member

    Because it's red? That's the only thing it has in common with a fire truck...
     
    winduptoy likes this.
  27. chucka
    Joined: Oct 29, 2018
    Posts: 93

    chucka

    Brian - - hadn't seen the roadster with steelies yet - - looks GREAT!
     
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  28. trevorsworth
    Joined: Aug 3, 2020
    Posts: 2,013

    trevorsworth
    Member

    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...
     
    Last edited: Jun 28, 2023
    alanp561, 327-365hp, CSPIDY and 7 others like this.
  29. JimSibley
    Joined: Jan 21, 2004
    Posts: 4,029

    JimSibley
    Member

    Hey, at least they are curious.
     
  30. flynbrian48
    Joined: Mar 10, 2008
    Posts: 8,682

    flynbrian48
    Member

    A 17 year old kid ALWAYS gets attention and conversation, a 60+ year old dressed like a Q-tip, not so much...
     
    alanp561, 427 sleeper and GordonC like this.

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