Do you like the attention your car gets?

DUH!!!!!! Of course!!!! Why else would we drive cars that stand out? Who wants to blend in with all the cookie cutter Hondas,Toyotas,Nissans,BMW's,etc,etc,etc! BLAH BLAH BLAH!
It's an ego thing,haha! It's great getting recognized.

 

Hahaha yes!! Funny stuff right there

 

Seems like you werent here in the 50's things were different in thouse days

 

Cool Car

 

depends on who's paying the attention

 

I don't have the '34 on the road yet, but when ever I'm out in my O/T '69 Firebird, I always get someone that stops to talk, waves, gives me a thumbs up, or just takes a glance and grins. Yeah, every once in a while I get annoyed with weird people, (like the guy who offered me "2 grand cash, right now!"), or when I'm in a hurry and someone wants to chat at the pump, but I always remember that the convo might get someone hooked on hot rods/muscle cars. If everyone had been a dick and shrugged me off when I was a little kid asking stupid questions, I probably wouldn't have an interest today. Every encounter affects someone, one way or another...

 

My fairlane doesn't draw a lot of attention as its stock. But my sidecar draws a lot of attention. Mostly ranging from "nutcase" to "seriously deranged". With four records to its name it doesn't bother me.

 

my kids love it... when were at a light and someone asks about the car... they are FULL of answers! hahaha!

 

I don't do it for anyone but me. dont really feel like talking to the guy who " my mom had one but in green and it was a chevy"

 

since i was 15 i,ve been driving my chevy so everyone knows who I am. It was funny when I painted it about a year or so ago and people some times don't know its me. I kind of like it its like a new identity. all and all I like having people acknowledge my existence to a certain extent.

 

When I lived in Orlando I used to take my Vauxhall to the Saturday night cruise in at Old Town. Now, few people who live here know what a Vauxhall Velox is, but the British Tourists that were all over Orlando knew what it was, and on top of that I got to hear some great stories, one guy drove one as a Patrol car when he was a Police Officer in Southern Rhodesia!

It could sometimes get annoying, one clown insisted that my car was a Studebaker prototype. I told him that he was right and that I had fabricated all of the Vauxhall badges to hide the fact as the FBI was looking for it.

When I still had the '58 Bonneville it amazed me how many people used to own a Tri-Power Bonneville in 1958, they must have sold a Million of em...

 

I like it when people come over and admire my big chunk of detroit iron, heck, half the cars that I have now came from one or two of those folks saying" I don't know if you'd be interested or not......." The other thing is that I look at the people that say" why don't you..." and tell them" that's a great idea!...do it to your own car!"

 

idunno,
I used to think it was cool, but really now its just like ehh... and attention from cops is a bad thing.....

 

I love the looks I get...smiles, frowns, laughs, annoyance, and my favorite look by far is "why is he driving that old piece of crap?". And I have learned that alot of people in their 40's and 50's owned a falcon at one point in their life. very common car which makes it all the merrier. I think its the side mounted cherry bombs that get peoples attention.

 

Only one thing I hate about ! IS THAT ONE OF THEM KIT CARS ?

 

.....Being an "old fart".....I like all the attention I can get.....even knowing they looking at the car.....its nice being cool

 

Im fat, middle aged and a bit ugly looking.

My car makes me look cool & kids give me the thumbs up, and some women even smile at me.

I love it.

 

Always got a good response in the Minor. It's - for now at least - a non-threatening kind of car.

I get a lot of appreciation in the DD VW Golf Mk1, mainly because guys can't figure out the wheels I've got on it. They think Euro GTi steels, but those are 14" as far as I know. They are in fact Renault Scenic 15" steelies painted silver, with the Golf's plastic centre caps. I usually leave them guessing for a while. I've had several people say they're going to look for a set because they suit the car so well, but I've only subsequently seen one other Golf with those wheels, and those were painted the stock matt black.

 

I love it, I think its awesome. Not for an ego thing, or the benefits it brings me, just the fact that it puts a smile on someone's face. Even people who are clueless about old cars. I'm 19, and drive a '63 Dodge Dart as my only vehicle. I had about 7 cars previously, all from '86 thru '97. They all died quickly, and I was fed up with P.O.S. newer cars. I'd always loved old cars and wanted one as a daily driver, so I said F*CK it, I'm gonna try to find one. Found my Dart, did a basic tune up after it sat for 10 years in a backyard, and I've put 5k miles on it since last summer. Nothing but reliable. And that's why I have it, as a car. Not a status symbol or to gain cool points. But I do love the attention, BECAUSE it's great, for the fact that I get to hear stories from old guys about how they had one, or someone close to them had one, etc. So far, people have been pretty accurate in their questions. "That got the Slant Six or the 273 V8?" "It got the push button tranny?" Its just fun. My favorite part though, is the stories and seeing a smile brought to their face after telling it. Example:

One night, we had gotten some snow, and I had just got off work and was out dusting the snow off my car and scraping the ice off the windows. An older guy came up to his car, which was parked next to mine, and just stopped. I stopped what I was doing, and looked at him. He smiled, and said "I had one just like it. But mine was a '64 and a 4door." So I smiled and said "Oh yeah?" and he proceeded to tell me "Yeah, back in college, we had a '64 Dart. It was like the community car, if you will. Had that Slant Six in it with the push button tranny. And let me tell ya, in the 4 years I was there and that we had that car, we never once changed the oil. Every so often we'd add a quart and there wasn't a time that thing never ran! Most reliable car ever, and the damn thing took some beatings, I'll tell ya that!" This man just lit up with happiness telling that story. So, snowing and all, I popped the hood for him and we chatted for about 10 more minutes in the blizzard about my Dart and about when he had his. That's the kind of reasons why I like the attention. As for why I HAVE my car, it's because of ME. I love old cars, if it's pre-65, I'm into it. I'm way outa my generation, I usually listen to doo-wop or rockabilly music, and I drive my Dart. For the fact that I might be crazy and wanna pretend it's the 50s/60s. So my answer's yes, I do like the attention most definately!

-Allan

 

i have this '81 snow white vette. the slowest vette ever built. it's so white that in the winter i park it next to the drive way and push snow around it. when people want to know where my vette is, i, go over to the rear of the car and push the snow away from the tail lights. of course the reaction is, "how could i treat a vette that way". hell it's fiberglass. aren't boats made out of fiberglass. but, if i was single and i took my german shepard cruising with me, i could get laid EVERY TIME i drove this old vette. steve pastorino

 

Sounds to me like you need to get rid of your attention getter and buy a Toyota,then nobody will look at you or bother you. let someone else have your car that appreciates it for what it is.

 

I love it, the wife HATE's it.

 

I especially like it when older folks look at it and make comments-have had quite a few folks in their 70's spend time looking at it and asking questions. One day I was driving my 57 FI Bel Air and pulled into the Hardware store parking lot-a gentleman who must have been 80 came right over and told me he heard it coming in and knew it was a solid lifter small block and heard the FI whistle--he knew exactly what it was and had many neat stories about the early days of running at the Drags.

 

It dosen't bother me but I have had the crap scared out of me when you get them blowing the horn when you are least expecting it. I love seeing a smile and a thumbs up from the kids. Sometimes I think that maybe that I just made their day and perhaps planted a seed for the future.

 

It can be annoying at times, but a young man put it in perspective for me years ago.

I was parked among a bunch of high dollar cars with my 60s roadster at the Columbus Nationals and noticed a couple of young guys in their early teens taking pictures of my car. I walked over and asked if I could help them, and one of them told me that his friend was a deaf mute, but loved my car. So, I told him to get in it, and took his picture in the car. His grin was blinding as I took a couple of pictures.

Two years later I was in the pits at Indy when the same two kids came to my trailer between rounds. I was shown a picture where the deaf young man had one of the pictures from Columbus blown up to almost cover an entire wall in his bedroom, and his grin was still blinding. So I put him in the car and took him for a ride around the pits with the car in race mode, goosing it on the back of the staging lanes a bit. He was in heaven and it made me realize what kind of an impact you can have on youngsters, and even older paople if you take the time. Seem kind of silly to spend time building a car, taking it out to display, and then not wanting to talk about it.

Some other kids - younger, maybe 8-10 years old came by the pits and asked if I had any picture handouts for my car, and wanted my autograph! Huh? I was embarrassed, but signed the book they were collecting autographs in, and then told their dad to put them in the car and take their picture in it since I didn't have any handouts. Once again I was rewarded with smiles and thank you's from them, and their Dad.

Even if you just take it to the local drive-in to get a burger, if someone talks to you about your car, just be polite and maybe you might make a friend. Or a new hot rodder, when they discover how cool you are.


Mutt

 

People annoy me in general, so for the most part, I don't like the attention. However, I do wonder what goes through most folks minds when I fly past them in the fast lane in a 55 year old truck.

 

I don't know about the term, "deaf-mute" but.. I'm deaf and I'm certainly no mute myself.

If it wasn't for my dad being heavily submerged into the hot rod culture, I wouldn't be typing this right now.. I may be deaf, but I know what makes and what breaks a hot rod.

As for attention; I normally drive an OT '68 C10 that gets its share of "What year is that? '83?" (hilarious when I tell them it's a '68 and they act like that's waaay old) but that's broken down right now and everyone ignores the '89 Nissan P/U I drive for now. My '29 A Coupster will be the one that brings all the attention out of all the other cars. I can't wait for the day that someone pulls up next to me and tries to ask me a question about my car. I'll respond with a "Uh? I can't hear you." and leave it up to them to figure out whether I'm talking about the exhaust or if I might have a hearing impairment.

 

Well, he was unable to hear or speak..and since I'm getting really old, I'm probably politically incorrect when I use that term. But that's how his buddy described him to me. How about hearing and speaking impaired?

At any rate, he was a cool young man, and I hope he has a hot rod by now. He certainly made an impression on me...


Mutt

 

I get all the usual "What year is that?" questions at the stoplight. Lately, I've gotten a comment from more than one stranger that tickles me pink. Goes like this: "I've wanted to ask about your truck before but I can never catch up to you."

 

It's no problem at all. I understand plenty of the older people still use that term. His buddy as well. That's no problem.. No harm, no foul. The term "hearing impaired" is actually politically correct but I prefer to be politically incorrect as that is the American way. So "deaf" works.

I should thank you for making an impression on that young guy. I can't think of a single deaf person that is into cars as much as I am. Could definitely use some more. so thank you, Mutt.


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