I went to a small car show yesterday in Ouray Colorado and there was this guy there with a pretty cherry looking Buick GSX I looked at for a minute, not really my cup so I moved on to a 54' New yorker that was next to it. pretty soon I hear a slew of cuss words and I turn around, as did most of the people at the car show to see this GSX guy screaming at a kid who is probably ten years old who is with his dad at a car show on Fathers day, not to touch his F'n car yelling GD and all kinds of other stuff. I didn't see what the kid touched but I am pretty sure there is a better way to deal with the grief of someone touching your precious ride. Anyway the father was so embarrassed he just grabbed his kid and left. The kid will probably never want to go to another car show again and the GSX guy started his car up and left. What a total D-bag.
the polite way is always the best. asking goes farther than telling in my opinion. we police our main street show pretty hard, reminding spectators that these cars are art not just transportation and please keep your distance when viewing. our mc also states this quite often over the loud speakers. further more if he believed his car was that precious and delicate why take it to an open venue. your right, he sounds like a total prick. i'm sure it made a bad impression on more than just the kid and father about car show people too.
That is sad--I too went to a show yesterday with my black 57 Fuely. Had a couple of small children touch it and an elderly couple lean on the door edges to look inside (very old and using a cane). The children's parents told the children to not touch the cars anymore--happened a few times during the day--no big deal to me-just wiped off the fingerprints and enjoyed the rest of the day.
There are two sides to that discussion. While I agree that if the guy went off like you describe it was out of line, the other side is that we have all seen people and kids do some out of line stuff to cars at shows. I have seen kids jump up on a running board, open a door and get in (uninvited) and reach into a car and pick up items inside the car. Sometimes adults are not much better, especially non car types who assume the cars are sitting there for their pleasure and that they can do anything they want to them, like getting in, sitting on fenders, putting beer bottles on tires, resting a foot on frame rails, etc. Dogs and kids on bikes and skateboards are another area where an expensive paint job can be damaged. Whenever I look at someone elses car my hands are folded behind my back and I make sure I stay back a couple of feet. But not everyone else respects other peoples property like we do. Just my take on it. Don
Sometimes things happen, I can tell you first hand how frustrating it is to spend 100's of hours on prep and paint only to have a car damaged by other peoples carelessness.(somebody scratched the fender on my black '69 GTX right down to bare metal with a stroller) I've had to speak up a few times when people didn't have enough smarts to keep their hands off my car. If you do it tactfully folks usually get the message without having hurt feelings...
I agree, I always keep a respectful distance at shows unless like a show I took my nephews to at two rivers last year where most of the owners were encouraging my nephew to get in and take a picture but he was too scared. Anyway I am just saying this guy went off the deep end, everyone at the show stopped and looked at him like what the heck's going on over there. Plus this show was in the middle of a park with no signs or anything saying do not touch. Most people at shows know etiquette but in a place like that you've got to expect that some kids probably going to touch your fender.
I was at a local cruise where a mentally handicapped kid was hitting the hood of every car he walked by. His father was following him and watching. I decided to stay with my car until they passed by. Some parents don't have a clue........
I do the same thing... Hands behind my back and keep a distance to where I'm not touching the car.. Then I step back and take a few photos of it.. Plus I always thank the owner for letting me take pictures of it...
Agree ,kids need to be taught better by their parents but the guy cussing out the kid thats a sure sign of a dumbass jerk that shouldn"t be anywhere with his GSX but at home. The dad should have apologized then kicked the dudes ass for his stupidity.Sure miss the good old days when you could take care of business without being put in jail for doing the right thing.
I once told a kid on a skateboard that I wouldn't tell him what to do, but if he came off that thing and it hit one of those cars, the remainder of his life might be short and painful. He looked at me, looked at the cars, looked at me again, and took his skateboard somewhere else. Just for the record, I was exaggerating, but just a little; some of the guys in the club at that time didn't have much sense of humor about such things.
I agree there is a right way to do things but Ive been on the other end of this spectrum a few times. I had my bike a show, behind a rope and watched and heard a mother tell her son to go ahead and touch it and see how smooth and shiny it was, when I politley told her to please not let her son touch the bike she walked away and two seconds later her husband come over and began to tell me that I better watch the way I speak to his wife and son. That went the wrong way pretty fast. I also had a guy jump, yes jump up on the fender of my 52 and when I asked him what the fuck he was doing he said, its not like you have a ton of money in pain and I am just taking a load off, hell we were just chattin a few minutes ago, whats the problem, those were his words! Its odd what people think they can do to other's property and parents a lot of times do not pay attention to what their children are doing at car shows, it becomes a problem sometimes and I never expect a kid to touch my car, I expect the parent to keep an eye on their children and teach them respect for others property. I also watched a kid climb into the bed of a pickup at a local friday night show and the old man who owned the truck, I though he was gonna kill this kid, he told the father "I got more invested in this truck than you do in that little bastard". So its not always the young dudes flying off the handle.
I understand being protective of a pristine car. I had a black and gold Shelby H that was a magnet for little hands (and a few big ones) usually a "please don't touch" was sufficient. What's bad is when the parents are completely oblivious or just don't care. I have a car with painted running boards and they are a natural place for kids to want to stand. It's a driver so i'm not too fussy but Sometimes the parents stand 'em up there or just ignore it. Some people just have no clue. That's aggravating as hell The GTX guy going ballistic is not any better. Automotive egos get pretty big.
Not everyone knows respect. Asking politely is one thing, but GSX guy sounds like a total douchebag. If you're that psychotic, why take it out? Not only can that sort of thing happen, but what about the texting teenager on the road along the way? Another one that goes with the hands behind the back deal- if it's cooler weather and you have a jacket on, mind the dangling zipper.
He should have punched the little bastard in the ear then kicked him to the ground! That's what i'd have done damnit!!!!!! Kidding. I'd have to say the guy is a giant D-Bag and was picked on most his life. Where were the parents? My daughters (3 and 6 years old) know better. Plus they stand next to me the whole time at shows. I dont allow them to get into touching distance.
he knew that little kid was trying to boost it. I am pretty sure that most of us don't want someone to molest our car but a little kid getting a hand print on it just isn't the end of the world. I power parked a '65 Galaxy at a Goodguys once on a dare from someone important. I just left and went visiting people that I hadn't met yet, some of them had cars worth more than my house and good food. I digress, I came back one time and there was an older couple sitting in the back seat all snuggled up. They weren't getting nasty but they were obviously comfortable. So I introduced myself to them and the lady appologized, she said they got engaged in one just like mine. I guess I could have gotten mad about it but how could I? I gave the old coger the keys and told him to take it for a spin. I mean hell its just a damned old car.
Most of the problems with the kids at car shows boils down to poor parenting... When I was a kid if i touched somebodys car at a show and my old man saw it he would have slid my ass across the parking lot. Im getting married (2nd time around) and have already had a come to jesus meeting with the wive's tricycle motors about keepin there dick skinners off cars at the shows.
You probably shouldn't show your car if you're prone to flying off the handle, not because you're not completely in the right to be mad, but because people are assholes and parents are lazier than ever and you are guaranteed to have them piss you off at least once at every show you go to unless you set up an honest to God fence around the car to keep these morons out. The "you don't have a lot invested in this paint job" guy needs his ass stomped into the ground, and tell him he doesn't have a lot invested in his skin either so it's okay to mess it up. You don't even need to have a car at the swap to have issues with people's kids, I started to chase down a couple little ones, maybe 5 or so, that ran back to their grandpa with a couple of Hot Wheels I had out. They caught up to him before I did and it wasn't a big deal, but I thought I was going to have to stop them and explain that they can't run off with my things until their parents paid for them. But I sat and watched during the day and it was amazing how many people would look at something, mess up the way I had it put out, and leave it that way. I put out some clothes to try to sell for a relative and tried to fold them and make them neat, and women would pull stuff out, look at it, and just kind of put it down in a wad. Adult, grown women more than beyond old enough to know better. Sometimes I'm glad not to have a car out on the field.
If you don't want people to touch it, don't bring it to the show in the first place unless there is some kind of intelligence test given to potential spectators. I went to a show yesterday too. I had dozens of little fingerprints to clean last night. I had a smile the whole time. I put probably 20 kids inside the truck and invited parents to shoot pictures. Maybe somewhere in the future I'll meet a young person at a show. When I ask him how he got started he'll say that when he was little, his dad took him to a car show and some man let him sit in his truck.
You can't believe how true that statement probably is. Kids are real impressionable. When I was little car shows had ropes and were indoors for the most part. I sat in a lot of old cars that we may consider famous today, even got a ride in a couple. Ya just never know. I knew better than to climb on a car or smear it up but that was a life time ago. I'm sure that my hand prints ended up on more than one car, little kids will be little kids. That's life.
what do you say to this ? I agree with him its a car. but ther needs to be respect for the rides, however to make a kid cry! well thats not correct and 40 years ago the owner would have had his ass handed to him.
You are right but you cant fix a dickheads attitude. He feels tuff cussing a kid then obviously he has bigger issues than we can fix.
Swearing at a 10 year old??!! Not cool! Was at a show with my 5 and 6 year old. We were looking at a very pretty 5w with rumble seat. This car was in perfect shape and there were plenty of trophies showing the owner's pride. My kids each asked me to lift them up so they could look inside. The owner, upon seeing this says "that's no way to enjoy a hot rod - son, you drive and princess you get in that rumble seat!" Made my kid's day.
i once had a kid and the mother both just lean on my demon to look under the hood. i kindly asked them to please not touch the paint I've work really hard on the car and wouldn't like to see it damage. then the lady went and exploded at me (for one cause im in high school and i don't know s*&%) and two for trying to tell her how to live her f$%^ing life how to raise her kid. so i smiled said thanks for your opinion went and sat back down with my girlfriend and just acted like i wasn't ever bothered
Not cool in the least but there are always two sides of any story and that may have been the third kid in the past ten minutes that ran his hands over the car. It has been so long since I have had a car finished out to where I had to worry about it that I don't remember but I have seen it all in the past 40 years. Still no matter how nice you think your car is or it actually is, acting like a jerk is acting like a jerk. I have found that the cars usually but not always get treated a bit better by spectators who have to pay to get into the show than they do where they can just walk in for free. But I think I had more trouble with my dad bless his soul than I ever had with spectators. We about went to blows over him putting his cowboy boot(s) on my freshly painted running boards when the truck was just painted red. Still with kids, I put the blame right square on the parents for not having the sense to tell the kids what they can and cannot do and what they can touch. Or setting a good behavior model for the kids themselves.
The Jalopy Journal
