Lying to old ladies about my cars.

It started years ago at an antique car meet at Crotchet Mountain NH.
I had my all original 1931 Ford A Woody Wagon when an old lady in her 80’s comes up to the car with a big smile. “My cousin had a car just like this …He would come over on Sunday afternoons and take me for a ride.” She continued with her story and then said “Is this a Dodge?” Well I leaned over against the radiator shell and covered up the FORD logo and said. “Why…YES! Yes it is a Dodge” She smiled and walked off with what I guess was her Grandson and his wife….

I asked myself… Many times.. I did the right thing… I hope.

Well. A couple of weeks ago I was at a meet in St. Augustine with my 1922 Dodge Jalopy and up comes this old lady. She says to me. “My brother had a car just like this one. He would come over and take me for rides…”



I listened to her stories and if she had asked me what kind of car it was I would have said “What kind of car did your brother have?”

I have other bad habbits

Cadman

 

Good on you for not squashing a little old lady's dreams... I love stories.

Our neighbor is a WW2 vet from the Pacific theater and he was a small child during the depression. I can listen to him all day long.

 

haha! I get the same thing but it was never a family member that would "take them for rides" these ladies had the devil's glint in there eyes when talking about going out in a hot rod! They didn't care so much what kind of car it was as remembering the times they spent in them and the things they lost in them! "I bet you get all the girls with this car don't you young man, wink wink, nudge nudge" *pinches my bottom*

 

Nothing wrong with that at all. Next time offer them a ride, who here doesn't want to go back in time, even if only for a few minutes.

 

In this situation, you did the right thing. Now if it was a younger know-it-all guy maybe things would be different. People often say so and so had one just like it back whenever about my OT car. Non stock color, shaved emblems, wheels that didn't exist back then ect ect.

 

Quick story....

Myself and a few friends were finishing up brunch one Sunday at an outdoor table. Down the sidewalk, carrying an umbrella to protect herself from the afternoon sun, a petite old woman is walking slowly...she's easily in her 80's or 90's.

She looks concerned and slightly confused, looking up and down the boulevard. I ask her if she's ok and she explains she just moved into a retirement home, took a walk and is now lost. There are numerous retirement homes in the area, but I recognize the name of the one she mentions. It's was more than a few blocks away, so I offer to drive her.

She timidly says yes and I tell her to wait with my friends while I get my car. She didn't say a word when I pulled up in my '38 Chevy coupe. I open the door for the sweet old gal while my friends are snickering and making jokes.

As I'm helping the woman out of the car in front of the retirement home, I couldn't help but notice the wide eyed expressions on the faces of the 3 or 4 old biddies sitting out front in the afternoon sun. The old broad seemed to have a little swagger as she walked towards them. Then she stopped half way, turned her head and gave me a smile and a wave.

Who knows...maybe she made up a little lie about me and the shiny black old Chevy.

 

Good on you, cadman89 , why bust their bubble with some rude correction?

Being approached by others with questions about my hot rod is one of the more gratifying aspects of the hobby.
At my age, most of those (old?) ladies are 20 years younger than I. It's quite common for them to catch me at the store, gas station, etc. Whatever the question is, I reply with "Hey little girl, wanna' go for a ride, get some candy?" I've never gotten a reply with other than a laugh, a smile, and a lot of times I've had to give them that ride. Once in a blue moon I'll get the "my husband is working", etc, makes me feel like I'm being hit on. No candy however!

It seems that when a couple approaches me about the car it's the woman that initiates the conversation. Twice this year, the man that with the lady was left standing there in the parking lot whilst we did a trurn around the parking lot......

 

Damn hotrodders!

Nice,guys. It really takes so very little to be nice. We should all do it more often.

 

A23, good for you, it never hurts to make these parking lot, gas station, folks happy when your older car stirs some nostalgia within them. My 59 Ranch Wagon really brings em outta the woodwork, we had one just like this is the usual chant. Except ours was tu-tone green and had another seat way in the back, is this a 68?, I thought so. They walk away with a smile and a warm fuzzy goin on. God Bless em. ~Sololobo~

 

its called respect . You got to love it.
good job.

 

"cradlerobber"!

Just funnin', I agree that enjoying people's reactions to your car is the best. As for the little white lies, what's the harm? You made someone's day.

 

That's awesome! Hey, where was that meet at? I need to start finding stuff around here (originally from Miami)!

 

it depends on who I am talking with, but yea its definitaly happened a few times. My old Ford has been a chevy, a dodge, and quite a few times an old merc haha!!

 

At a show once, an old lady gets out of her husband's very nice 34 3W coupe, she walks over to my car and asks "Is you're car a rat rod?"

I looked at her very seriously, and said, "No. Is you're car a rat rod?"

She looked very surprised, and didn't quite know how to answer.

True story.

Rich

 

I had the Sled ( 49 Merc , chopped , flamed ) at the local grocery store to pick up some stuff and as I was loading the bags in the trunk this little old Mennonite woman comes up to me and said "Young man " ( I'm 64 years old ) Is that a Hudson? I told her no it's a Mercury.

She looked down the side and said, "Well you ruined it" and walked off.

 

Yeah! I used to lie to my ol' lady all the time [ especially when I bought a 'new' car ]
"My friend just wants to store it at my place for a few weeks"

 

Sounds to me like you met two old ladies from Arkansas. One goes ridin' with her cousin and the other with her brother?

"Well aint I always nice to your kid sister, don't I take her driven every night? Well sit here at my feet . . ." Willy Nelson

My wife lies to everyone about my cars, she says I restore them.

I did lie to a gal at a Good Guys a few years back. I was in my Galaxie hard top and she said she really liked my car because it brought back memories blah blah going to the drive-in blah blah back seat blah blah.

I tonl her that I had never seen her before.

 

Way to have no respect for your elders-- especially a woman into old iron.

You should have just politely said no, or something. It's not like some punk ass 18 year old kid asked you.

Have some respect.

 

Thanks for this thread, it made my morning.

 

Yeah, offer to take them for a ride, just for old times sake. I was messing around with my M-1 Garand and a WW2 vet (my neighbor) said he hadn't handled one since he got back.
He stripped that sucker down and put it back together like he had done it every day since then. Kinda fun to see the look on his face.

 

Once while filling my old 51 Buick with gas some guys in an 80's Impala with what I guessed were 20 inch rims and all the loud bass, pulled up and out jumps one of them and says "awww damn! Is that a 57 Chevy?" I said yes only because I didn't want to start a conversation. For me... lying was the right thing to do do in that case.

 

I did politely say no, and politely asked her the same question she asked me.

I still get a chuckle just thinking about it.


Rich

 

An old lady, I wouldn't have said anything.

I probably just would have punched her in the mouth.

 

A buddy of mine told me his car club used to visit a retirement home. When he pulled up in his 1939 Willys sedan, one old biddy came over and told him, with a big grin "I remember those - I lost mine in the back seat of one of those"!!

 

not a traditional car at all but I'll tell the story anyways...

One day at the shop the old gal who used to own my '80 Cutlass brought her lincoln in for brakes an oil change and some other stuff... As she was waiting in the office I noticed she was ocassionaly staring outside at the Cutlass... I finished her car, and was working up her bill and noticed her looking at it again... So I asked her if she missed it.. She says yes, and tells me about all the looks she got in it when she had it, and how my dad asked her if it was for sale every time it came in the shop, etc. etc... She pays her bill, and leaves... 5 minutes later she's back.. I asked her what's up, and she kinda sheepishly smiles and asks if I could take her for a ride.. I pulled my keys out of my pocket and handed them to her an said take it for a spin.. She got kinda nervous and said she thought I should drive.. but I insisted she should I'd just ride along... She gets in adjust the seat the typical steering wheel in your chest old lady mode.. straps on the seat belt, hits up the local oldies station.. starts the old girl up... and then gets a huge smile when the duals start to rumble (car originally had a 260 V8/Th350, now it's a 425/Th400).. She sticks it in reverse backs it up, puts it drive, and gives her some juice.. the tires slip for a split second catch, and take us to the end of the lot... She gets out onto Maple St. and I tell her not to baby it... thinking she's going to anyway... Damn was I wrong.. she gave the ol' Cutlass hell... we get back to the shop, she shuts it off and hands me the keys.. She gave me a big hug told me thanks, and mentioned I should swing by and let her husband see it.. well I didn't have to.. the next day he was at the shop bright and early waitin' for his turn.. I still think she had more fun..

 

Your a nice guy....

My cousin was nice to the old lady across the street for years... TO his surprise she died and left him the 1938 DeSoto 4dr sedan and the Studebaker Lark.. He did not even know she had the DeSoto

Cadman

 

I figured there would have been more lying to your own "old ladies"
because no matter what i do to any of mine it only costs twenty bucks, at least thats what I tell my old lady!
how much did that cost nag nag nag! babe it was only about 20 bucks!

but this thread made me smile. because there is always someone that stops and wants to chat about my car.

 

I get the "I used to have one just like that" all the time about my kustom '53 Chevy and I usually just say "Oh, that's nice" but what I'm thinking is "not unless it was chopped and frenched, etc."
But one time an old dude said "My buddy had one just like that in high school...did you use lead for the customizing?" How cool was that - he really DID know someone with a chopped flat-black '53 Chevy! Gotta love those oldies.

 

Just happened the other day. I had to take my 31' to the insurance guy for new pictures and while we were in the parking lot a very old lady pulled up. She was just sitting there, so i turned and said "Hi". She asked if my car was a "Model A" and I said "Yeah, a 31'" she smiled and said "I knew it! My first husband, god bless his soul, drove one while we were dating." I was thinking it was a stocker so I replied "Yeah, I just don't run fenders and the top has been chopped." I was totally shocked when she said "Yeah so was his. We won a lot of drag races in that car and the money he won paid for my engagement ring." She told me that my car was "neat" and drove off. I bet she would have had some really cool stories to tell.

 

I used to get "I-my father-my brother-cousin-aunt-uncle-etc had one just like that!" when I took my then-red '57 Belair 2dr hardtop to shows.

Followed by, "But it was a 56, and a four door, and green and white, with a 6 cyl", or something like that.

A freind got a similar response when he took his '57 to the local childrens' home, only the follow up was, "Its a '51 Studebaker!"