Drove my Hawk to work today..had to park outside the gate as the service writer with the key hadn't shown up yet..so there we sit, a couple of techs, the parts chaser 9me) and some early customers. I had gotten out of the Hawk and was talking to a buddy when a customer in say, her mid to late 60's got my attention.. She asked if my car was a Studebaker Hawk, and once she found out it was, went right down memory lane..she kept calling hers a "Super Hawk"..my response was if it had fins, it was a Golden, Silver, Power, or Flight Hawk...or just plain Hawk. So I asked.."was it fast?" trying to find out if it was the blown Golden Hawk..she replied, with a HUGE grin on her face.."it sure was..and I had the foot to match it!!" Cash PS..now that I think about it, some of the post-fin GT hawks had the supercharged engine/disc brake package, and were refered to as Super Hawks..so her memory might be spot on.
Had a 56 big window F-100 and had a tilt front end on it ran with convertible top cylinders.Talking about people flipping out at gas stations when I would pull in to get gas and the raise the whole front end with a ****on on the dashWound up selling the truck to a fellow in a wheel chair he liked it cause he could hop up out of his chair onto the tire and be able to work on the 429 BB ford motor
Yesturday, I had a guy ask if my T ran on propane. I know the spun aluminum tank on the back was confusing him, but I was pumping gasoline, for cripes sake!
Great stories and some good laughs here. To most non-car people a car is just a thing that takes their kids to the soccer game. The non-car types have no clue about old cars or new cars. CRUISER
In 2006, One of my car club buddies and I were on our way back from California with my just purchased '56 Chev 210 HT on an open trailer behind my Silverado. I was already enjoying the attention I was getting running down the road with it and at the gas & restaurant stops. In Oregon, you can't pump your own gas, so when we pulled up to the two pumps at an old mom & pop gas station in a small town, the woman owner came out an exclaimed "Ooo! A Studebaker!" That took me down a peg. As a side note, when we asked where the restrooms were, we were told the building was built before 1900 and it did not have a bathroom. She told us we could go knock on the neighbor's (house) door and they would let us in to use their bathroom - no lie! I didn't go knock... After I had the car a year or two, I was g***ing up at the 7-11 near my house. Reminder: gas cap on a '56 chev is behind the left taillight. I had just finished filling and hadn't put the light back in place yet, when a younger woman walked up on the way to her car to say "Excuse me... Excuse me... your light fell down". I said thank you and that I was just finishing putting gas in the car. She gave me a look like I was the craziest person on the planet. I think I could read her mind..."Yahhh... gas in the taillight... Sure..." Scott/Gotta56forme
> gas in the taillight, sure< I had that....I even had a crowd trying to figure out why I was putting it into my tail light.....
Man this is some funny ****. I don't get offended when they make dumb *** remarks,I go along with it like the guy saying I never saw a El camino like that,it says Custom on it. I said yea it was built like that in Canada with the low roof , weard tail lights and no door handles.They didn't make too many of them. he said it was cool anyway.LOL I had a kid say to his buddy that my (in avatar Airflow ) was a big vw bug.I said yup sure is. Also at gas station a guy told me thats one of those fibergl*** kit cars.You can buy them these days.Does it get good gas millage? I said I am fillin her up now I will see ,maybe the fibergl*** will help.LOL. I didn't tell him it is steel.Life is too short to let stuff like this bug ya.
Man this is some funny ****. I don't get offended when they make dumb *** remarks,I go along with it like the guy saying I never saw a El camino like that,it says Custom on it. I said yea it was built like that in Canada with the low roof , weard tail lights and no door handles.They didn't make too many of them. he said it was cool anyway.LOL I had a kid say to his buddy that my (in avatar Airflow ) was a big vw bug.I said yup sure is. Also at gas station a guy told me thats one of those fibergl*** kit cars.You can buy them these days.Does it get good gas millage? I said I am fillin her up now I will see ,maybe the fibergl*** will help.LOL. I didn't tell him it is steel.Life is too short to let stuff like this bug ya.
How many of you guys have had someone walk up to your car and ask---" Has that thing got a cam in it?" I have heard that way too many times! Its my wifes pet peeve. One ***** asked me if my Fairlane had a cam in it. When I replied that if it didnt have a cam in it then it would not run; he looked at me with a very puzzled look and said--" not necessarily."
Yep, My Sedan has a 472 Caddy and you couldn't even guess how many "carguys" say is that a 350. Then when I say what it is they go "oh yeah". For some reason the big distributor in THE FRONT and the definite physical size difference doesn't seem so obvious that's it's not a 350. I love the response it gets though. I think in the 10 years I have had it on the road there have been 3 guys know what engine it is. As Low Lid's comment on gas mileage: I get the question "What kind of mileage does it get?" I just say you don't build a hotrod to get good gas mileage, If I wanted good gas mileage I'd bought a Prius. Although it'll get 13-14 on the highway.
Back when I first started the job I have now I drove the 48 to work one day and a coworker exclaimed that "that truck isn't any good, you can't take it up in the woods like that". He is the Wikipedia poster boy for what Washington State rednecks look like and the same guy who told me that my 71 3/4 ton GMC wasn't "big enough" to pull the trailer with my sailboat on it. I told him if his half ton 4x4 "big" truck ever breaks down, call me and I'd come tow him home.
The Jalopy Journal
