Gender gap on car comments?

Why oh*****ing why is it that guys always ask that same stupid question "what year is it?" and then just say nothing. Never anything else. I've started just making absurd***** up like "1985" when I'm driving a '56 or '65. Why do they ask? Are they taking surveys? Am I an****hole? I have to figure if you can't identify a '65 ford, a '56 ford or a '54 chevy - just what are you going to do with the info anyway? So what? Do you like it, hate it, used to have one, have two at home, anything?

Women on the other hand seem to be able to muster complements- vague stuff like "nice car". Now that's pretty straightforward and cool. All I have to say in return is " thank you" or smile and we had the kind of nice meaningless exchange that binds the whole world together in a big web of love.

Is this an L.A. thing where guys are too cool to compliment something? Maybe I should get a radio so I don't think about this stuff so much when I drive around.

Is there a pattern to the comments you all get on your cars?

 

If someone asked me what year it was, I'd say 2004.



but thats why i get hit a lot.

 

Nah man, its here too.

Funny cuz I got kinda tired of the same thing. exept they always ask me "what kinda car is that?" when Im in my 56 buick. Damn thing says buick in 6 places on the body and "special" in two. Hell even the portholes should be a giveaway to alot of people, right?
So Whenever anyone asks that seems like a fool, I make something up. Its been a pakard, studebaker, chevy nomad, dodge And many others Ive just tossed at 'em. I always come up with a different year, anywhere from the late 30's to the mid 60's. And they always kinda nod like "yeah! cool!" If they seem alright I'll fess up, but if theyve been looking at the car for a minute or two and still cant figure it out, then oh well... It says "1956 Buick special" in the grill and the tailgate...
But ya know, when Im driving my 54 that has all the badges and oraments shaved, every one seems to know its a chevy. Aint that a trip... I guess Im an****hole too! -J.

 

everyone always asks the year, then when i tell them 56, they ask if it's a chevy. if you don't even know the make, why ask the year?

 

get some straight pipes. then you can't hear the idiots asking you anything.

 

Actually I must say that most of the people in my area that give two drops of monkey piss about old cars are usually old men. And when they ask what year my car is, it is usually precursored by "Is that a 46, 47 or 48 Ford?" A lot of farms in my area and a lot of old guys with memories of flathead powered tractors I guess. I am much luckier than I thought.

 

I think mose people just want to make conversation and don't know any other way to get started.

Frank

 

Its like that everywhere I've been but I also get comments like "I used to have one just like this except it was white not black, it was a 55 not a 58, but it was just like this one except mine was a Chrysler not a Ford and was a 2 door not a 4 door.........yahda yahda yahda" But I'm gearing up to really***** with there heads now. Got a 53 chevy 4 door that has had 6 1/8 inches taken out of the top height, I'm in the process of changing the 53 front cap to a 50, it has a 47 pontiac back glass, we're changing the wheel openings to 56 chevy as well as the back panel so that i can use the 56 chevy taillights and also using the 56 chevy rear bumper. About the only give away that I started with a 53 chevy will be the body lines on the back doors. If someones looks at the car and says "What year is it?" I'll just reply "It's a 47,50,53,56, chevy pontiac" that should shut them up.

 

What I like is when they approach me with that question and I have model year plates on EVERY vehicle I own.
Around here I usually get a compliment. Alot of times just going through a drive through..The youngun will say Nice Car.... Sometimes their response to you may have everything to do with your body language and eyes. A good old down home smile after their stupid question will give them reason to share their information with you.

 

Yes!

I owned a 1958 FE Holden (aussie GM)
with FE 1958 plates...and everyone came up and said is it an FJ....id say no FE like on the plates and then the'd say what year...and i'd walk off...

 

It's sad.....someday old american iron will be gone from lack of interest.

I get the "technical" questions on my hoodless hiboy...."Is that a V8????".....sad sad sad

 

On the other side of the coin, I pulled into a parking spot with my 37 Chevy 'vert, and a 60's something lady came up to me and said I really like your 37. It was hard to belive that she could recognize it, no bumpers, blacked out grille and no chrome or bowtie emblems on it. I was impressed at her knowledge. she said her dad let her drive his 37 when she was a girl and instantly knew the sillouette(sp)?

 

hatch I had some guy comment that my "straight six ought to put out some power."
This is whilst looking at a hoodless hot rod with a Packard V8 in it.
The biggest****holes are the ones who don't believe you when you tell them what year your car is.
I'm sick and tired of people who are completely convinced my heavily customized '54 Chevy is in fact a Studebaker of some kind.

And yeah women are generally cooler, but they tend to gravitate towards shiny, pretty things. Unfortunately since my Capri's been down I've had nothing on the road that fits that bill. At least with the Capri you can't blame anyone for not knowing what it is, especially because I took the Ford badges off.

 

Some folks just feel the need to say something.
Most are not serious car people, but have a slight interest.
There are many, as in most, who are too young to remember the stuff we are interested in.

I get tired of answering the same questions, but, they are conversation starters.

I just live with it, and answer the questions as honestly as I can.

They have a story to tell, and I listen.
The one that I have the most fun with is "What color is that"
Any one who looks at my car can tell "It's Red"
That is what the pin striper painted on the trunk.

Time passes and they move on.
But they can not say I had been rude.

Jim

 

I get a lot of the "what year is it" questions.
I tell em exactly what it is and if they're still interested I tell em the clues to look for to determine a 32 vs. an "A" etc.

A few call my roadster a coupe and others call my friends coupe a roadster. Probably the same folks who used to call all motorcycles Honda's and now call em all Harleys.
I 'splain the roadster/coupe differences to them as well.
Almost always with good results and I'm sure the next roadster they see won't be called a coupe.

Just about everyone who's asked me the "what year" question was polite and truly interested.
Men and women alike.

Got chewed out by a few guys though.
One because if you leaned down and looked over the back of the seat - running sans top - you could see a few wires under the dash. He seemed kind of pissed off about the whole thing so I told him the wires didn't bother me and drove off. (They are neatly bundled fwiw.)

Next guy who chewed me out was P.O'd cuz I was running a big Buick instead of an SBC. Seemed like I'd transgressed some unwritten hot rod rule. Aside from him being a sorta wierdo I noticed he didn't have a car at the run.

The last was an old guy who got ticked cuz I was hauling lumber in the roadster. I do that kind of stuff all the time and it hasn't hurt the car yet.

Nice comments come from the ladies, but when they call it a "cute" car I don't always know how to take it. I always smile and say thank you and then slink away in my supposed to be "bad" car that's now cute.
Somehow, to me anyway, bad and cute don't seem to go together....

 

I got a new one last year. A kid wanted to buy the Galaxie "'cause I like Mustangs like that one".
I made up the most outragious (sp) story about it being one of the original stunt cars from Bullet... and asked more money than I'll make in my lifetime.
He wanted to know if I would negotiate if his mechanic looked at it first.
Does that count as meaningful conversation?
I usually hear from men is that the original interior?
And it seems that most women (between 30 and my age) have had some experience in one just like that. Must be the big...

 

We live in a turn-key world. Auto manufacturers and legislators are doing their best to make cars disposable and un-maintainable by the average car owner. Years ago, maybe 1982, I was driving a restored 65 Corvair Corsa. It had two-stage silver paint and American Racing wheels...looked new. An old guy was leaning against his truck (parked next to me) in the Sears parking lot waiting on his wife to come out. When I came out and opened the "trunk" to put the shovel I just bought into it, the guy liked to*****..."Where's the motor?", he said. After a little more conversation about the car the guy said, "I didn't think they made those Corvairs anymore".
I guess the point of this tale is that even if people are interested, they have some preconceived notion about what the car is by how new it looks or how much it may resemble something they have owned or seen in their past.
I personally choose to look at it from the standpoint that I am proud to own/drive a vehicle that others notice and feel compelled to ask about. In the automobile market today there are tons of mullets that go completely un-noticed just because they're all the run-of-the-mill***** that's been spoon-fed to the masses...

 

With my Rambler you get "nice chevy/ford/dodge......" Then when you say its an AMC they get a blank look then say "oh yea, same thing as a chevy/ford/dodge...."

 

I usually handle the questions similiar to how C9 does. I mostly get asked if it's a "Chevy". I politely tell them "no, it's an Oldsmobile", and if they say something like "really?" and still seem interested in continuing the conversation, I start to point out the differenes between the Oldsmobiles and Chevys of the late 40's. I point to the fender extensions, explaining the Oldsmobile ones continue further into the doors, the Olds front end is longer, the differences in the grill, the peak on the front fenders, etc. By this time, they are either digging the info and we have a true conversation going on or they've walked away with information overload

 

I drive my '54 Chevy pickup everywhere.
Most times I'm out with it, I either get a smile, thumbs up, wave or any combination of the above.
Many times while gasing up or walking to/from my truck, I get enlisted into a conversation about how this person's dad/grandfather had one and how they learned to drive in it or that they had one years ago.
I find a certain pleasure in helping someone relive these memories. Nearly always viewed as plesant to those I am speaking with.
They always leave with a smile.
Maybe I'm finally getting old or just too sentimental, but I remember some of the 'old' cars that my dad or I had when we were young.
Hec, that's exactly why I got this old truck, because of one my dad had when I was a kid.

I remember my sister losing breakfast in the floorboard on the way to elementry school one morning.
It was a '57 equiped with a 389 Pontiac*****ing three deuces and a four speed...
r

 

When guys used to ask what year my car was I would respond with, " what part are you looking at? "

 

I mostly get "Is that your car?! *****, that is COOL!"

Last week I was getting back in after buying some CDs at Best Buy and a guy in a big pickup SLAMMED on the brakes to lean out his window and ask me what kind of car it was.

 

My '57 Ford has plates that say "57DRVR" and I still get asked what year it is. I had a guy ask me if I was running a short block in my coupe, sheesh.

 

the ones that crack me up are when you tell em what year etc.....thay proceed to tell you that they,their dad,etc. had one just like it or they learned to drive in one and so on...well if they had one ,they should know what year it is....my mom can look and any car up until 1980 and tell you what it is...i'm not being sarcastic,she is pretty amazing at it

 

Its everywere, but most guys here give you a thumbs up or "nice car". My favorite is the guy that drives by you on the freeway, breaks his neck trying to see your car from front to back, then swerves and almost hits the wall or someone! The interstate is not the place to get a detailed look at someones ride. Just pass by, give a glance, hell give a thumbs-up if you like and then keep going. I'd rather that then get cought in a multi car pileup just becouse some guy in a Saab is trying to figure out what year my delivery is! Now I could understand it if I had some hot blonde driving my car for me********!!!!!

 

Yeah, I get my share of dumb questions as well, but I think we should be glad that folks are interested, you may inspire some folks to build their own one day.

Sure, I get a lot of stupid questions, but like C9 and Denise, if they show interest I enjoy showing them the car.

I pretty well stopped being honest though when I am in my 58 Impala, and the inevitable question is: Does it have a 348?? When I answer no, they walk away almost disappointed

I also noticed that "cute" pick up trucks like my 52 Chevy with baby moons and white walls attracts ladies way more than my "masculine" 58 Chevy. The litterly throw their underwear at me Just like Elvis! I should have bought that truck before I got married!

 

I like when the older, retired folks come up to you and tell you about fond memories they have from a car like yoyrs. I can listen to that all day.

 

I always get the Falcon comment.

"I usta have a Falcon just like that" I always go, "thats interesting cause its a 63 Fairlane."

I actually had a guy argue me the other day that back then they made a Falcon Fairlane. He said it was a custom type thing like a Futura......

It really makes me sad that many people who DROVE these cars back then (early 60's) Don't know what they are!
Then agian.......if someone were to ask me to pinpoint the year and make of some of the cars on the road today, I would be unable to......
I can't identify the "cool" tuner cars.....to me they are all alike.

The coolest conversations I have with people are the ones who actually know the difference between a 289, 260, and a 221 Ford small block. Those guys are cool.

 

The one I like the best is when someone looks at my flathead V8 and points at the three header pipes and says, "nice V6". I usually smile and tell him to count the sparkplugs.

 

I also like it when they try to tell you that thats NOT the original engine in your car........NO*****!

Or when you go to the parts place and they need to know eng. size and year and make of car. "Ok, I need head gaskets for a small block 350, oh and its in a 29 Willys Wippet............................."