I always get a chuckle when people ask me what kind of car I'm driving(the word,"PONTIAC" has been scrambled on the hood and tailgate to say,"PAINTCO")and then when I tell them they usually reply,"I never knew Pontiac made a,"NOMAD"!". Or they'll look at the surfboard on the roof that has a huge bite out of it(I damaged it once and rather than fix it,I took a sabre saw and cut it out to look like a shark bite)and ask if I was riding it when the shark got it. Surprisingly quite a few people I run into actually know what it is and a lot will usually ask if it is a 55 or a 56. I love it when the Pontiac purists look at it and shake their heads in dismay.I was at a show once and a couple of the judges were looking at it(it wasn't competing)and started telling me how the way the vent glass was delaminating would cost me points and the custom paint work was more deductions and so on. With a straight face,I proceeded to tell them," Gee,I just showed it to Kelsey(a friend of mine that they also knew)and the first thing he said was,"Chop it 4 inches,cut off the roof and make an el Camino,and painted it black with flames.You know I think I'm going to see him after the show and see when he can start on it".That shut them up in a hurry! Most of the comments are pretty positive though,and I find that a lot of the public is basically well intentioned.As was said before,I try to educate most of them and the occasional,"rectal cavity" that comes along I mostly ignore.
"If that was mine, I'd only drive it on weekends and sunny days" "Nice 57 Chevy" "Nice Chevy" "Nice Camaro" "Nice Studebaker" (52 Ford) "Do they still make tires for cars that old" "Can you actually drive that on the highway? You must have to drive in the slow lane." "You drive this everyday...is that legal?" my favorite though was right after I dropped the back end of my 52 down but left the front stock height... Old black dude pulls up next to me looks over and says "Boy, you need to take that to the shop, you done busted a spring"
When I was seventeen, my dad let me drive our project '40 Ford tudor to my buddy's house in Enumclaw, about 40 miles away. It had the requisite 350,350, mustang II, blah,blah. All rebuilt stuff. I got to my friends, and his mom sez "Oh my gosh! You drove that car all the way here! Are you gonna' make it alright?" I said, "Yeah, the ole flivver broke down a couple times on the way, but I really got the hang of the crank start, now." She just glazed, and said, "Oooh, ok." My buddy's bustin' a gut, meantime. Same car, a kid in the car next to me at the grocery store, waitin' for his mom. He pounds his brother in the arm, yelling "Slug Bug!", and points to the '40.
Slightly different........ I stopped at the convenience store for a Diet Coke and some gasoline.....out of town 1 day..... This young boy rode his bicycle up and was looking at my 32 Ford roadster....then he said....." nice 32 mister " and rode off.... I was so shocked....I was speechless.....10 year old kid MUST have good parents.....
The new guy next door walks over to look at my 52 Plymouth. First he says that a nice chevy. After I coorect him he asks what it's running. I tell him it still has the orignal flathead six. He prceeds to tell me that I better take care of that motor because that NEW flathead motor that chevy is making is not real cheap. I didn't know where to start on that one so I didn't even try. As he's leaving he say he likes the look of my WWW and chrome wheels(flipper caps) and maybe he would put them on his old car. I should have known better but I had to ask. We walked over to his house and he opens the garage to show me his 1976 Olds Omega. Needless to say we did not become car buddies.
Great stories! Before I got my 54 I worked at a parts store and had a GS. Must have had at least 10 people ask me what kind of Chevelle my car was, "the Buick kind" I would respond. Blank stare...
I was with a buddy at a local cruise standing behind my coupe when two "experts" came over in front of it. One of the experts began telling his friend that he didn't understand why they let the kit cars park with all the "real" cars. It really annoyed him. He said it was unfair because the car looked too perfect and the guys with steal cars must really get tired of seeing cars like mine. (It's steel!) It was painted in a garage too! When I had flames on my coupe it always seemed like kids really got excited when they saw it. I was parked behind the local drug store when a kid came flying in on his bike and when he turned and saw the coupe he exclaimed "Woh!!!" and dumped his bike. I got out to see if he was OK and later let him sit in the car. It seemed like it made his day (minus a few bumps and bruises). -Rich
If I had a dollar for every time I was out in my 65 Riviera and someone asked me - "Hey dude, is that a GTO?" Or said "Hey, nice Chevelle!" I could retire rich.
I inherited the '37 Chevy Coupe from my dad when he died last year. The question he always got asked was "Did you buy that new?" It was especially annoying for him because he was born in 1942. Slonaker
Great thread. Heard lots of the same comments. The custodian asks about my car and I tell him it's a Model A Ford hot rod coupe. The next day he asks how my roadster is doing?! Then he says there's one like it in the student parking lot, I went out and look and it's a dunebuggy. Was cruising at the Woodward cruise and I guy in a family sedan asks "What kind of car?" So I tell him 1929 Ford coupe. He says oh! Is that like a PT Cruiser? I Should have run him off the road!
I have heard the same question several times: "Why would you want to drive that?" the first couple of times, i TRIED to explain... no use. Now I simply ask a question in return: "Why would you want to get out of bed in the morning?"
A friend of my dad's kept telling us about the "old Model T" his neighbor had in the backyard, and maybe it was for sale. We snuck a peek over the guy's fence and it turned out to be '53 Stude 4 door.
When I showed a picture of my hot rod to the NAPA guy, he asked: Where did you get that???? When driving my '58 Impala, I am always asked: Does it have a 348 ? When I say no, they say Oh...turns around, almost disappointed, and walks back to their 2003 econo box... Now I just lie, and I get thumbs up...Nobody has called my bluff...yet !
A friend had his GS stolen last summer. Local paper ran a story on it. "Easily identified as gold with "Chevelle" painted on the rear quarters." He got it back.
Similar to that but it turned out better. When I was a kid my little kid brother came running in the house and told me he'd found two Model Ts in the neighbours old barn across the road. Kid brother must have been about 6 or 7 years old at the time. Course I didn't believe him so he took be over to show me. The back of the barn was all falling down and we crept in through the undergrowth. There was an old '32 English fabric bodied BSA two door and behind that a circa '35 English Lanchaster limosine. Couldn't believe I'd been living 50 yards from these things all my life!
i get a lot of the same retarded comments already mentioned here, "i used to have one of those", or "i'm building on one of those right now", we all get 'em, but i'm gonna pull out my trump card for this thread: took the impala to one of those saturday night cruises at some ice cream/rootbeer type place (last of a dying breed around here). i went up to the window to get an iced tea, i stood in line maybe five or six minutes, got my drink and headed back toward my car. i get there and i notice a big blob of apple sauce on the trunk and fender. and i mean big! enough to fill a shotglass or so. fucking applesauce! who's the asshole that walks around eating applesauce at a car show and spills it not on the parking lot, but on people's cars, and then just leaves it there... ugh.
When I had my '58 DelRay on the road, I got asked if it was a Taxi. It is painted pearl yellow with green seaweed flames. I guess it does look like a Checker. Oh well.
anybody thats seen my old truck(batfink) knows how much body mods it had....I had a guy tellin me how he used to have one just like it...uh..suuure! I was about 20 when the goodguys started the west coast nationals. They used to go to Baylands raceway and have drags along with the regular show (damn I'm feelin old) anyway...I drove my bright red 38 chevy 2 dr sedan over and parked at the fence. I sat on the front fender and was watching the drags when an oldtimer walks over and tells me "ya know,the guy that owns that may not like you sitting on the fender" I really felt insulted...guess a twenty year old couldn't own A NICE CAR!
I haven't even gotten my car on the road yet and I still get all the dumb questions and comments. Model A coupe "Why don't you just go to the junk yard and get a chassis from a junker and put the body on that?" As though it would look fine as long as it has wheels under it. "How's your roadster/truck comin'?" The best is when some friend of mine told me his budy was giving away a '32 ford truck cab. So I said I would take it. I was definately sceptical. Sure enough it was a 35 ford pick up cab. I gave it away to some one who could use it. Seems like the old junker on the south-forty is always a "32".
my 54 chevs been chopped about 3-4 months and home only half that time, but since then a bunch of friends (some closer than others) have drove out to see it. in this short amount of time i have heard "LOOKS LIKE A MERC" four times.weird. wtf -i guess everything chopped must be a merc! most of these folks wouldn't know a merc if it drove over them.
My dad and I were cruising in his 57 Bel Air a few weekends ago and stopped to get gas. A guy about the same age as my dad asked if he was the original owner of the 62 Ford we were in. My dad being the smart ass like me says "Yeah I bought it brand new when I was 12."
On my 37 Tudor Thats a work in progress right? Nice roadster when you gonna paint it?-Me-DP90 is paint... does it have an airbag?-Me-no comment,Too easy.... Thats not a PT cruiser?- Me, Yes, it was the prototype.... Is it all factory original?- Me, yea it has the rare '37 Torqthrusts and sbc option though.... On my roadster..... Why are you doing all that work... wow, a dune buggy-(yea, me too) Its not done yet? Is it to drive everyday? and my favorite...Why don't you just buy one already finished?
What floors me is the "gangster car" thing. "That reminds me of Bonnie and Clyde! you should have a machine gun!" Okay, I guess I could sorta just roll my eyes if the comment was about a full fender 30's sedan or something. But once I went to a cruise night with a '59 Impala coupe, and this old dude come up and says: "Wow, that's a real Al Capone car!" a 1959 Impala. Jeesh.
I get asked all the time if i drove my "roadster" to work....'46 chevy coupe. Had a neighbor kid yell over the fence "wow, nice car, what ya got in it?" "A 350 chevy" I yell back..... "Big Block?" the kid yells Had a '65 Impala SS at a little show once, a guy walks up with his girlfriend; gives me the "I had one just like that 'cept I had wider tires on the back" routine. Hmmm, I had a finger width of space between the tire and the fender and the same between the tire and the frame.....
I used to have a Sectioned and Channeled 53 F-100 Panel truck. It never got re-painted after the surgery. 25 years ago Primer ment you'd had a wreck and wern't done fixin it yet. I had been to Daytona and was stopped in Little Rock Ar. for gas. The attendent kinda wandered real slow towards me. Looking him over I could see he didn't have all his lights on. He says, You want Gas mister? Fill it please, I said. Is it safe? he asked. Sure it is. After filling me up he askes, You gotta drive this Thing all the way back to Warrshinton? Sure do, I said. Well good luck mister, he said. All I could do was laugh. So I did a Power Brake till I dissapeared in a cloud of Tire smoke and went out in the street sideways. I alwayse wondered what Boy thought after the smoke cleared. I've also wondered where that Truck has ended up. The Wizzard
A young guy walks up to me and asks if its a 34 or 35. I tell him its a 35. I thought so. My dad had one almost exactly like that, same color and everything. Man, it really looks good. I got just one question though. Why did you put International emblems on the hood? Duh??? I love it when a little guy (or gal) likes one of my cars and I tell them to hop on in and try it on for size. I think their smile is only exceeded by the one on their mom or dads face as they take a picture.
Hey, wait a minute, doesn't EVERYONE carry a machine gun in their hot rod? I thought it was a prerequisite.
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