What is the best reaction you have gotten from people?

"Is that a hurst? "
OK, my last 2 builds did have kind of a similar theme/color...and I can't tell you how many times they both referred to as "hursts"...not hearse's mind you, but hursts.

 

Got a good response FROM a car owner one time:
I was at a farmers market at a local church (in Wisconsin, so throw in the accent) and a squat, somewhat rotund elderly guy had his (restored) Model T roadster pickup parked in a prominent spot as an attention getter. As I was admiring it, he strolled over and was telling me all about it. As we were BSing, he interjected:
"Yup, when we were young, The Missus and I could "fool around" in one of these. Now we don't both fit in it at the same time."
Ya gotta love old people!

 

Oh it has a Ford in it ! I told him “ it’s not your vote that counts , it’s who counts the votes that counts !” If you like it or not .

 

This has been over 20 years ago...I had a really nice 58 Biscayne two door..black..nice pipes but basically a really nice stocker, my youngest daughter had a friend over after school and I was tasked with taking her home, her 10? year old friend got in the car, totally embarrassed and crawled under the dash so no one would see her. Little twit My grandkids aren't anything like that little girl Still pisses me off.

 

We were on our way back from NSRA York and a State Trooper gave us thumbs up and flashing lights as he passed.

 

You Win

 

Overheard at a G.G.’s event “That little truck has more tricks than a room full of magicians”

 

An older bloke leant over my '60 Caddy and said "yep, I remember this car when it was new, driving around this city!", and I said "oh, that's nice!". I didn't want to burst his happy bubble and tell him I imported it from the U.S. a couple of years ago!

 

A few years back my son and I were taking his 49 Chevy AD on a road trip to Des Moines from Sioux Falls ( about 300 miles). The truck has a lot of the original paint and a 261 with a T5 so it still sounds like a 216. We had stopped at a grocery store in Sioux Falls for ice, water and sodas for the weekend. As we are loading up the cooler in the parking lot, a guy about 40 walks by and asks if we are going fishing. My son replies no, we are going to a car show. He then asks where? My son tells him Des Moines. He gets about 5 steps away and just STOPS, turns and looks at us and says IN THAT?

 

At the nostalgia race at Little River last fall had a guy walk up, look at my stude, and proceed to tell me how I had ruined a rare car. Then walks off. First anybody has said bad about this car in the 24 yrs I've had it.

 

I was out doing yard work behind the house today when I heard someone out front honking their horn. I go out to see what's going on, and there is a car in my driveway with an older gentleman (turns out he is 85) behind the wheel. He tells me he wants to buy my truck!

I politely tell him it's not for sale, but he starts asking questions about it; does it run, is it original, etc...
I answer his questions and eventually ask him if he would like to take a closer look at it since it was parked about 80 ft away. He said he would, but thought he might need some help since his legs were not as strong as they used to be. As I assisted him to the truck he told me that he used to have one (it was also black) and he had named it Jimmy. Unfortunately, he had to get rid of it many years back.

As he looked it over he continued to ask questions and even pointed out a few things it still needed. He also told me a few stories he had had with his old truck, and I could see that it was bringing back a lot of good memories. At one time he paused for a moment with his hand on the front fender, silent and deep in thought. Then with a sigh, he patted the fender and headed around to the other side.

As we walked back to the car, I asked him if he lived in the area. Turns out he lives in the next town over and was just passing by on his way to check out a trailer for his daughter. He said, "When I saw your truck I just knew I had to stop."

The visit only took about 20 minutes, but it made my day. And I was glad I could bring a smile to his face as well.

 

How does it run with no wires to the injectors? What kind of ECU you running ??

 

My avatar has an engine of pre '62 origin , naturally aspirated and manual gearbox. A couple of young blokes looked it over while I was sitting in the staging lanes. " Where do you plug the laptop in to tune it?"

 

Hello,

When my brother and I were just about finished with our 1940 Willys C/Gas Coupe, it was running very strong and we had not taken it to Lion’s Dragstrip as yet. There was one area that we had to make an appearance before any drag racing would take place at Lion’s Dragstrip. It was our Bixby Knolls cruising grounds.

The important camaraderie of the teenage egos was always something to make things better, after hearing great comments about what we did. No, those comments were not going to our heads, but made us work harder to reach the next goal of winning the B/Gas or C/Gas Coupe Class at Lion’s Dragstrip.
1960
It looked like a clunker with the red primer paint, black wheels and just a plain jane appearance, but the sound of the 671 supercharged 292 SBC motor and 6 Stromberg carbs made the “Wow” sound on the street. When we chugged into the parking lots of the two drive-in restaurants where our friends were sitting around with their hot rods and sedans, it made an instant impression… mainly it was what the #$@#^.

Our friends were impressed with our first attempt at building a hot rod for the street and drags. It was nice to hear great comments and when we started the motor with the hood open, everyone stepped back a slight distance due to the fact that it sounded so strong and powerful.

No one else had made such a supercharged motor set up. Sure, there were a couple of Paxton centrifugal superchargers on different hot rods, but since the 671 Isky Gilmer Blower Belt Kit just came out, we were the first to show up with a great sounding motor, our 40 Willys Coupe and the new 671 SBC Isky-Gilmer belt drive.

Jnaki

When everyone saw the 1940 Willys Coupe roll into the drive-in restaurant parking lot, we could only see amazement on their faces. Then when we rolled out of the parking lot and my brother gave it a little gas, we could just imagine the comments coming from the group of teens. We drove around the block, came down the dark alley and pulled into one of the coveted rear row parking spots. A friend mentioned that he could hear the motor coming down the normally quiet alley. This was part of the reaction we were expecting from our 671 292 ci SBC Willys Coupe build.
similar in build and looks

We parked, raised the hood and stood back to talk to some of our friends. It was a good thing it was only red primer as the teens all gathered around the 1940 Willys Coupe to get a look at how it was built. The nods and approval comments were more than enough for us to be satisfied we did a good job with our first hot rod build. During this build, we decided to get into the speed shop business end by getting a good discount buy from the manufacturers and sell for a lesser discount to our friends.

The good thing that the 1940 Willys Coupe build did for us was that it solidified our “rep” as good engine and hot rod builders, despite the small backyard garage we used to house everything. Our very small business we created to buy speed parts and accessories for our friends was getting started and gave us a little pocket change to save up for the next level of “go fast” parts for the 40 Willys Coupe.

It wasn’t like the big names, Reath Automotive and Joe Mailliard’s Speed Shop with their endless supply of parts, super big discounts, and connections. Our little place had its own connections and with the little discount we got from some of those big name speed parts manufacturers, the left-over business was plenty for us.

Sure, we wished we could have gotten a bigger discount like Reath and Mailliard, but they were the pros and we were just teenagers doing something that could possibly have a future for us. So, anything was acceptable. It was taking baby steps to giant leaps in the future plans, if they panned out for us.