Car guy delights!

Detailing. I love bringing slightly faded and all around scruffy cars back. I love sitting in the late evening sun after spending all day on a car and just looking at it from all angles.

A vintage Ferrari V12 at full song.

Wagons. Old Datsun's. Shelby's. Borrani's.

Taking it easing for the first few minutes of a cool Fall Sunday morning, waiting for the car to come up to temp...because you know the route...and what you intend to do.

nicksta43 wrote: Detailing. I love bringing slightly faded and all around scruffy cars back. I love sitting in the late evening sun after spending all day on a car and just looking at it from all angles.

I dont enjoy that anymore but I fully understand it

For me tasteful restomods are always welcome. Love seeing a restored old body with modern components underneath.

Exhaust that pops when you upshift.
Exhaust that gets all raspy as you coast.
Lopy camshafts that shake the car at idle, but don't stall out.
Supercharger whine.
The perfect rev-matched downshift.

These are a few of my favorite things.

people who can appreciate a good build even if they'd do it differently or with a different car

A good four on the floor manual

Ok, what do I like?

-Vintage pickups actually getting used as pickups. SWMBO has green lighted a vintage pickup after our Dakota dies. I saw some guy yesterday in a late 20's (!!!) Ford Model A in driver-quality condition hauling stuff around. Two thumbs WAY up!!!

-70's/80's Pony Cars with weird aftermarket tuner parts. Read my Trans Am build thread, and you will understand. Just check out this catalog for Trans Am parts from the early 80's: http://www.transamcountry.com/misc/TASCatalog.pdf

-El Caminos and other "utes". I think they are cool, and I want one. In brown. It has to be brown.

-80's "high technology" performance cars. Like anything that is turbocharged and lets you know it with gratuitous TURBO decals all over it. Pop-up headlights are super cool too. I miss them.

-Cars with the right stance. No, not "Stance", but something that just sits right and looks the business. Like this:

-Insane cars built for cheap. Ed Malle's $2013 GRM Challenge Mustang comes to mind. That car was berkeleying cool.

-Cars with weird options. See this thread from yesterday: http://grassrootsmotorsports.com/forum/grm/just-when-you-thought-all-the-strangely-optioned-cars-were-gone/86979/page1/ Who orders a new gold Ford Fusion with the luxury package and a STICK??? Very cool and strange.

Driving through the summertime desert at night with the top down.

Vintage alfas, high revving motors, and velocity stacks...preferably together, the sound of a mustang 5.0 at start up.

dculberson wrote:

Ditchdigger wrote:

sanman wrote: Got a full pic of that woody? Looks awesome!

Cortina

That .. is incredible. I love station wagons. I love anything with more power than it needs. Power makes up for a lot of sins.

We need a whole thread on this vehicle alone. very cool.

The sound of a small block v8. I also love wagons. Straight 6 engines and flat 6 engines too the sounds are intoxicating. Manual 3 pedal shifters. They should come in modern minivans. I love sleepers. Slow cars going fast. All my cars are slow and its all good.

You guys all get it, trying to explain this to normal people sucks.

The moment when you hear an engine, any engine and you know its way fast. The noise that breaks your neck as you spin around to see what its in, and see the driver with the best grin ever on his face.

The reassuring sound of an old diesel truck idling

Well cared for wagons. Especially if they're fast

The snick-snick of a direct manual transmission

Old trucks with dogs riding shotgun

Driving aimlessly through the night in a convertible...which I'm going to go do in 30 minutes...

"Sleep late, have fun, get wild, drink whisky, and drive fast on empty streets with nothing in mind except falling in love and not getting arrested. Res ipsa loquitur. Let the good times roll."

I love the smell of brand new rubber. I also love using the new rubber to replace the old, rock hard, dry rotten tires that have no traction so it feels like a brand new car. I love the roar,wail,howling,chattering, or hissing of cars at wide open throttle at an autocross. I also love rowing through my own gears.

I like the rumble of a V8 engine. I also like seeing all of the track cars when you first pull up at an autocross and the guys getting everything ready.

In addition to many of the great things written above, I love listening to Sprint Car engines. The way they rev and drop off. The way you get that whiff of methanol in the stands. Watching a wingless Sprint Car gracefully slide around a turn or the brutality of a winged Sprint Car setting the left side down and just taking off around a corner. Top Fuel dragsters and Funny Cars are the most incredible race cars on the planet. T.V. does not do those cars justice. The smell of nitromethane, the vibrations, the noise, the speed...IT'S ALLL GOOOODDD!!! On a somewhat tamer note, I saw a beautiful Huffaker built MGB and a gorgeous E-type Jag at Sears Point a couple weekends ago. So many great cars at the vintage races. I wish I could afford one of them!

The moment you look over to thumbs up a guys car and you realize he's just as much into yours. Even better if they're wildly different genres.

Cars that look like they've been used. The guy who mentioned supercars getting driven everyday kind of used. What's the point of spending all your money on something to just let it sit there and rot?

Classic cars being used as daily drivers. Worked with a guy that sold his new Camry and bought a 55 Buick as his dd. Always thought that was really cool

Sleepers

Cleanly modified cars that you don't see modified normally

80s turbo cars

The crazy/ gaudy awesomeness of some of the 70s/80s interior patterns (plaid seat inserts, turbo script)

Wagons, Miatas, normal cars you dont see modified - modified, obscure cars (Volvo 850R, Saab 9K aero, ect.) daily driver classic cars or exotic cars, 80's sports cars, getting a thumbs up from another car guru and such. I really enjoy super high milage well maintained cars, it actually shows people care. Shifting my own transmission just driving in general, I will randomlly go to NH or Maine for the fun of driving lol I also thoroughly enjoy tracking my gas milage... have been for 55k miles on my saab with a life time avg of 28.3 mpg...

I like a built Diesel dropping into idle RPMs, getting sideways in 3rd gear, unrestored Pierce cars, the brakes groaning as I inch my 4x4 off a boulder, cars that build like Legos ie: Subarus, G-Bodies and Fox-Body cars.

Sideways Volvos: [URL=http://s265.photobucket.com/user/derekrichardson/media/day27.jpg.html][/URL]

Redicilous builds: [URL=http://s265.photobucket.com/user/derekrichardson/media/2978241751_e569d52ced.jpg.html][/URL]

4x4 wagons [URL=http://s265.photobucket.com/user/derekrichardson/media/Mobile%20Uploads/image-20.jpg.html][/URL]

Classic VW's [URL=http://s265.photobucket.com/user/derekrichardson/media/Mobile%20Uploads/image-1.jpg.html][/URL]

Giant Purple Snorklewacker wrote: I love waking up at the track on day 2 and seeing all the race cars with dew on them in the sun... front splitters removed to be able to move it around so I can see fat slicks with purposeful negative camber all covered with yesterday's clag. People quietly moving around, getting ready for practice. I like to sit on my tailgate with a coffee and just watch in the sun until I hear the first crack of exhaust note before I start my own prep.

Nirvana. One of the reasons I love getting to the track/hill early for my work assignment. I really enjoy wandering through the paddock, mostly observing, but occasionally chatting with the drivers and crew.

The sound of an uncorked V8, the acceleration of a turbo, a perfectly executed heel-toe shift, a controlled slide, race gas, the earth shaking power of a top fuel car. But mostly, people who enjoy their ride regardless of what "car people" think.

The butterflys in the belly when you pull to the line. Whether a drag race, an autocross or whatever. It's the reason I play with cars.

Driven classic cars!

Driving that 28 year sitting barn find away from its state inspection and its first tank of gas to...anywhere!

Classic Mustangs, Camaros or whatever that have NOT been converted to a GT,SS, Mach I, RT, etc.Extra points if it was a 6 cylinder car.

That 14 year old kid at the car show who helped his Dad restore an old 67 and asks intelligent questions about your car. (He also spotted a 351C part that was on my 351W engine!).

Bruce