There actually are rich, non-douchey car guys out there...

Years ago I owned a '68 Chevy Impala. One day I came home from work and found a loaf of Wonder Bread sitting on the hood.

Two of my favorite customers (who are each other's neighbors and buds) easily have a couple million in cars between them. Not what I'd call "gear heads," but they really love cars and are down to earth, genuine dudes.

Eric Bana is another Aussie car buff

LopRacer wrote: There are a few guys who run track days with us at NASA that have the kinds of car collections I can only dream about that a pretty damn cool. Maybe not good grief almighty rich but way the heck up there.

I was going to say something similar. The HPDE groups that I run with have some amazing cars and owners that clearly have money. But they're all super nice folks. Maybe I am just lucky?

Funny story. A few months ago we had a guy show up with a brand new, plates-on-the-car Bentley Continental Supersports to learn with. Sure, why not?

robert

Somewhere I have pictures of my Mustang with an upturned shot of Wild Turkey 101 running down the hood on the day I received the paid off title in the mail.

I will go on record to say that I prefer the Mustang over the Corolla wagon. If it were an older Toyota back when they were still RWD, then I don't know, but given the two cars pictured, it is an easy win for the Mustang.

I don't think I have any cars with food pictures.

I had to google Jay Kay. Thought that was some texting lingo...j/k, but eventhough I read the first two sentences on Wikipedia about the guy I can't really say I have any idea who he is.

White and chocolate mousse cake on the hood.

Of course, the hood is sitting on the roof at the moment...

But it is a BMW, so by nature it is douchey, so I'm told.

aussiesmg wrote: Eric Bana is another Aussie car buff

Isn't that the car that he pummelled into the tree on some rally course?

irish44j wrote:

aussiesmg wrote: Eric Bana is another Aussie car buff

Isn't that the car that he pummelled into the tree on some rally course?

Targa Tasmania, and yes he drives it like he stole it, He has owned it since he was a kid, and is rebuilding it

I ran a land speed race out in the Everglades a couple years ago with my old red Firebird. I was totally out of my league financially as you can see. The race was delayed and all the drivers milled about talking cars. Not one jerk in the crowd that I met. I'm sure there's idiots with expensive cars but most are probably like us but with more disposable income. They're just car guys.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j_p0vwhaGJw

aussiesmg wrote:

irish44j wrote:

aussiesmg wrote: Eric Bana is another Aussie car buff

Isn't that the car that he pummelled into the tree on some rally course?

Targa Tasmania, and yes he drives it like he stole it, He has owned it since he was a kid, and is rebuilding it

...Even if you drive that car slow, it's still bloody fast!!!

""

Count me into the rolla camp as well...had me a 95 with the smaller 1.4 liter mill and a 5 speed...was easily the most fun car I've owned.

No nanny whizbang gizmos, no traction systems or wired throttles. Just a real connection to the road. Wasnt fast by any stretch of the imagination. But ya know what they say about driving a slow car fast...

To this day I cant understand why the ae101 chassis never picked up popularity like the civic did.

My first car was an 82 Rolla sedan - rear wheel drive and an auto. To this day I keep an eye out for a 79-82 wagon for a track rat. Haven't found one at the right time yet.

Last year, I worked as part of the Event Staff of the Tutto Italiano car show at the Larz Anderson Museum in Brookline MA. The day was a complete washout, but more than a few cars still showed up. Anyone familiar with the event knows that all the Ferraris go up on top of what I'd like to call "Ferrari heaven", which is on top of the highest point of the estate's grounds. That's where the staff put me to direct cars around.

One of the guys that showed up had a brand new beautiful dark blue California and I directed him in. Then, I get closer to the car as it stops, and notice the tires are shredded, like he had the thing on a track. The guy, in his upper 50's and dressed like a typical rich guy, got out of the car. I asked him about it, and he said that the week before, he had the car at a road course (Lime Rock?) and was flogging the hell out of it. The more I talked to this guy, he was a really cool dude.

The best was when a couple of young brothers came up to the hill and were looking around, snapping pics with their cameras. The younger one (maybe 6 years old) was checking out the California and taking pics of the interior, and the guy just opens the driver's door and says, "if you want to get some really good pics, you have to be in the driver's seat!"

Remember, it was pouring out all day, and everywhere was a big mud pit. The kid just climbs into that tan interior and was beside himself excited. His brother got into the other side, and they were in there for a good 5 minutes taking pictures of everything and making "Vroom Vroom" noises. Some of the other Ferrari owners looked puzzled and appalled at letting two muddy kids get anywhere near their cars. The dude just starts laughing and says that it's just a car, and that he made those kids' day.

That is not something you see every day.

A guy my family was friends with when I was growing up had this massive Corvette collection that I became enamored with as I hit my late teens. Literally multiple 1st generation fuel injected cars, a 54 with a few thousand miles, a L72 car, several tri power cars, a C4 ZR1, everything cool. Everything in amazing shape. Everything worth high 5 to 7 figures. I'm maybe 17. We're all looking around, I am all over a new one he got, a 63 Daytona Blue split window. He opens the door, tells me to sit down. The thing is perfect. He tells me the keys are in the ignition, but I didn't take him up on it. He then expanded the offer to any of the cars. I couldn't believe it. Nicest guy ever, too. He earned his money, he and his family do heavy duty contracting, like masonry and foundations and crap.

awesome story!

tuna55 wrote: A guy my family was friends with when I was growing up had this massive Corvette collection that I became enamored with as I hit my late teens. Literally multiple 1st generation fuel injected cars, a 54 with a few thousand miles, a L72 car, several tri power cars, a C4 ZR1, everything cool. Everything in amazing shape. Everything worth high 5 to 7 figures. I'm maybe 17. We're all looking around, I am all over a new one he got, a 63 Daytona Blue split window. He opens the door, tells me to sit down. The thing is perfect. He tells me the keys are in the ignition, but I didn't take him up on it. He then expanded the offer to any of the cars. I couldn't believe it. Nicest guy ever, too. He earned his money, he and his family do heavy duty contracting, like masonry and foundations and crap.

I throw the keys to my cars at people all the time. Almost nobody takes me up on it, but occasionally they will ask for a ride. Kind of pisses me off sometimes when I know that they love the car. Keep trying to get my boss to drive the Viper but I scared the living hell out of him one day in it and have not gotten any traction.

Most exotic car guys outside of the Ferrari and Lambo world are pretty down to earth. Just last weekend the San Diego viper club got a call that there were no toys for one of the local PD toy's for tots donation center.

5 days heads up before the event and this is what turned up.

In reply to wearymicrobe:

WOW! Nice Job on the Toys for Tots! How did you fit all of that in the Viper?

RossD wrote: In reply to wearymicrobe: WOW! Nice Job on the Toys for Tots! How did you fit all of that in the Viper?

15 vipers showed up, there was more toys then that though. I dropped off a ton early and we brought them upstairs to the wrapping stations.

wearymicrobe wrote: I throw the keys to my cars at people all the time. Almost nobody takes me up on it, but occasionally they will ask for a ride. Kind of pisses me off sometimes when I know that they love the car. Keep trying to get my boss to drive the Viper but I scared the living hell out of him one day in it and have not gotten any traction. Most exotic car guys outside of the Ferrari and Lambo world are pretty down to earth. Just last weekend the San Diego viper club got a call that there were no toys for one of the local PD toy's for tots donation center. 5 days heads up before the event and this is what turned up.

That is awesome! Toys for Tots is my SCCA region's favorite charity, we always have our donation box at the Christmas party. One year a guy who ran in GT-1 brought three Mattel Power Wheels. The Marine said he'd been doing T4T for years and had never seen anything like it.

And good on ya for offering the keys. Because of guys like you, I got to drive a lot of things that I never thought I'd ever touch.

I will add my only cool car guy story.

One of my dads friends was a DOD helicopter pilot that also flew during Vietnam and was the sole survivor from a medivac crash. He had an original 60 something Lotus Super 7 that he and his wife restored and was by far the coolest car on Post. One Saturday morning in the Fall he came over to the house and we went for a drive up in the mountains, about half way through the trip he pulls over and lets me drive. As a 17 year old kid that was one of the best couple of hours of my life and it totally sold me on LBCs.

Two days before I graduated from HS I totaled my parents 83 SAAB 900 being stupid. The day after my crash, Bill, the guy with the Lotus, comes over to our house and asks me if I would like to use the 7 for the next two weeks. He was going on TDY and since I did not have a car thought I would enjoy using his. I was floored by the offer. Needless to say my GF and I put a lot of miles on that car in the next 2 weeks and Bill made a big impression on me.

Back when I had my Alfa or when my Spit was running I gave many rides and let a lot of people drive them. In my mind the whole idea of our car hobby is to share it with others so I try to do what I can.

At the company I work there many car guys. For example a VP of a product group (code for very well funded) has an amazing original Mini and also does vintage racing. There a guy who was raced Formula Atlantic as a gentleman racer. There are many more yet it isn't what you would expect from a high tech company.

Viper owners don't count. That car attracts a certain kind of driver, posers tend to avoid it. Most Viper owners that I have met know what the F they are doing behind the wheel. Therefore, most are pretty non-douchy.

When I think of rich and non-douchy I think of running a track day at Sers Point and I had a part break that needed welding. I went through the pits looking for a welder. Came to a Porsche team with full luxo-accomidations and mechanics. The Porsches were running fine and the mechanics were bored. The team owner had his guys weld up my part for free.

pinchvalve wrote: Most Viper owners that I have met know what the F they are doing behind the wheel.

The ones that don't are dead...