Ever have a stranger comment on your car?

mtn wrote:

rotard wrote: I was at a gas station yesterday, and had an older guy walk up to me. He said, "I was going to tell you that you had a nice car, then I saw the red brake calipers." I just shrugged and walked away.

That statement just confuses me.

It doesn't confuse me.......I HATE red brake calipers. That guy obviously did as well

Back on topic, most people that know me ask "Wheres the Saturn?" and "why are you driving this?"

Mind you, both of these are to the '91 sho.....my reply, "This is faster.....and cops don't pull me over for 2mph under the limit"

I often get comments on the Valiant, mostly variations of "My (insert older relative) had one of those."

"Cool car!!" is my favorite.

"Nice Dart!" doesn't offend me, but ...

No, it doesn't have a Hemi.

If I were a bumper sticker sort, I'd have one of these:

I still might put one under the hood.

Back when I had the Rx-7, I always seem to get "Nice Datsun". Every once in a while you'd get someone who owned or knew someone who owned one a long time ago. I'd always get a "WOW! I haven't seen one of those in forever! That Rotary Engine would rev to 10 grand!"

The Corvairs always seem to bring everyone out of the woodwork.

The Late Models get:

"Nice Ferrari"

"Nice Corvette"

"Is that Italian?"

The Early Models always get:

"That's a Corvair right? It's got that Beetle engine?"

"Oh my dad had one of those, when I was a kid I would lay across the floor"

"Those always set on fire right?

There have been many more that I can't remember, but the one I get the most is: "What type of car is that?"

I reply: "It's a Chevy"

The response always is: "Really??" With a really long stare.

Like the mini guys I have to add about 15 minutes to every trip to the store for folks who want to talk about the 850. It is about an 80% chance that if a person knows what it is that they moved here from somewhere in Europe. The rest are older guys who were into Fiats in the 70's. Everyone else makes odd guesses. Usually "is that a mini?" second most common is VW?, then Hillman, and some other odd british marques and the oddest one to date. "What is that? A Volvo?"

I average 5 "If this car is ever for sale, call me" notes a week, and since I don't lock the doors (too many years spent driving convertibles, habit now) there have been at least 10 incidents of walking up to my car and finding people inside it. Again, mostly folks who moved here from eastern Europe who are stunned to see something that they remember fondly from home.

There has been at least 1 minivan that ran off the road rubbernecking at the eight and a half, and I gave up counting years ago how many drivers and passengers of other cars held their cell phones out the window to take pics or videos of the thing in traffic. Thumbs up everywhere and lots of horns tooting at me.

None of this bothers me. In fact I love it. This silly little car has made me a more outgoing and confident person. It might have been here on the forum or in GRM/Classic Motorsports but there was a great quote about it being the duty of the classic car owner to expose the general public to cool old cars. That is something I believe.

The only time it has ever been negative was odd. At a Taqueria a guy in the most beat up POS 78 Chevy 4dr I have ever seen walked over, looked at my car as I was getting in and said "I hope you get hit in that thing" and spat on the hood. WTF?

Conquest351 wrote: I always get, "Hey dude/man/bro... Are you a cop?"

that is my standard reply when my wife starts asking me too many questions.......

When I had my fiat on the road.. people always seemed to guess that it was a karman ghia... This goes all the way back to 1989 when the newest 124s were produced by Pininfarina and only about 4 years old

92CelicaHalfTrac wrote: Had one today on the way in to work this morning, actually... "Hey man, you've got a lot of brake dust on your wheel." "......... ok."

"Yeah, track days generate a lot of that stuff."

I had an encounter at the gas station in my Fiat 128.

I was filling up before going to the Mitty about 3 years ago. Guy pulls up to the pump next to me in his Jeep. He starts fueling, looks over to see my Fiat. He says "Wow, is that a Fiat?" I said "Yep". Then he says "Is that a Fiat 128?" I said yep again. He says "Wow, I bought one of those, brand new back in 1977." I said "Oh yea?" He says "Yea, biggest POS I've ever bought!!"

I fell to the floor laughing. He wished me luck on my 8 mile drive to the track. He knew what was going to be in store for me...

I pulled up in front of the local pizza place to pick up my order. The guys baking pizzas have the front window open. I hear "Guys, there's a dude in a Viper comin' in! " It's actually a 1999 white Miata with twin 8" blue stripes.

JoeyM wrote:

92CelicaHalfTrac wrote: Had one today on the way in to work this morning, actually... "Hey man, you've got a lot of brake dust on your wheel." "......... ok."

"Yeah, track days generate a lot of that stuff."

Ben doesn't do that......he tried hard parking once, he blocked that wheelchair ramp for 6 hours......

JoeyM wrote:

92CelicaHalfTrac wrote: Had one today on the way in to work this morning, actually... "Hey man, you've got a lot of brake dust on your wheel." "......... ok."

"Yeah, track days generate a lot of that stuff."

It was a redneck that looked like he had a hard time concentrating on breathing and driving at the same time.

I didn't want to explain to him that yes, my pads dust a lot, and i have no idea why. Mostly because i have no idea what pads are on the car.

I never get comments about my car except for the first time someone drives it or rides in it. Best one was the guy who put some tires on it at a shop I use.

Their standard procedure is to mount the tires and wheels, take it for a ride around the loop road in the industrial park and pul up in front and then retorque the wheels right there in the parking lot where the customer can see.

When he came back from the ride I was standing there talking to the manager. First thing out of his mouth was "What do you have in that. A 302?". The manager who knows the car started laughing and I had to explain about the supercharger, etc.

For some reason, I get comments ALL the time in the ms3. Mostly from the flatbiller brotato crowd. "Hey man, is that a turbo? What have you done to it? What wheels are on it?"

My favorite was a comment I heard, not once, not even twice, but THREE TIMES while driving the MINI in a parade in southern-ish MN. "Look mommy, that car is from Canada!" three different kids, three different parents. Why is this funny? It has British flag mirrors.

The Lethal Locost:

• What is it?
• What does it have for a motor?
• How fast does it go?
• Is it street legal?

I have been chased down by a couple people who know 7's and want to chat.

The Hideous Hardbody:

No comments, but you see the head-shaking suggesting "why would anyone ruin a perfectly good truck?" or (seeing the gray hair) "poor guy - has to drive his son's mini truck to work."

With the stage rally/rallycross car:

At urban gas stations: No comments. People just assume the stickers, hood pins, cage and roof vents are some form of rice.

At rural gas stations: "Do you race that thing?" "Where is the race?" "Can I race with my truck?" Me: "Just bring it down to stock height..."

The Miata gets a lot of "nice car/that must be fun/etc"

The one that really gets attention is my commuter bike. Construction workers, in particular, love it.

bravenrace wrote: By far the most common comment I get on my '65 Mustang is "'67, right?

At least they got within 2 years, most can't even get the model right.

keethrax wrote: While at a gas station in my '85 MR2 "Where did you get that body kit for your Fiero?"

LOL that's classic! I once had a relative ask me if my 86 MR2 was an NSX.

It seems that little kids and old men appreciate the MK1 MR2 the most. They're always the ones that comment at least.

One of my favorite encounters in the deuce happened when I was waiting to turn left onto a highway on ramp in the affulent part of town. This huge, shiny, tinted, chromed Cadillac Escalade pulls up next to me at the light and the window rolls down. I'm thinking to myself, "oh lord, here we go". A 10yr old kid sticks his head out the window, wide-eyed, asks me what kind of car that is. I told him it was just a Toyota MR2, from back in the eighties. The kid just said, "cooooool" in that way kids do. Took me totally off-guard and re-instilled some faith in those families that feel the need to buy Escalades. (I'm guessing they're nice trucks?)

The 75 Vette gets comments and questions on a regular basis. Usually it's about the poor condition of the paint! Monalday night had a pizza slinger tell me it was nice. Even with the mountain bike on the rear deck.

The wife's smart gets a lot of comments still. My fave is as pumping gas into it at the station and people ask if it's electric.

The Barracuda gets lots of thumbs up and waves in traffic. Harley guys tend to wave or nod too. Guess it's the black and chrome thing. Plenty of conversations at the gas station too.

My buddy has a '74 Satellite. Shaved all the badges off when he repainted it several years ago. He usually gets a "Nice Chevelle!" or "You don't see many of those Torinos anymore". He used to tell them it was a Satellite, but now just says thanks.

The TDI New Beetle (old/new? now I guess) gets a few questions when people see me standing there with the green hose.

hmmm lets see "nice car any performance work done?" "so your boyfriend let u borrow his car?" older people "did you know ur exhaust is leaking" overheard many times "its just a chick car dont bother" "why dont u have an antenna?" "what is in that thing it sounds amazing?"

Best stranger response I ever got was when I came out of a quick run into a restaurant where I worked. I had just parked in the covered drop off area and upon my return I found a beautiful brunette sitting in the passenger seat and an equally beautiful blonde standing next to the car.

"Take me for a ride!!" Dated the brunette for nearly 2 years after that.

1960 Austin Healey Bugeye Sprite...she bought me bushing for my birthday. She was always telling me about the humorous stuff guys would say to her when she drove it!

Took the 70 Mustang convertible to eat mexican food and as we were being seated, a guy at a large table asked "What year?"

Told him it was a 70 and watched as people paid up on their bets.

Bruce

nothing good in about the last ten years or so

except... I smell antifreeze, is that yours?

I get maybe 1 or 2 a year for my RX8. This year I haven't driven it as much but a guy was walking by my garage and said "nice car!". I get about the same number of comments a year for my old econoline, but from a TOTALLY different set of people.