Everyone has different tastes when it comes to cars. Some of us are way into engines, others are wowed by great body work, still more dig the perfect stance, and the there are the guys who like gadgets, radios, and electronica of all types. Speaking only for ourselves, we normally go straight for the goods under the hood to see what’s what. While great paint can makes us smile, it is a cool mill and mechanical parts that really turn our crank. We know guys who wouldn’t care if there was a Briggs and Stratton engine under the hood so long as the body panels are straight, well aligned, and painted flawlessly. As you know from our projects around here, exterior appearances aren’t really our strong suit. We’re working on that.
So what does it for you? If you are looking at a car, what do you hone in on and what impresses you in that regard? Do you get into the nitty gritty of a car you are crawling over or is it more the total package that knocks you off your feet? Conversely what turns you off. Can everything be “right” on a car and then one element be “wrong” in your eyes and taint the whole thing? You tell us!
BangShift Question Of The Day: What Normally Impresses You Most About A Car You Like?
Overall unique-ness i like different
Too many things to list as turn-ons for the right car/truck, but stick-on/fake hood scoops badges/lettering are instant turn-offs. Also, obscene window stickers can turn a good car into trash.
Clean design, no extreme elements, anywhere (like ground scraping ‘bagged crap sitting on their rockers, or almost non existant sidewalls on tires, etc). Well engineered without being overkill. Sound engineering.
Rat rods need not apply. It needs to be useful, as in drivable. There is no point having a car or truck you can’t drive, anywhere, every day. Race cars are a different matter But if its supposed to be a street car, that’s where it ought to live.
I dunno, I drove my 49 ford F1 ratrod around a lot. It had working wipers and all the legal stuff. Got great mileage and was a hoot to drive. I got a lot more miles out of that truck than restored ‘hotrod’ cars I kept seeing at car shows that would never park front row in a parking lot.
To each their own I guess.
If it ain’t a Chubbie or Pontiac I can usually like it. The biggest turn off other than being a Chovie or Pontiac for me is so called street cars that can’t be street driven, or drove at all.
I like a clean paint job that isn’t gawdy, and a clean interior that can be sat in.
Fake scoops, blowers, and badges saying the car has a bigger engine than it does also turn me off. ie GTX stickers on a car with a 318. Also putting engines from a different make in a car turns me off. If you like that brand by that brand.
Quality, proportion and especially the exercise of imagination on the part of the builder.
I’m more of your complete package type of guy. The car has to have the right combination of several elements to trip my crank, so to speak…..ie motor, paint and stance of the car. I also have to be attracted to what I call “the lines” of the car. For me that means it’s kind of like looking at what one deems the perfect figure of an attractive women. I have to see that same type of attractivness in “the lines” of the cars I think are bad azz.
As long as it has four wheels, takes off on its own power, and burns rubber, I’m interested.
I’d go so far as to say at least one wheel, push starting is fine, and at least *trying* to burn rubber would be good enough for me. I think a racing fuel burning unicycle would be awesome…for someone else besides me to ride. I just wanna watch the chaos of such a device.
Pressance and stance!
Ditto on the burning rubber.
STANCE. Period.
TURBO!
I have always been most impressed by a car that has a lot of body modifications and is in bare steel and it looks like it was originally made that way. No body filler.
Attitude, attitude, attitude.
stance and body lines. Stance can make or break a ride.
I like to see any American car that is well engineered, not some p.o.s. just slapped together with Autozone crap.
Any Ford that doesn’t have a Chevrolet engine!
Man…you’re going to hate my F6 with a Toyota engine…
stance, engine, tasteful bodywork but as long as the power, stance and the ability to put the power down effectively is achieved i could care less if it was rusted. I do like nice paint and bodywork but sometimes the wrong color of paint mixed with too much bodywork can be a total eyesore!