Anyone else faced with this delimma?

[Brian Lohnes]

In the really old days -

"That guy sucks because he can't weave his own buggy whip and he bought an automobile!"

In the old days -

"That guy sucks because he bought a '55 Chevy that's faster from the factory than my 'full house' flathead powered dragster!"

In the kinda old days -

"That guy sucks because he bought a 1964 GTO that can beat the ass off of my worked over '55 Chevy!"

In the 1980s -

"That guy sucks because he bolted a blower to his 5.0L Mustang and it kills my Chevelle!"

Today -

"That guy sucks because his new ZL1 Camaro can wipe the floor with my home built muscle car!"


I was at a cruise night yesterday and it is put on by the local Corvette club, so the deal is crawling with late model Corvettes. In my mind, I am Mr. Jaded Car Guy and am thinking, "ungh...look at this". Then my boys pipe up and get all excited because, "WOAH...DAD..LOOK AT ALL THE CORVETTES!" I then felt like a DB for my state of mind and had a nice night.

Bottom line is that this hobby needs every single freaking person we can have in it. From the import guys to the dudes who rub their new Corvette with a diaper. Our strength is in our numbers. Nobody has to love everything or everyone, but you have to have some basic respect for people who enjoy the same stuff as you do...cars!

If the dudes with the Corvettes would let in some weirdo with a junky old wrecker, they're not half bad...right?

The so-called "check book" hot rodders keep guys like my friends Dennis, John, Dana, Jon, Joe, Tom, and about 50 other guys I know really well in business. I am thankful that the great gearhead apocalypse that was predicted (by people like me) never came all the way to the fruition like we thought it would. Know why? Some guys still have cashola to buy stuff thankfully.

I could go on forever, but I am stopping now.

[Monk]

'rub their new Corvette with a diaper'


Yep........when all is said.........we're all car guys.
One size doesn't fit all.

[Thumpin455]

PeeDub is ok in my book too, even if he doesnt know how to fix his ride. If he wants to learn he can ask questions and take the time to do so, just like everyone else.

About the only thing that bothers me about checkbook guys is when they claim its home built and it was shipped from shop to shop and maybe a couple pieces put on at home. Thats more a thing with the pre war crowd though. Dont claim you built it if you didnt, give the shops credit for it because they have earned it.

I used to make enough money to support my car habit by fixing stuff for other people, building transmissions, engines, doing gear swaps, trading parts, and things like that. Not everyone can do that, and if we draw arbitrary lines as to what constitutes a gearhead, then we might miss a good friend due to our own arrogance.

[Thumpin455]

Lots of us are builders here, it doesnt make us any more special than anyone else. It just makes us greasy, dusty, and the aroma of automotive nirvana emanates from us. I guess if you are so insecure to have to say you are better than someone else because they drive a different car, or that they cant work on it, well you are missing the point.

That isnt to say we builders havent put in the time and effort, gone the distance to learn the right or multiple ways of doing the job, nor does that mean we havent sacrificed to build our toys. That earns you a different kind of respect from like minded people, but we shouldnt use that as criteria for looking down on others who cant fix their car. I honestly dont know anyone else personally who can do the things I can do to a car, if I limited myself to people at my skill level, I wouldnt have any car friends.

How do you know the guy in the new ZL1 doesnt salivate at the thought of owning your car that you built. Whos to say he doesnt want desperately to have the skills you have, but has no way to learn them. You can see the guys who defeat themselves driving around in minivans. They are easy to spot because while they are looking at us driving our toys. They have a look on their faces of defeated men, like someone ran over their puppy, because they cant own or drive a car like we have.

I have empathy for them, because from November to May I am stuck in a winter beater, and people look down on me for driving a rusted out heap. They have no idea that there are multiple GTOs, a 700hp Firebird, and other cars in my yard, yet they look at me like I am some kind of loser for driving a heap instead of a nice shiny new car in the salt. Why be like those people?

[bishir]

Maybe I'm just having a mid-life crisis. Which would really suck because that means I'd only live until 66... Hmm better spend my retirement...

Thanks a bunch for y'alls ! I'm humbled whenever someone takes the time to respond honestly even if I judge it to be misguided a little but. I'd proudly sit and have a beer with any of ya.

[skullbucket]

Lots of us are builders here, it doesnt make us any more special than anyone else. It just makes us greasy, dusty, and the aroma of automotive nirvana emanates from us. I guess if you are so insecure to have to say you are better than someone else because they drive a different car, or that they cant work on it, well you are missing the point.

I disagree, because most who buy a new Hotrod think "they" are the real deal.
Case in point: a few weeks ago I pull into a gas station and a guy in a new Corvette,(yellow with yellow seats, blue trim in and out, and he was dressed the same with the "beret" hat and all the garb is sitting by the gas pump but in a triangle situation which took up 3 pump spots.
I drove by as close as I could and real slow and he looked at my older vette like I was the inferior one and I shouted at him" Hey if you would learn how to drive that thing people might not use it as a guard rail!" I revved the engine slipped the clutch and barked at him just a little and drove off laughing loudly so he would hear me!
He no more knew I was driving a Corvette than I knew he WAS a snot assed senior showing off his money situation!
I guarantee he couldn't open the hood of that car if it was on fire!!!

[TC]

Some guys still have cashola to buy stuff thankfully.

It's nice that I help people like that out, not so much on the labor, but on the parts that I buy, some people think I'm just collecting parts, but me collecting parts is helping people like that stay in business......

[dieselgeek]

It's nice that I help people like that out, not so much on the labor, but on the parts that I buy, some people think I'm just collecting parts, but me collecting parts is helping people like that stay in business......

collecting parts is great! calling yourself a top dog hot rodder because you have a pile of parts is not.

[BigBlockMopar]

Brian, is the diaper also new, or 'used'?

[Thumpin455]

I disagree, because most who buy a new Hotrod think "they" are the real deal.
Case in point: a few weeks ago I pull into a gas station and a guy in a new Corvette,(yellow with yellow seats, blue trim in and out, and he was dressed the same with the "beret" hat and all the garb is sitting by the gas pump but in a triangle situation which took up 3 pump spots.
I drove by as close as I could and real slow and he looked at my older vette like I was the inferior one and I shouted at him" Hey if you would learn how to drive that thing people might not use it as a guard rail!" I revved the engine slipped the clutch and barked at him just a little and drove off laughing loudly so he would hear me!
He no more knew I was driving a Corvette than I knew he WAS a snot assed senior showing off his money situation!
I guarantee he couldn't open the hood of that car if it was on fire!!!

Well I have to agree with you about certain Vette owners. They know nothing about the car they are driving nor its capabilities. Its a case of more money than brains/driving skill. Have to deal with those types up here all the time. They have a ZO6 and its going 45 in a 55 where most of us locals do 60-62. They are like the kid who was posting videos to youtube about his 'Camaro restoration' and showing off his mad welding skills. Lets just say some people need supervision as adults, but on a bell curve they are an outlier, not the meat of the curve. Well, except for Vette owners, because everyone sees that car as a status symbol and a sign of being rich or simply better than you. Its fun beating them at the dragstrip with a $5k car.

The guy who lives next door to my father in law is one of those Vette owners. He thinks it is the be all end all but is more worried about resale and wax than what it can do. He is a lawyer so he knows jack about @#&* when it comes to anything in it, other than it has an LS engine in it. The thing is, he knows he doesnt know shit about it, and he knows I do know lots more than he does, but I cant represent someone in court. We just learned different things, and he really likes Vettes.

The guy you are talking about is a jackass no matter what he is driving, its just that he finally found something in his pitiful life of making money that allows him to feel superior to others. We could write an entire book on that type of guy. Telling big stories at car shows about his 454 Hemi that pulled the front tires and ran 8s on the street in his 63 Falcon, or the kid that says he is going to take his 99 Gran Prix and turn it into a rear wheel drive car so it will handle better in the rain. Nothing will get to those idiots, so I dont really include them. They could be driving a Kia minivan and they would still be an idiot, the fact that they have a vette or something else is largely irrelevant, but it is very annoying to other drivers.

[Matt Cramer]

Maybe I'm just having a mid-life crisis. Which would really suck because that means I'd only live until 66... Hmm better spend my retirement...

I'm a year older than you, and so far I've owned at one point or another a Dodge Dart, a C4 Corvette, a 40 year old pickup, a BMW convertible, two motorcycles, a Triumph Spitfire, and two turbocharged sports coupes. There have been a couple other more boring things in there, but I've never had a 4 door sedan that was less than 30 years old, a minivan, or anything of that sort.

What am I supposed to do for a midlife crisis?

[TC]

collecting parts is great! calling yourself a top dog hot rodder because you have a pile of parts is not.

You show me one post were I say I'm a "top dog hot rodder"......... Those are your fantasy words that you bestow upon me so that you can justify giving me a hard time........ And look at yourself, going around talking like you know everything, when you've never built a car in your life..... I think that is the pot calling the kettle black......... Basically your the same as me when you try to talk about stuff that isn't EFI related..... Your just talking about stuff you have no experience with.......

At least I worked 10 years as an Auto Tech, which is something you can't say.....

[Chassisman]

I'm an OLD CAR guy.... but for some reason...this thing puts a perma grin on my face.....and CHAD loves to go for rides in it....the words HOLY SHIT MAN ! just rolled right out of his mouth. Older ZO6's are getting cheaper....and the "HOT ROD" possibilities are unlimited(Unless you live in a smog controled NAZI tree hunger state like California). When I first fired it up for CHAD he drooled like a fat kid waiting for birthday cake. Life is short...ENJOY IT !!!!

[pdub]

I'm an OLD CAR guy.... but for some reason...this thing puts a perma grin on my face.....and CHAD loves to go for rides in it....the words HOLY SHIT MAN ! just rolled right out of his mouth. Older ZO6's are getting cheaper....and the "HOT ROD" possibilities are unlimited(Unless you live in a smog controled NAZI tree hunger state like California). When I first fired it up for CHAD he drooled like a fat kid waiting for birthday cake. Life is short...ENJOY IT !!!!

For a bit of levity, and here's a chance to poke and prod and make fun of ME, which I love to do...

How many folks online tonight have followed the plot on BS long enough to remember a thread I started where I was so absolutely appalled at my middle aged neighbor with three rug rats....when he brought home a red Corvette? To the point that I made a photo out of our front window of it, of them gathered around it, the photo that gave Brian the creeps so bad I removed it - spying on the neighbors with a camera?

That was me who did that. At least that was my body. Ohhhhh my, how some time can change a mindset. Now we've got a Red thing, too.

[BKBridges]

[QUOTE=Chassisman;659800]I'm an OLD CAR guy.... but for some reason...this thing puts a perma grin on my face.....and CHAD loves to go for rides in it....the words HOLY SHIT MAN ! just rolled right out of his mouth. Older ZO6's are getting cheaper....and the "HOT ROD" possibilities are unlimited(Unless you live in a smog controled NAZI tree hunger state like California). When I first fired it up for CHAD he drooled like a fat kid waiting for birthday cake. Life is short...ENJOY IT !!!!
QUOTE]
Isnt Chowchilla in the "smog on change of ownership only" CARB plan? Been looking for a good PO box in one of those zones...