Are you only a "real" car guy if you turn your own wrenches?

[38P]

Too painful to watch

[Barry Donovan]

I build my own stuff, yet I look up to the checkbook guys....their cars have nice paint!

I can afford to have someone else do the work for me, but I still would rather do it myself and have it look so-so and be slow, etc.

This thread probably falls under the "religion" category, and should be locked

I agree.

learning on my own..
the painter is in another realm.
A smart one that goes all the way down to bare aware of electrical differences in brands. that is genuine, but most often not in common knowledge.

I'd still pay, my paint choice.

[Deaf Bob]

There are "car guys" and guys with cars. I'm not sure just how fuzzy the line between the two is. I think you'll know who the guy with the car is after a pretty short conversation.

This is the BEST, absotoodlelootly best opinion of all time!

[BBR]

"Real car guy" has as many definitions as "street car".

I may sound snobbish, but I do have a deeper respect for those that do work on their own stuff or know every detail of their cars. Jay Leno is a good example of this. That guy knows his cars, has a working knowledge of them and could work on them if he had to.

The guys that write a check, say "look at what I have" and know nothing about the car, really turn me off. I don't talk to them very long.

[Mike Copeland]

I build some of them, and I buy some of them. I enjoy the cars either way.

You can always tell a "real" car guy (or lady). It is not something you can pretend to be. There are "want-to-be" car guys, and as long as they don't try to impress me with what they know, I am good with it.

[38P]

I think you'll know who the guy with the car is after a pretty short conversation.

I'm not willing to make "knowledge" the demarcation line . . . plenty of younger and/or novice enthusiasts who are ignorant about various aspects of automotive history and technology (how many of YOU recognized that Packard axle yesterday? Hmmm?), but they value the essential aspects of motoring enough to be categorized as enthusiasts.

Exhibit "A"

[Thumpin455]

Everyone knows where I am on the wrench scale, but I have friends who dont do the work themselves and they are car guys too. I will have more respect for someone who can do everything I can do, but do it well enough to win a Riddler or even get mag coverage, than someone who writes a check and has multiple shops do the work, but yeah they are still a car guy.

Jay Leno has hired guys who do all the work so he can drive them. He can do the work too, but chooses not to. Car guy.
Tim Allen pays guys to build stuff for him, but he too is a car guy.

You have a spectrum of gearheads from ooh I like pretty cars, to guys who are not afraid to cut one up and make it awesome in a one car garage. You also have the people who should never touch a wrench, welder, or any tool, and not even look under the hood. One of those guys screwed up the Gran Prix I had been running for the last 5 years when I gave it to my ex. Her boyfriend should not be allowed near mechanical things, period. He is not a car guy, he is an idiot that thinks he can do the job but cant. I have known lots of those types before, they are different from any of us on here.

[Matt Cramer]

I think that people who don't turn their own wrenches are missing out on a lot of the fun, and the pride of accomplishment. But not everyone has the ability, or spare time, or whatever. There's plenty of ways to enjoy a car. If you're into at least one of them, you're a car guy to me.

[38P]

I may sound snobbish, but I do have a deeper respect for those that do work on their own stuff or know every detail of their cars..

Yeah, but you're the freakin Fox-Body McGuyver . . . Bill Jenkins [RIP], John Lingenfelter [RIP] and Smokey Yunick [RIP] could probably have picked up tips from BBR . . . (Of course Smokey would have had to shut up and leave the "cookies" alone long enough to be schooled . . . .)

Certainly we should not confuse accomplishment with enthusiasm. Trepanier, Larson, Swope, Stroud, Foose and many others have accomplished a lot, to which respect is proper. But do such opportunity, privilege and blessings really define automotive enthusiasm?

BTW, ignorant people of all stripes are not the most interesting conversationalists, so that's probably not a very good measure.

[squirrel]

Trepanier, Larson, Swope, Stroud, Foose and many others have accomplished a lot, to which respect is proper. But do such opportunity, privilege and blessings really define automotive enthusiasm?

Uh....those names to me sound like innate skill combined with dogged determination and unimaginable hard work. Not opportunity, privilege and blessings. Not by a long shot.

[Deaf Bob]

Gee, a "checkbook" derby driver must be double scum . . .



[Clarification: Don't misunderstand . . . I'm not saying that monster truckers and derbyites are "scum" . . . I merely don't share their appetite for destruction. ]

appetite is VERY ADDICTING! ..

There is a guy in WA that has 2 jobs and buys/sells "good derby iron" all around the PNW.. He has a family of 3 or 4 kids, oldest just started driving, youngest is a few years old (3-6?) He pays to have his cars built.. Well trades unbuilt cars for built ones with his powertrain.. He gets flack all the time because he does not build his cars.. He can't weld.. He is a hell of a driver.. Always has a smile.. Win or lose.. I think there is a place for him in the sport.. He has "book smarts", knows how cars should be built, but does not have the hands to do it..

[Beagle]

Squirrel, there's the rub - I'm a hack, does that make me not a car guy? I try hard sometimes, still a hack.

Example, I don't "build" engines, I put together parts. Some of them may have been selected after a fair amount of thought, but they aren't ground breaking by any means. I really think about them a lot though. Does the checkbook guy understand what is happening with valve events? The more I learn, the more I know what a hack I really am.

If they're learning and don't act like they know it all, I'd say Car Guy. If they "know it all" already and don't really know and won't try to learn, then it's "Just another a-hole"... who might like cars. haha.

[SuperBuickGuy]

checkbook racer vs. garbage built.... no, we can't all get along. Seriously, get over it....

[38P]

Uh....those names to me sound like innate skill combined with dogged determination and unimaginable hard work. Not opportunity, privilege and blessings. Not by a long shot.

Opportunity, privilege and blessings without "dogged determination and unimaginable hard work" are usually wasted.

Most certainly there are scores of obscure, hard-working Bangshifters that could have achieved many great things had the situation presented itself. But sometimes other aspects of life get in the way.

[Beagle]

Opportunity, privilege and blessings without "dogged determination and unimaginable hard work" are usually wasted.

Most certainly there are scores of obscure, hard-working Bangshifters that could have achieved many great things had the situation presented itself. But sometimes other aspects of life get in the way.

situations don't really present themselves, you make choices ... putting it all on the line for your passion? I never did. Steady paycheck? Yep... and while I was busy making grand plans, others put it all out there for what they really wanted to do. I don't regret it. I've seen some guys with real talent make a choice to provide a safe, steady income and lifestyle for their family. I am not sure I would blame them.

connections never hurt in any endeavor.