Admiring your stuff at 70MPH

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Joined
Dec 23, 2018
Messages
859
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Location
UK
My Car
Various
Once upon a time – one would open one’s garage – start one’s puerile euro-shit-box, leave and go to work for another uninteresting, lifeless and bland day at the office.

No one cares…  :-/

You drive along with countless other morons equally hell bent on another limp, debilitating, unimpressive day at work, only to always be second-banana in the business and accept your insubstantial and meager salary after all your brain cells have been mutated into the same questionable compound that makes up Pizza dough.

Maybe because, like me, you find yourself driving the automotive equivalent of an ash tray, or a sugar cube dispensary, or the place your wife keeps a 200 pairs of shoes. At least it has a little more horse power than a motorized pencil sharpener. 

Now I bought, purchased, apprehended … or in my view, stole from the good ol US of A a piece of gorgeous Michigan history. (see below) made by REAL men, who drank strong beer, ate sandwiches 2 inches thick, could finish a 24oz steak,  and could lift 500lbs of Detroit steel with their bare hands. 



Now things have changed …and the assholes have come out.

I don’t mind someone waving or giving a thumbs up at my Green 351C propelled burbling chunk of excellence. (see below)



A honk of a horn perhaps – a big smile that says … “nice machine ... love it”! … “wish my humdrum, shitbox looked 10% as good and exciting as that!”

Now there is the dark side to having a car no one has seen in decades.

The mobile phone zombies not content with infecting the pavements - now infect the f**king roads as well. :-/

Some actually try to converse with me and hold long conversations, close to the length of a full board meeting.



So, here we are at 70Mph in the middle lane of a major highway wanting to have coffee and biscuits and discuss every little detail. …with a patrol car just six cars back. What mushrooms were they smoking before attempting car-o-batics like this?



The others are the f**k---tarded passenger with a phone  (see above) (boy I hope I don’t get banned for this) … that have to lean their near whole body length from the window; the driver inching his euro-shit-box ever closer toward my side -  in order to digitally record every tiny metal flake deeply embedded in my Forest Green paintwork. WTF ! ! ! ! !

I’d like you to tell me if you get this … and if there are evasive manoeuvres one can perform to swat these flies.  :chin:

all the best 

Al

 
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I do get looks and thumbs up here as well. However, the small town I live in has more gear heads than any place I've ever lived (another reason I still live here). In your environment your car is a very unusual sight indeed. Just go with it because it isn't going to change and there is nothing to be done about it. Enjoy the ride. Chuck

 
I get thumbs up everywhere I go. I get guys in new Mustangs getting behind me. Guys in F150's rolling down their windows at stop lights to say something positive. I also get the "super helpful" types in minivans honking at me to tell me my "rear brake light is out on the passenger side" ( its just a dim old bulb..)

one of my favorites are the kids working the gas stations( in NJ you can't pump your own gas) who don't know where the gas tank is.

 
I just barely have mine running.  No front clip, no door panels, no stripes.  Tooling around the block last week I got a really excited "Oh WOW!  Is that a Mach 1" ? from the dad walking with his family.  I stopped to chat for a minute.   He was so geeked over the car that he said I should show it as it is and asked when I was going to hit the show circuit.

He at least understood what was in front of him.

kcmash

 
I don't find it as much annoying or irritating as you seem to, but every time I take mine out for a spin, I usually wind up having a friendly conversation or two when I stop and park it somewhere (usually, a convenience store when I run in for a drink).  Out come the cameras, and the "my buddy had one in high school" stories, along with everybody thinking they know 'anything' about the '71-'73s, as evidenced by their recollection of said buddy's convertible Mach 1 or the factory 351 Windsors being better than the Clevelands.

What I do know is that when I'm driving, I usually get the wave, nod, thumbs-up, or whatever, and I have never actually had anybody square-up and want to race.  Corvettes, Camaros, Challengers, newer Mustangs, and even the ricers just seem to offer approval are satisfied with the simple exchange of pleasantries.  I ain't gonna lie, either - I don't know if I could even win a race if prompted.  Mine has the 3.00 cruising gears, and I'm pretty sure that if I put my foot into it, I'd just wind up spinning the tires and not going anywhere very quickly.  I'm actually OK with that, since I've never been a racer, per se, and also because I spent way too much time, money, and effort getting mine back to good that I don't want to risk it.

Your problem is that you have the double-whammy of rarity working against you.  American cars hold a certain level of celebrity in your area (especially classics), as well as it's a really nice vintage hot rod.  Trust me, we do the same here when we see cool, old European and Japanese 'exotics,' as well.  There are a bunch of vintage 'exotics' floating around my neck of the woods that tend to draw more attention than most.  People see nice examples of things from their youth and they want to have something more than just a picture from a magazine to remember the experience, since they'll probably never see it again or ever have one of their own.  I kind of did the same thing recently with a guy in-town who owns a '78 Ferrari 308 GTS.  Such an iconic car that I'd fallen in love with when they first came out in '75 (when I was 8).  He had stopped for gas and I just happened to be there as well, so we talked briefly, and I just stood there with my mouth open as he drove away, and then hammered it onto the on-ramp nearby - I think I actually needed a moment for myself after he did that.  It was SO cool.

I say just embrace it - people's reactions are nothing more than meant to be complimentary.  As for the ones leaning out taking pictures, just wave and offer a little demonstration of how well the carburetor still works by [quickly] pulling ahead of them and keeping them in your rear-view.  They'll give up eventually.

 
I don't find it as much annoying or irritating as you seem to, but every time I take mine out for a spin, I usually wind up having a friendly conversation or two when I stop and park it somewhere (usually, a convenience store when I run in for a drink). 
I have no prob when at "0" MPH ... it's 70 and above, it gets right weird - and the driver of the other vehicle isn't driving his car anymore.

 
ha, I have never had my Mach 1 over 60mph yet, and I have not driven it more than 10 miles without breaking something. this weekend I installed a stereo and broke something in the steering. front driver's side wheel camber is jacked. not had time yet to triage. I heard a pop, then the steering got wonky. its all new steering and suspension so something may just have settled big time. I'm not sure yet

 
I don't find it as much annoying or irritating as you seem to, but every time I take mine out for a spin, I usually wind up having a friendly conversation or two when I stop and park it somewhere (usually, a convenience store when I run in for a drink). 
I have no prob when at "0" MPH ... it's 70 and above, it gets right weird - and the driver of the other vehicle isn't driving his car anymore.
Totally understand - I haven't experienced anything like that, and can certainly see where that would be alarming to say the least.  Sounds like you need a polite way to tell them to piss off.  :whistling:

 
Yeah, I get lots of thumbs up. Sometimes when I have the top down people like to talk when waiting in traffic. I think it is because the car is open to the air and guess it just looks inviting. Always a friendly and complimentary exchange though. Sorry that your experiences are not so enjoyable.

Ray

 
You can try this to ward off miscreants...


Dear Midlife

I wished for this yesterday when some nut-job lined up along side me in their rusted out Ford Ka (dunno if the USA is infected with this shitbox) to give me a lecture that I'm on the wrong side of the car... go figure.  :goodpost:

Is it me ....or do some people have an IQ slightly south of a chair leg?   :-/

 
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Bloody hilarious Midlife, at least she had the steering wheel on the "right" side!

Maybe she needs to watch this video -



1sosatic - I have had a similar experience

A young a-hole in his shitbox Toyota Hi-Lux that wouldn't pull the skin off a rice pudding decided he would show me why his wedding tackle is inadequate by passing a Mustang into oncoming traffic at over 60mph.

Luckily I was watching this "Darwin Award" candidate tailgating me, once I saw him move I immediately slowed down and moved across to the left, the oncoming traffic also did the same and the oxygen thief survived another day.

In the short time I've had the pleasure of driving my Mustang it certainly gets plenty of attention, unfortunately not always good as above

But it is all worthwhile when you get positive comments such as the kids down the road and their mum waving me to come over and ask what is that "gangster" car

 
I get thumbs up everywhere I go.  I get guys in new Mustangs getting behind me. Guys in F150's rolling down their windows at stop lights to say something positive.  I also get the "super helpful" types in minivans honking at me to tell me my "rear brake light is out on the passenger side" ( its just a dim old bulb..)

one of my favorites are the kids working the gas stations( in NJ you can't pump your own gas) who don't know where the gas tank is.
The gas guys always hand me the nozzle to pump my own gas....even though it's against the law.

 
Hey forum Friends.

Hate to sound like your parents, but i have a question.  Is there any way we can keep the titles of our posts a little cleaner?   I have children at an impressionable age, and posts like this one that have one crappy word in the post title that sticks out every day makes it hard for me to show the kids I have a clean and fun hobby.  They always have a "casual view " of my screen and I hate to have to hide it from them.

Anyone else in the same boat as me?

kcmash

 
Hey forum Friends.

Hate to sound like your parents, but i have a question.  Is there any way we can keep the titles of our posts a little cleaner?   I have children at an impressionable age, and posts like this one that have one crappy word in the post title that sticks out every day makes it hard for me to show the kids I have a clean and fun hobby.  They always have a "casual view " of my screen and I hate to have to hide it from them.

Anyone else in the same boat as me?

kcmash
Apologies -- I'll ask a admin/mod if they can alter it to suit.  :chin:

 
so the camber on the front passenger wheel got jacked because the camber adjustment nut was loose. the car recently had a new steering box installed and an alignment. the shop says they didn't touch the camber nut when the did the box and alignment, but will "take care of it for me".....hmmm.

 
Hey forum Friends.

Hate to sound like your parents, but i have a question.  Is there any way we can keep the titles of our posts a little cleaner?   I have children at an impressionable age, and posts like this one that have one crappy word in the post title that sticks out every day makes it hard for me to show the kids I have a clean and fun hobby.  They always have a "casual view " of my screen and I hate to have to hide it from them.

Anyone else in the same boat as me?

kcmash
I'm with ya! Ryan

 
Hey forum Friends.

Hate to sound like your parents, but i have a question.  Is there any way we can keep the titles of our posts a little cleaner?   I have children at an impressionable age, and posts like this one that have one crappy word in the post title that sticks out every day makes it hard for me to show the kids I have a clean and fun hobby.  They always have a "casual view " of my screen and I hate to have to hide it from them.

Anyone else in the same boat as me?

kcmash
I'm with ya! Ryan
I did post PM to an admin ... but not heard anything 

I'll try rocket - see what goes.

 
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