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Car Shows and Get togethers

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I guess I was lucky growing up in the lower Hudson Valley of NY, where foreign cars outnumbered american cars as long as I can remember. I had teachers with Triumphs, Alfas, MGs, etc. I've mostly only gone to British car shows, so haven't dealt with the attitude too much. I did have a screamer of a 1970 GT6 in Indianapolis that was faster than 5.0 liter Mustangs at the dragstrip at Indianapolis Raceway Park. That was always fun to blow IROC Camaros, etc, off the strip. Maybe because I had shaved the head, etc, and had a limited slip diff and all the other go fast goodies. We'll see how it goes down here in Austin when I show up at places with my Spit.

I guess it just comes down to us trying to take the high road. Provided we adjust our carbs for altitude...
 
TRDejaVu said:
It amazes me that these so called car enthusiasts are so ignorant as to be uninterested in other classic cars. If they were real gear heads, they would at least show some interest in them. I haven't a clue what a lot of the old American cars are, except for the obvious ones and except for a few I wouldn't want to own one, but that doesn't stop me wanting to take a look at them and ask the owner some questions. That said, many of the check book restorers haven't a clue as to what their own car is about except that "it's got a big/small block V8", after that they are normally stumped - what a bunch of posers!!! The Cobra kit car people are among the worst.
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Completely agree. You mentioned not having a clue about old american cars... ...well thats a great example. If theyre not the offspring of The Big Three, then what are they? Orphans. Sure people may give duesenbergs, nash, hudson, packard, studebakers and others some kind of respect, but if I see an AMC in a sea of mustangs and camaros, you betcha Im gonna spend more time looking at it. Its not everyday I see one... ...heck, its not every year that I see one. Sure it may not be my style, if it were, Id probably have one... ...but the point is, Id be interested in it, if not just to figure out what it was.

You wanna bad car show story? once, when I took my mustang to another fun ford weekend event, my husband brought a 1992 mercury capri. People didnt know what it was. One guy joked about us showing some creditials since its a ford only show. some called it a festiva convertible, or fiesta. One person even called it "What the @#$% is that." No one really gave it a good look through. It had badging and signage which would answer their questions. ...Best exotic did NOT go to this little import... ...it went to, you guessed it... ...a mustang.
 
The only award my driver Spit ever won was at my daughters school. They had a car show as a fundraiser for their music program. Was in foreign sports car class and beat out 2 miatas, one dressed like an aston martin and my buddys hyundai tiberon. Regardless I still have fun checking out all the other cars. every now and then I find a real gem "oddball" to make my day.

BTW, had a 20 something ask my if I was driving a Ferrari. Didn't think my Spit looked like a Ferrari.
 
tomgt6 said:
In the last couple of weeks my wife and sons have been taking the Herald and GT6 to local car get togethers. The have been at the local Eagles club and the a bowling alley.

It has been fun to see other cars and talk with the people but I have noticed one thing around these parts. Everything is American made. I see from time to something from Europe but other then my Triumphs everything is US made. I see T buckets, trucks, muscle cars, model Ts and As and some old 30-50 land boats.

I get a lot of attention because I have something different but I can say that you can tell the muscle car guys because they walk right by and want nothing to do with these little cars.

What have most of you guys noticed when going to the weekly type get togethers at your local drive-ins, bars, clubs?

The other thing I have noticed at a couple of the car shows is they normally don't judge on European cars. You normally fall into the 60s category and then they normally have best of Ford, Mopar and GM.

Well, what do I expect from a bunch of farm boys who judge tractors, pigs and cows. :wall: (no offense anyone being I grow up here, I guess I am the odd one)
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gee, it has always been that way where we live, SE PA. A number of years ago, we went to a local car show organized by one of the local towns. What a joke. I was put into a diverse group of "foreign" cars, along with a Cadillac eldorado. I guess that eldorado qualified as a foreign sounding model. ha ha
We took second place behind the caddy, which by the way was driven by the organizer's wife.
All things considered, it was a fun day.
 
Muscle and hot rod cars around here always wave at me and me at them. It's the same with Harley riders. There seems to be a lot of British sports cars in the RI/MA area, so perhaps we've always been a part of the scene with those who can afford the rods and muscle cars. With the bikers, it's all about mutual respect.
 
Paul,

I grew up in the MA area and can confirm your statements. I think, up there, that anything that survives the rust automatically gets respect. :smile:

Jody
 
tdskip said:
mikecyc72usa said:
We'll see how it goes down here in Austin when I show up at places with my Spit.
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Austin will dig your Spitfire, it's that kind of town and better for it!
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Keep Austin Weird.

Don_R said:
The only award my driver Spit ever won was at my daughters school. They had a car show as a fundraiser for their music program. Was in foreign sports car class and beat out 2 miatas, one dressed like an aston martin and my buddys hyundai tiberon. Regardless I still have fun checking out all the other cars. every now and then I find a real gem "oddball" to make my day.
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Sounds like you were the oddball... ...Im sure the miata and tiberon were nice cars, but it may also be your average school parking lot (minus the 50 thousand SUVs) and you were the only one who brought a classic, rare, specialty, collector car. Id vote for you too.

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Quote:]BTW, had a 20 something ask my if I was driving a Ferrari. Didn't think my Spit looked like a Ferrari.[/QUOTE]

I had two seperate people ask me if my MUSTANG was a ferrari... ...I dunno, maybe because it was red and had a horse emblem. I didnt know if I should be flattered or saddened

angelfj said:
gee, it has always been that way where we live, SE PA. A number of years ago, we went to a local car show organized by one of the local towns. What a joke. I was put into a diverse group of "foreign" cars, along with a Cadillac eldorado. I guess that eldorado qualified as a foreign sounding model. ha ha
We took second place behind the caddy, which by the way was driven by the organizer's wife.
All things considered, it was a fun day.
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Maybe the Cadillac factory was in Canada, or maybe it was assembled by Canadians. I dunno, that would have [censored] me off if it were me and I lost to it, especially since I dont like Eldorados. 1st, 2nd, and 3rd gens are ok, but the rest are just old POS IMO, even though a lot of people do nice things to them.

Not only would the whole foreign car thing tick me off, but the fact that it belonged to the organizers wife, and possibly him. My car could be a piece of crap and hers pure gold, I still would complain about it. Participant judge, or real judges, if youre the one in charge, you better not have a car registered. Ive been to a couple where the organizers have nice cars. Their own daughter has a car who would be a very hard competitor against mine, and before the swap, probably would cream me, but because shes their daughter, just like her parents, she shows it, but doesnt enter it. She knows it wouldnt be fair, and if she won, even if her car deserved it, people would wonder.
 
Don_R said:
...BTW, had a 20 something ask my if I was driving a Ferrari. Didn't think my Spit looked like a Ferrari.
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Possibly their only exposure to Ferrari was watching 'Ferris Bueller's Day Off'.
 
Geo Hahn said:
Don_R said:
...BTW, had a 20 something ask my if I was driving a Ferrari. Didn't think my Spit looked like a Ferrari.
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Possibly their only exposure to Ferrari was watching 'Ferris Bueller's Day Off'.
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Or Magnum P.I.??
 
If you squink your eys real tight...................
 
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