Why is it?...

[SaxMan]

...when I'm out with the Sprite, drivers of late model 6-cylinder Ford Mustangs and Dodge Challengers feel the need to rev their engines at me, or floor the accelerator in front me? (A couple of late model VW Golf GTI guys do that, too).

Even new, the Sprite could only muster 65 horses from its 1275, and I believe that was SAE Gross, so SAE net is probably in the high 50s. Add 47 years of age and if I'm pushing 55 hp, I'm lucky. There's no way the Sprite would ever pose any kind of challenge to them. Maybe on a curvy road if the other driver was inexperienced, the Sprite could hang, but I certainly wouldn't be trying while my daughter is with me.

The guys who drive the vintage muscle never do that. Most of them know what these cars could and could not do. No self-respecting Chevelle owner would ever consider revving his motor at me. It was just be bad form. A lot of the Japanese car enthusiasts also tend to be respectful of the Sprite, as they know their roots lay in these cars. And the ones who spend the money to get the V-8 Mustangs and Challengers pay no heed to the Sprite. They know they have something that's going to outrun most everything on the road...and even the vintage muscle guys, unless they've modded their cars know they can't keep up.

Not really a rant as much as a humorous observation. I guess the 6 cylinder drivers must feel inadequate from having to constantly explain why they didn't spend the extra money to get the V-8 versions.

 

[JPSmit]

They also have small hands, just sayin'

I have a friend who drives microcars - he, for years, parked his Smart car beside Hummers. Waiting for the day (it came) when he was asked "why would you drive a car that small?" And he replied, "I am incredibly well endowed, and I am compensating." :grin:

 

[Trevor Jessie]

I think some people that drive "retro styled" cars are truly envious of true classics and they are just trying to convince themselves that settling for a modern car was "the better choice."

 

[59diamond]

When I am at car shows with my Bugeye a lot of females say what a cute car and I say back to them.
Yes it is cute and so am I but it takes a real man to drive a Bugeye.

 

[Pythias]

Non car people don't know what the Sprite is. They have no "remembrance" of something 50 years old, so they mistake (at least the box Sprites) for an Exotic. I shoed the young lady who cares for my (aged mother) picture of "the red thing" and asked her how much she thought is was worth.. $60.000.... when I said no, she guessed higher! The same with my 35 year old niece. .... I had a carpenter of about the same age see the car in the garage. He had seen me driving it to work 10 or 15 years ago and asked when I was ready to sell it to him.. I told him he wouldn't want to pay what I would be asking.. he said $25,000? and when I said no he too guessed higher..

So someone who is driving a V6 really isn't a car person and has no idea what they're looking at, but hope to see what their car can do against that "Super Car" they see beside them. ..

YMMV

 

[SaxMan]

I also find that a lot of motorcyclists give the Sprite the thumbs up. Maybe it's because "you're almost as small as we are".

I've finally learned to accept the cute comments. I used to retort "This car is not 'cute'. It is a serious piece of British Engineering!" Smiling and saying "Thank You" is working much better.

 

[HealeyRick]

Healeys in their day weren't exactly speed demons. My bugeye in the '60s wasn't very quick, but was a lot of fun on twisty roads. Big Healeys, too, even with a six cylinder, weren't all that fast although they'd kill most LBCs. This is exactly why Healeys ended up with motor swaps. Beautiful styling with American power that would make these cars competive with some of the best.

 

[nomad]

They also have small hands, just sayin'

I have a friend who drives microcars - he, for years, parked his Smart car beside Hummers. Waiting for the day (it came) when he was asked "why would you drive a car that small?" And he replied, "I am incredibly well endowed, and I am compensating." :grin:

:lol:

Kurt

 

[HealeyRick]

I also find that a lot of motorcyclists give the Sprite the thumbs up. Maybe it's because "you're almost as small as we are".

Funny, that. I'm old enough to remember the British car salute. There was a real hierarchy as to who saluted whom. But as one magazine stated ( sorry, don't know which one) everyone saluted the bugeye first. As a 16 year-old, still remember MGs, Jags, Corvettes and Triumphs flashing their lights to me first. Heady stuff for a newly-licensed kid.