Can't Comprehend the Attitude

In reply to nocones:

I am sure he is too busy hating on every other brand other than Ford than just worrying about a miata.

there are other brands besides Miata?

For what it is worth, I deal with somebody at work with a similar attitude. He has a '70 Charger with bored and stroked 440 that is now going into the paintshop for some glorious plumb paint. My first day at work there (9 years ago) I got off on the wrong foot with him by mentioning I owned a saab.

He and I do -not- get along and it is gotten to the point where I completely ignore him uless i absolutely have to deal with him. Thankfully, while we work in the same department, we are on different crews. Though I fear it is going to be coming to a head soon. I am getting really tired of being told to "shut up" just for saying anything helpful to anybody.

In reply to mad_machine:

Sounds like that drag racer mentality to me.

He probably has this crap somewhere in his garage or on his car.

In reply to mad_machine:

Not all Mopar guys are like that. Sorry. If you are over in PA at some point and meet some good ones, let me know.

As to the original poster's Mustang guy, I started writing up a long winded example, but scrapped it. The short of it is there are true car guys, and there are people who just want the attention the car gets them.

I know Rob.. there is always some friction between the Electrics Crew and the Carpenters for some reason. Most of it is good natured, but some of the carps are pretty mean spirited.

You wanna see friction...show up at a car show with something "restified" and watch the rivet counting paint dobbers come unglued. Most of 'em wrote checks for their cars too. Also met plenty of like minded cars guys with greasy fingernails....so it all works out.

Now if we could only do something about the idiot spectators that think your car is a park bench or playground for their little darlings

RoadRaceDart wrote: Now if we could only do something about the idiot spectators that think your car is a park bench or playground for their little darlings

I was once taking photos of a 1932 Ford replica - the type with a 5' paint job and lots of billet and chrome bits - when an unsupervised kid ran up to it and jumped REALLY HARD on the running board. (You could hear the fiberglass creaking/straining) The owner wasn't around. I very loudly said that if it had been my car the child would have been harmed The mother gave me a dirty look, but she removed the kid from the car.

I still think it is a parenting fail to let a kid touch someone else's car at a show, but I felt really bad about what I said. (There are few enough kids who are going to be into cars. I don't need to be the guy who sucks the enthusiasm out of a child.) When my 1930s datsun replica is done I won't have this problem....steel bits and rustoleum paint. There will be a lot less room for accidental damage by kids.

In reply to RoadRaceDart :

oohhh subject drift.

Decades ago before everyone had a sportbike, HD or metric cruiser, my sole form of transport was a motorcycle. I lost count of how many times I came out of work or a store to find people sitting on it. "If you walked out and I was inside your car you would be pissed." and people looked at me like I was kicking them off the merry go round.

The worst was when I came out of work and saw a father picking up his kid and putting him on my bike.

Mental wrote: The worst was when I came out of work and saw a father picking up his kid and putting him on my bike.

car alarm hooked to a pressure sensor under the seat.

Brett_Murphy wrote: If he doesn't wreck it, that car sounds like a great source for some cool high dollar aftermarket parts for pennies on the dollar after it gets balled up on an on ramp when he's trying to impress some skank he picked up at a bar.

you mistyped a few words... i fixed it..

regarding idiots owning idiotic cars: i used to run into them everywhere i went when i had this Nova:

i can't tell you how many people wanted to race me from stop light to stop light with their little Hondas and later model Camaros.. then there was that one guy in a C5 Vette that couldn't hang with me at 80mph around a couple of 35mph curves by my old house. he actually pulled up behind me when i pulled into my driveway and asked me how in the hell i was able to get that old multi colored POS to go around the corners like that- he said the car was nice and flat the whole way and he backed off after his car started slipping in the second curve. i showed him the finer points of the car, but i don't think he knew what he was looking at.. but at least he was cool...

Ooh I like that Nova.

I like that nova because it shatters the stereotypes

My current daily driver is a 1996 Neon ACR Coupe, all stock except for the aftermarket 15x8 wheels the girl I got it from had bought, on which I use Toyos. All people ever see is "NEON", so it gets dismissed quickly. From home, the first 10-25 miles in any direction is twisty two laners, and we have a shortage of sherrif patrols, so I get to enjoy the heck outta it.

One of my friends and clients has the same ailment of Mustangguy, except for him it would be Camaroitis. He owns a resto shop, does lots of E type Jags, 356s, and the like...

A few weeks back, he lost a bit of respect from me... asks if I watch "R U Faster Than A Redneck". He couldn't believe it when I, as a fellow car guy, said "No". He went on and on about what a great show it was... and everything he said just reaffirmed why I will not watch it.

Rob_Mopar wrote: There are true car guys, and there are people who just want the attention the car gets them.

Quoted just 'cus it should be!

When I had my 750 Katana, every Mustang within a ten mile radius wanted to race me away from the stoplights. Funny thing was, I didn't even have to try hard to pull away from them easily.

mad_machine wrote: I like that nova because it shatters the stereotypes

i liked it because i could drive it anywhere, any time, without worrying about being left stranded or going broke keeping gas in it- it got better gas mileage than the 9C1 in the pic next to it.

but a 400HP Nova with 245/50/16 tires and 12" Corvette brakes and a standard heater is a real treat to drive when the thunderstorm turns to an ice storm and winds up as a blizzard within a 20 minute period 30 miles from home, but gol dangit, it got me home safely...

but i did get kind of sick of the "so, when you gonna paint it?" questions and the "i used to have one just like it, except it was a Chevette" conversations at gas stations.. the paint was perfect- it was faded and cracked and the doors were dimpled with parking lot door dings so i wasn't afraid to park it in the lot at Wal Mart... and i did spy Jeff Smith of Car Craft magazine giving it a good look over at the Car Craft Summer Nats when i had it there in '04.. he walked past a bunch of pretty and shiny cars to look at my bug gut and dirt encrusted beater.. i was honored, but too scared to walk over and say hello and see if he wanted my car for a photo shoot (yeah, right...) or whatever .

Looks like you just experienced the difference between Mustang GT and Mustang Cobra owners firsthand.

We're not like that.

Mental wrote: In reply to RoadRaceDart : oohhh subject drift. Decades ago before everyone had a sportbike, HD or metric cruiser, my sole form of transport was a motorcycle. I lost count of how many times I came out of work or a store to find people sitting on it. "If you walked out and I was inside your car you would be pissed." and people looked at me like I was kicking them off the merry go round. The worst was when I came out of work and saw a father picking up his kid and putting him on my bike.

I walked out of a rest area toilet one time to find some idiot putting his kid on the seat of my WR400. All I could do was think 'if he drops that kid my ass is grass' and told him to cease and desist. Of course I get the stinkeye.

Also once walked out of a restaurant and found some guy sitting in my MG while his wife? or whatever took his picture. That's why my Jensen has an alarm on it now.

So if you were a slightly more open minded drag racer type with a small interest in trying your hand at an autocross, and you stumbled into this thread

If I asked the pot what color is the kettle

In reply to ronholm:

Yeah no kidding. I know plenty of drag racers who are fairly open minded.

In reply to Sky_Render:

Meh, I doubt it is the car that causes people to act like that(though the BMW people that come my shop can be douchey), I think it is more of a culture that they get wrapped up in. I used to think the same way but with VWs. Everything else sucked, I hated Hondas, hated V8s, blah, blah, blah. I grew out of that stage of brand loyalty about 6 or 7 years ago. It was time to take the automotive blinders off and enjoy a variety of cars. Sportscar racing and track days cured me of the automotive blinders, I haven't looked back since.

Trans_Maro wrote: Explain to him that he is already driving a car built for middle-aged female hairdressers and not to get his panties in a wad. I don't get mustangs, I've never driven one that felt like a fun, well-built car. For some reason, some guys seem to have a hard-on for them. I'd rather have the Miata.

here's what I never understood, supposed car guys complaining about car guys that act like knowitalls but don't know anything, and then turning around and acting exatly the berkeleying same. Insulting elitist BS about cars that aren't YOUR favorites.

Road racers and autocrossers are just as stuck up, snobbish, insulting asshats as any other group of automotive enthusiasts, yet you think your E36 M3 doesn't stink.

Chris_V wrote: Road racers and autocrossers are just as stuck up, snobbish, insulting asshats as any other group of automotive enthusiasts, yet you think your E36 M3 doesn't stink.

My E36 M3 only stinks to other people.

Giant Purple Snorklewacker wrote:

Chris_V wrote: Road racers and autocrossers are just as stuck up, snobbish, insulting asshats as any other group of automotive enthusiasts, yet you think your E36 M3 doesn't stink.

My E36 M3 only stinks to other people.

I have had some gas so bad the last couple days I have had to go to a different room.

But if you want to paint the walls with your own. Word on the street is your own brand of E36 M3 generally isn't toxic to you. Not at least until it sits around for sometime.

At least this is the assumptions the county jail makes when inmates decide to engage in such behavior.

We kinda have that guy at work. Standard Mustang GT, but he's put a ton of money into it. Probably putting down over 600 HP. Sounds like it is very fast, but it also sounds like he isn't chasing anything but big numbers; all his mods seem somewhat aimless. I don't get it.

On the other hand, he is a very nice guy and while he doesn't understand Miata's, he doesn't rag me for them either. He is one guy I'd like to get out to an autocross, but he'll probably be afraid of breaking his car. I want to absolutely flog the E36 M3 out of his car because it sounds like it will be a ton of fun.