My first car show critic

I let somebody get away with something yesterday. This guy caught me off guard while I was having a conversation with another car guy at a local cruise in yesterday.
I had my very nice 69 Sport Satellite convertible there, its not all factory correct, this I admit but I built it with my own two hands and I get many compliments on it.
So this guy sort of interrupts my conversation to tell me one of my windshield washer hoses had fallen off, Ok thanks I said but then he asks me if the thin wire around the radiator filler neck was a factory option and this is were I screwed up
I just paid him no mind rather than take his head off....... The fan shroud is a obvious import reproduction part and the top became warped, it was very close to the fan and I worried if I touched it would it hit the fan and so until I can replace or figure out how to possible repair it, I took a small piece of copper wire and jury rigged it to hold it up.
This guy asked me this sarcastic question with a smirk and I just didnt pay him much attention at the time but now that wire is staying were it is and next weekend I will be at the same cruise in, parked at the very same spot
Everybody at these cruise in show are good guys, I talk with all of them, got friendly with a couple of guys who have C2 Corvettes, another guy has two perfect GTO's, one guy let me sit in his 2019 Corvette. Still another had a max wedge 426 Plymouth
Mopar GM Ford doesn't matter everyone is positive and just good car guys.......I have no idea if the guy I met was a spectator or had a car there but there is always one [censored] in the crowd. I guess it was my turn to meet that one

I think you handled it perfect. You left him feeling snubbed and wondering why he said anything.

when i had my 72 roadrunner. original equipped N96 hood, V21 V25 stripes, j45 hood pins, m81 m82 ft & r bumper guards, with a factory 400 motor.
i installed a big ci hemi in it.

it seems every car show i went to there was always at least 1, sometimes more, dipstick that told me i ruined such a rare car by installing a hemi in it. i should have installed a 400 motor instead.
my usual response was it's for sale for big $$$. i have the original matching #'s drivetrain at home. buy it, throw that crappy hemi away install the original motor back in.
they usually shut up and walked away.

Don`t even give it another thought. There is always one in every crowd. Sometimes more than one. LOL

Remember, the biggest critics own the worst cars or none at all

This is correct. I stopped caring about little details on my cars a few years ago - and rarely even wash them before taking them out. In 2021, I'm just happy that there are still some old cars running around, and people that are into them to hang with. I will always be a Mopar guy - but again, in 2021, I'm happy to see ANY brand of old car cruising around.

I wouldn't let it bug me, I'd make a joke out of it. Quote him the part number and tell him with a smile that it was a very rare thing to find on an early build that doubles the value of the car. Life's too short to get uptight about nothing.

^^^ Yup, what Joel says. Just calmly up the ante with something silly or some technical fiction, and smile.
Or, do nothing, but ask which car is his...

Either way, don't let one knucklehead screw up a good time among fellow gearheads.

Steve, I play nice until I sense a tone of implied superiority. I'm a complete smart ass so I can also take some sarcasm and fun....BUT if it turns adversarial or if they just keep on and on... then I will respond in kind.
Where is your car?
Tell you what....YOU buy a car and then let me judge what I like about it and what I would change,

Yea don’t worry about it. At least you didn’t get one of those car experts that had an uncle or friend that had car just like yours with one of those rare 318 hemis in it.

anyone who comments about something wrong with what i drive, i always say : "it must be "factory", it's on there ain't it ?"

no, it's "just EXACTLY like yours, only it had [insert options here]............"

Fixed

They're everywhere

A while back had a guy walk up and comment. ' Asked me if I knew The chrome magnums and redline tires were not avail on a 66. '

I usually will reply with a reasonable answer, but something about the way this guy said struck a cord with me

My simple answer was , Yep . and went back to my drink.
he walked away

Honestly the best response is to make it seem they didn’t get under your skin. Some blow off reply like “thanks for your input” and then turn your attention to someone or something else.
I go to a lot of cruises and fortunately have gotten to know a lot of people at the area events, I spend most of my time wandering around checking out other cars and socializing with others rather than camping out in my lawn chair by my car. When I take a break and do sit down, the most common questions I get these days sitting by my car with its repro “1970” license plate is “what year is this car” and lately I get depressed when people keep asking me if I’m the original owner. I tell them no, the only new cars I got when this car was originally sold where Matchbox, Hot Wheels and Corgis because I was 7 years old!

First time I took my Valiant to the track a guy stops me as he was leaving and says I have a great looking '67 Barracuda. He had a '67 Barracuda on his trailer............. I just thanked him and drove on.

I think you handled it perfect and I honestly don't know how I would. I've never had something worthy of parking "inside" so I'm always a spectator and would NEVER do that. I'd never catch something like that anyhow lol. I think it would depend on my mood. Some days I would do what you did and after a long week at work I just might have said "GFY".

See, my way of broaching that topic would be I'd read the fender tag and then ask the owner why he made the decision to change the engine. Every vehicle has a story! Maybe the original block was toast? Maybe the #'s engine was missing? Maybe the owner had a Hemi lying around. An engine really isn't all that difficult to swap. I guess where I'd differ is I'd use it as a conversation jumping off point.


Being the AMC guy at a car show seems to invite the incompetent. For instance, for a while I had two Hornet hatchbacks, one yellow, one blue. I overheard two women at a show a few years back when I brought JUST my blue one, they commented "Huh, it was Yellow Last year." Odd that they could recognize the body style of the car, but were completely ignorant to the amount of work that would be necessary to both repaint the exterior and change out the interior.

Blue Hornet was a 258 Six. Had one intelligent individual explain to me that it was a Chevrolet engine. I politely declined his information. When he reiterated his stance adding that his brother used to work for AMC, I politely remarked that his brother was an idiot and AMC should not have employed him. Sometimes it's fun to let loose and give them a taste of their own medicine.

Even my friends who drive cars to shows for me have been accosted by ignorance. My yellow Hornet is an exercise in customization using factory parts. It has AMX door panels, custom upholstery, console from a Spirit, a 5 speed, a 4-barrel 304.... all sorts of things that didn't exist. We were just leaving a show, and my buddy was piloting the yellow Hornet had a man approach him and say "I had a car EXACTLY like this when I was younger!" To my buddy's credit, he looked at the man and simply said "No, you didn't" and we left.

The stunned look on the guys face was worth the price of admission.

Being rude to the idiots is a great sport.

I try not to be rude - don't need something happening to my car when I wander off.
But I have replied a time or two with something over the critic's head, delivered with a smile to further confuse them...

AWESOME!! Screw the critics.

I try not to pizz car show people off. On occasion, I have asked about common things that I see that are easy to change and not too expensive, such as battery cables for example. Twenty or more years ago, I was at a Labor Day swap meet / car show (Blueberry Festival) in Plymouth Indiana. I'm a swap meet / drag race kind of guy, but after I have bought everything I want in the swap meet, I mosey over to the car show for a little education on who's doing what to who. I spied an extra nice 66 Bonneville tri-power convertible, and it was a very correct car with the exception of the puny red aftermarket battery cables. Being very respectful, I ask the owner if he would be interested in a set of NOS Delco cables for his car. He said yes, but he hadn't been able to find any. Just so happens, a friend that was a sales rep for the Fort Wayne Delco warehouse distributor was there trying to sell a buttload of obsolete Delco shock absorbers and Delco Remy electrical. I had bought all the ignition parts I wanted from him, but I passed on the plug wires, battery cables, and shocks. Short story is, Pontiac owner hot footed it over to my friends swap space and bought complete new factory cables for the car at an unbelievably low price. An hour or so later when I went back by, he had the new cables on and offered me a beer for being so helpful. Since I only do mixed drinks, I settled for a Pepsi instead.

Back when I had my '67 Dart GT hardtop (and after all the parts were transferred to my son's '67 Dart GT convertible) there were comments made, unfortunately not while I was around. Both times my wife was with the car and I was off wandering. First was at a Good Guys show in Pleasanton and second was at Spring Fling.

Two guys walk up and look at the fender tag and go APE $hit, commenting about how rare the car is and want to know if my wife knows what she has there, blah, blah, blah, showing their considerable ignorance. I just never get the entertainment. No, the factory NEVER put a 440 backed by a four speed with the late '68 Hurst shifter and a Barracuda dash with the '69 Super Bee N96 stuff into a 1967 Dart (never mind about the 15" rallye wheels), but this fender tag convinced these guys that they were looking at the real deal.

I was at a Slant 6 show many years ago with 66 Barracuda I owned back then. I had swapped in a 340 in place of the 273. I had recently put an LD 340 intake on it and I needed a throttle return spring bracket, so I quickly fabbed up a piece of flat stock bent in an L shape. At the show, a bunch of people were looking at the engine and one genius says, “That throttle return spring bracket isn’t factory.” I replied, “Yes, I know. This car is so far from stock, it doesn’t matter.” I was merely stating a fact, but in a somewhat annoyed tone. After the guy walked away, a friend of mine says, “That was great. You basically told him to f*** off without actually saying it.”

When I owned that car the Bay Area Mopar dealers teamed up with Sun to do a free inspection on any Mopar, so we took the Barracuda. The Jahns pistons required .0075 piston to wall clearance so they were a little noisy. They commented on the wrist pin noise...then to do the brake inspection the guy pulled the spindle nut and tried to get the "drum" off. When he couldn't I hollered at him that it had discs. He asked who put those on. I told him the factory did...The car really wasn't that old then, either (1982). It had been rode hard and put away wet more than once by that time, though...

Got to say, that sounds more like a joke than a dig. I’d of just laughed and wouldn’t have thought any more about it. Having dealt with so many nasty people in life, something like that is way far beyond nothing.

Well I have found there is a turd for every punchbowl. Take pride in your car. Have fun being there and showing it. Most of all enjoy driving! Some people get it and some do not. It does sting when a known member from here says something crappy about your car. Happened to me years ago at Mopars in the Park in Shakopee. It stung but like a bee sting it goes away.

I just walk away

Heck just late last year I posted on here about writing up the for sale listing for my 1971 Demon. It had a 1971 360 transplanted in it by previous owner. (Replaced the slant with the 360.) A member here replies with a wagging finger and exclamation point scolding me that the 360 was not available in the Demon in 1971. I had never stated it was the ORIGINAL engine. Those "types" of people are EVERYWHERE.

The only time I critisize someones car is if they go out of their way to say this and that is all original when it's clearly not. And moreso when it's "fully restored off frame restoration" when it's nothing more then a paint job and a quick wipe down. You never know why something might not be right. Sometimes the person bought the car or parts that way and just doesn't know. Or they used what they had and couldn't justify spending a fortune on some rare part that doesn't do anything but hold another piece. I've got 4bbl brackets on my car that are modified because I couldn't find proper ones etc.

Sometimes you see cars at shows that have no reason being there at all. I just walk by and ignore them.

Life is a whole lot easier when you just don't give a [censored] what other people think, do or say .

I enjoy the day more when I ignore ignorant comments.

Not being there is hard to give opinion but sounds like he was trying to make a harmless joke and may have come off wrong. Don't forget, COVID has set some people's social skills back quite a bit lol. It's not uncommon for people to try and strike an overly specific conversation to fit in with the scene. I would have chuckled and told him it was a factory lightweight part.

I made the mistake once of letting autocorrect call my Barracuda a GranD Coupe...after the backlash I do it on purpose now because watching some people lose their minds over something so trivial entertains others.

I agree. It wasn’t an issue worth getting bunched up about. I once had to tell a guy that the go-wing on his 70 dart was on BACKWARDS, I did it very carefully, and it ended well,but was rocky going for a bit.

Try telling a life long friend his troubles with his wife are due to the guy he hes worked beside for almost 10 years.... many knew but no one would step up.

As for the cars and comments.... bah life is way too short.

Sometimes they just don't want to believe it.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0CYdSfhwWVY&t=34s

My only pet peeve with Show or Display cars is the battery cables. I know it sounds petty. What gets me is someone that spends $30K on body work, $20K on an engine and keeps the hacked off battery terminal repair from 1982. I get frustrated because a failure from this will strand you on the side of the road.

Totally agree..........me I would have said "glad someone noticed....I almost got out bid on eBay for it at the last second but got it for $125.01, seller had it listed as a one of one as verified by the Moparts gurus......... If he didn't laugh then it would have been hit the ignore button on him (I'm betting he would have laughed, glass half full )

Mike

Pay them no mind... I have been taking my original owner 92 D150 to cruises lately... the only question I get is : what year is it and did you restore it? I just say its a 92 and is original paint mostly with a few touch ups , never any rust or accidents .. anything negative said I just ignore... since I also bracket race it also with over 10 Eliminator Wins they are really stunned when I tell them that... I have been asked why one week all four tires and wheels match and the next week they don't ( I put drag radials on for racing ) and just leave them on sometimes.

I wouldn't have even thought twice about his comment 30 seconds after he said it.

I remember a young man (21 to 26 yrs maybe) looking at my 1963 Belvedere 415 HP Max wedge two door sedan NHRA stocker street and strip car at the Winternationals in either 1980 or up to 1983, that car was a early production 1963 that had the right front brake line mounted on the top of the inner fenderwell instead of on the side like the non M.W. car had.
He ask me why it wasn't like stock and once I try t tell him it was stock he wouldn't believe me as he thought he knew everything about Max wedge cars and he had never seen or heard of the brake line routing differences between the Max wedge cars and the non max wedge B and RB cars in 1963.
I was the third owner of that car, I bought it from the second owner in 1971, he had bought it off a use car lot in 1965 before he blew the motor up by spinning a rod bearing and let it sit for two years in 1967 to late 1969 while he was in the Army.
He had Joe Reath Automotive fix it while he was in Viet Nam fighting and put the motor back in it after getting out and use it to drive to a junior collegde in Orange County, CA in 1970 were he lived until getting married and moving up to the high desert were I worked and lived in late 1970. He had lost the kickdown rod and ended up burning up the tranny and stop driving after putting around 500 miles on the simple street rebuild job
Way to many self made experts out there that want to impress people with their self proclaimed wealth of knowledge, especially on our cars, for me

i hate those cable ends as well !
i have repaired so many electrical issues over the years caused by those things, i don't have hair on the top of my head now.

Just the other day I was at Auto Zone and the guy behind the counter (my friend-a co-worker from my regular job who works part time there) asks me the make model year,etc and I say 1970 'Cuda 440 engine code U because although it isn't original this is what I need parts for. This guy at the next counter over hears me saying that and he interrupts my conversation to say in an exasperated voice, "Please tell me that is all original matching numbers?" I said, "No, it is a tribute car" He then walks out shaking his head as if I just destroyed the car hobby by putting a 440 in an original 318 Barracuda. By the way the reason I quoted the above statement is because he walks out to his Chevy which nothing against Chevy but was real ratty truck and he begins to install his alternator. The truck had been there for 2 days because he was waiting for the alternator to come in. I was going to tell him that I do have a matching numbers Challenger 340 Convertible one of 66 made but I said to myself this jerk isn't worth it. He didn't know the story of the car. Sure I wish it was an original 'Cuda but this is the way I bought it and not everyone can afford an original U code 'Cuda. I certainly wasn't going to take out the 440 and install the 318. So I can't enjoy the hobby with a tribute car? My car is a lot of fun and due to it not being original I can drive it places where I wouldn't drive a rare original restored 'Cuda.

#2) There is a local club in my area called The Slant Six club and even though I no longer own a /6 I have been a member for many years. At one of the very first events I attended this guy told me that Chrysler made a 383 in the '60s with a distributor in the rear. Now Mopar has done so many things over the years I am no expert on this stuff but I was sure that this statement was incorrect. I told him so politely but he insisted he was right. After a while it got pretty loud because I wasn't backing down. Eventually the guy got pissed off and walked away and I never saw him again. The shame of it was he wasn't a bad guy. He probably just got some bad information but would just not admit he was wrong. In all the years in my club this is the only incident I ever had. That is a pretty good record!

One more: This guy I used to work with at my job is a big Mopar guy. He knew I was a Mopar guy because sometimes I wear a Mopar hat. So one day as I was walking by him he blurts out at me "I have a set of 340 valve covers". I was like, "Huh?" Instead of just introducing himself or saying Hi this is what he did. The he was constantly telling me about all the cars he had every time he saw me. So after hearing these stories over and over again I said to him, "Can I come over some day to see your cars?" He says and I quote, "Hell NO!" really loud but not to my face. He looked away. I was shocked. I definitely didn't expect that. It was like he thought I was going to case his house and come back to rob him.The friendship ended right there. I never talked to him again. By contrast I met another guy at my job who is a big Mopar guy with 7 Mopars and with him I didn't even have to ask. After a while he invited me over to see his cars. I just went there 2 weeks ago and guess what? I didn't steal anything!

My point is when someone blurts something out in the middle of a conversation be very wary of that person. They just might have a few screws loose.

I'm what you would call "socially awkward" and normally very quiet. This sounds like something I would say to someone when I was trying to break the ice and make a joke. It's hard to know for sure since I'm just reading words on a computer screen and can't see the persons body language or hear the inflection in their voice.

I think it was Winston Churchill who gave us the pearl of "Tact is the ability to be able to tell someone to 'Go to Hell' and have them enjoy the trip."

To me, that IS a Sport. Insulting somebody using language that goes so far above them that they don't even know they've been called a moron in a public setting.


BUT, on the flip side.... if somebody does approach me with the right attitude and general curiosity.... I'm more than glad to educate them on whatever it is they'd like to learn.


That's actually how I made a really good, but recently departed friend at a car show. Larry had a black.... '74 or '75 Z/28 Camaro. (I know they didn't make a Z/28 one of those years, but whichever year they DID, that was his car.) His car came from a LOCAL dealer, was an ordered car, he was 2nd owner. Dig this: It was a COLUMN SHIFT automatic Z/28.

I showed interest in his car and that it seemed unusual and he was more than happy to educate me that the console/floor shift actually could be deleted from the Z/28 package as a credit option. The next year, we bumped into each other at the insurance place bringing our toys out for the new year. Then, he recognized me as I was Produce Manager at a local grocery store. From then on, we actually became pretty good friends as it turns out, we kind of ran in the same circles despite a 20+ year age difference. It was unfortunate that he passed only a few months after retiring. He was so looking forward to actually having the time now to enjoy life.

Funny how a decade-long friendship could be spurred from simply asking "How could a Z/28 come with a column shift?"

True there are jerks at car shows (just like everywhere else). But for every jerk there is another guy who is way too emotional/sensitive about his ride. Bad combination.

Either way, forget about it. It's a car. Life's too short.

I have only had one person say something dumb and he was a writer at the time for a well known Mopar Magazine. He was telling me my hood pins were in the wrong place. They are in fact in the factory location and has all the correct pieces. Some ask what engine is in it as the "340" on the quarters and the huge 340 wedge hood is not enough information lol. Don't take it personally and I have a standard answer should I ever encounter this. "Oh this is my piece of crap car I drive to the cruises, at home is my Z06 Corvette, My Viper, 428 Cobrajet Mach1 and the pain in the ass boat I have to move to get them out of the garage!." None of it's true but hell they don't know that!