Compliments, insolence and indifference.....

Pid_16V

Admin (Uncle Al)
Club Admin
Nov 20, 2006
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8,299
Mansfield (Robin Hood Country)
I'm sure some of us, most of us, probably all of us have at some time been complimented, insulted or generally suffered indifference at our cars.
Over the years i've personally experienced several compliments of my car C2 - DG and earlier with C1 - S97. Today at Skeggy we had returned to the car for the homeward journey, while sitting there with doors open letting some hot air out :oops: came a light tapping. Vonny caught my attention by nodding in the direction of my door where i see this guy, probably in his late 60's drooling. He was just rolling the compliments over DG ie: she's a beautiful car, you don't see many of these now, there can't be many left, she is a lovely thing. As he walked away to get in his car i heard him say to himself "Beautifull". For a complete stranger to take the time to come over to a fellow complete stranger wearing denims and a white T.REX T.shirt :)Now that really made my day, then i had the pleasure of that drive home in a beautiful car i call DG :cool:.
 
Indifference mostly. Sometimes curiosity. And once in a while, "What kind of Jag is that, mate?" But every once in a while...

I parked up in front of my local pub the other day (to go to the shops) and when I came out I got, "Is...is that a Cougar?! Man, I don't remember ever seeing one on the road." Dude spent a good 20 minutes talking with me. He was genuinely interested, and really surprised to learn that she's a CDW27. And that made it even better! "So it's that pretty, but as cheap to fix as a Mondy? Why didn't I ever buy one? Jeez! You know of any for sale?"

Kids also love them, not just because of the way the look, but because of how they sound when they start up. And then you see that look in the parents' eyes. Maybe that little nod. A recognition that their kid just looked at you, thought you were cool, and wondered why their dad drives a Corolla.

Few car people outside this forum will agree - even the Mondeo clubs FFS - but we know it's true. And if it comes down to it, who cares? You have a beautiful car that's reasonable (by Ford standards) to work on, and you can keep alive as long as you have the will to do so.

Love is a very subjective thing.
 
Fellow car enthusiasts who own other marques will often stop and chat. I missed collecting my refurbed alty on Friday as the guy had gone home early and spoke to a guy in the workshop next door. He was respraying a completely stripped Capri shell and we got chatting for about 20 minutes.

Then in a multistorey, I had to park up awkwardly as my ticket had expired and ran into a guy with a GXR? He wanted to know all about KRM and her history. He had just spent £10k on his, reckoned it was worth £12k and was modded to 380bhp, doing 10 to the gallon. I grinned inside and wished him well with that. He told me he was about to start it up and it was like a WW2 Spitfire for about 2 minutes until the valves settled in or some other nonsense.

But we are all brothers ( and sisters, or even others if I need to watch my pronouns ) in our love of cars...
 
Yes I've had quite a few comments too! Everything from "Beautiful car mate, you don't see these at all now" - to - "what is it? It's a gorgeous shape" then bowled over when they learn its a 20 year old car.

It is good to hear, not in a personal vanity kind of way, but to know I'm not the only one in our area who still appreciates the looks of these wonderful cars.

There's bound to be some that can't stand them, but I haven't heard anything negative yet and couldn't care less either way, they can keep their expensive eurobox's. Our cats may only be worth £300-£1200 market value but to us they are priceless.
 
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Mine isn't too shiny but I glowed a little inside when someone passing turned to look back as they walked past earlier today.
We can all be proud of our cars and you guys certainly should be proud of the teamwork you apply when someone has a problem beyond their personal spannering skills.