Was sitting in a restaurant in the middle of the day today and saw a group of teens hanging around my F-Type before two of them decide to take a seat on the hood to take a photo! I flipped and came outside, and a quick shout at them got them off the car, but even then they tried to justify that they were "just taking a photo" before they eventually called me an ******* and left.

How it is that people feel entitled to sit on other people's cars? Thankfully, the car is clear bra'd and there doesn't seem to be any dents, but even then the lack of respect is appalling. You'd think especially with nice cars in good condition that "look but don't touch" is common sense, but it seems that isn't the case. No problem with them taking a photo but if it's not yours, take it standing next to it.

Has this happened to you guys, and how would you react?

 

I would probably be a lot more rude than you if some idiot sat on the hood of my car.

 

There may have been some cuss words used when I shouted at them.

 

I've heard of other instances of 'auto-abuse' for the purpose of pictures..

Some people have no respect for the property of others.

 

Happened to my brother's Corvette at a car show of all places. We were way across the parking lot talking to some other people when my brother happened to notice some teenage girls, one leaning on his hood and the other taking a picture. We started to run toward them but the owner of the car next to ours had already shooed them away. Luckily there was no obvious damage. That was in the parking lot of a restaurant that had sponsored a car show but they had ordinary customers coming and going too. After that experience, there's a lot of car shows that we won't do and we won't do one without scoping it out first.

Any car show that's billed as a "family" event, the kinds put on by churches and community organizations, I usually avoid. My neighborhood has an Octoberfest thing every year and includes a car show, but I always make an excuse not to enter a car. Anything with a "bounce house" or "face painting" booth is waaaay off limits. Its one thing if the members of a car club bring their own children to a club sponsored event but the general public doesn't know how behave around classic cars. I've seen some really bad behavior at such events. Don't get me wrong, I'm glad to have kids appreciate the classic cars. Any kid who who asks politely, I'm happy to let them sit IN my car and take a photo. After all, I gotta have somebody to sell these things to in the future when it comes time to pay the nursing home bills.

We mostly enter car club sponsored shows but I do have a couple of specific charity events that are important to me. There the strategy is to park together with friends and we don't all go roaming around the show field at the same time, rather someone always stays behind to keep an eye out. I'm not sure what to advise you about leaving an F-type parked unattended anywhere in public, but I certainly understand your anger and frustration since you are not really even safe to leave you car unattended at a car show.

 

Teens trying to look cool and in control... it happened years ago to me with my Vette. Came outside and a group of teens were standing around my car and one of them was sitting on the fender.
I flipped... "Get the Hell off my car!"
Actually I got more crap from young losers in that Vette than any other car. Some little **** on a Stingray commenting "I never thought much for Corvettes" (yeah, I bet you blow them off all day long on your bike

 

This is one of my biggest pet peeves actually. I cannot tell you how many times I've seen people touch million dollar cars at the local Cars & Croissants in San Jose. Drives me absolutely nuts how people think just because they are "modelling" then can sit, or even touch someone else's car without permission.

 

 

I have a sign for shows, that says

"Go Ahead, Touch It. It's only a Car"



We don't stray far from our vehicles, though. And the shows we go to every year charge spectator admission to the show field. I think that keeps a lot of the riff-raff out.


+++++++++++

On a side note, in light of the complaints here, I find it interesting that our Collector Car Insurance prohibits 'going shopping' in an insured collector vehicle, but doesn't prohibit parking at a restaurant in a strip mall after a car show. I asked the agent why specifically..

Our F-Type is insured as a 'regular car', BTW.

 

Justifiable homicide

 

This is why vikings killed everyone, they didn't want their boats touched.

 

I had a 280Z back in the late 70's. One day I'm sitting next to an open window and I hear a lot of little kids giggling an screaming with joy. I look out the window and see that they are using my just waxed (and newly painted) Z as a slide! They are climbing up the back of the car sitting on the roof and sliding down the windshield and hood. The car was parked with the front facing downhill which made it even more fun for the little monsters. Fortunately my screaming at them got the attention of some of the parents and they accepted responsibility. The little $**ts did about $3000 in damage to the car.

 

When my car was new some skate rat tried to sit on the back but the parking lot attendant chased her off. She reportedly said"I love these! Is it a stick?" Fortunately she had not actually get her *** onto the spoiler but did scratch the bumper with her shoe as she was trying to boost herself up.

Still, not as much damage as someone scuffing the bumper in the Trader Joe's parking lot and leaving without a note. Only clear coat in both cases, and buffed out to near invisibility, but seriously, WTF? Touching is one thing, but damage it another.

 

Was having a BBQ one summer afternoon and noticed my 3 yr old was not in eyesight. I walked around my car and discovered she had found a rock and was "drawing" on the side of my car. Ugh

Was leaving one day and when I walked outside, my daughter (same one, 17 yr old) was sitting on the hood of her car with her boyfriend, leaning on the windshield and star gazing! Left 2 sizable A** dents in the hood. Left them there as a reminder. She's 30 now and buys her own vehicles - gives her a new appreciation of cars.

Came out one day and my neighbor's 3 preteen boys were climbing on my truck, in the truck bed, on the side rails, on the roof, to jump off to slam dunk a basketball in the hoop. I yelled at them, pulled them aside and had a lecture about respecting other peoples property, they were very apologetic, I never told their parents. Only had minor scratches on the roof.

My wife gets the garage, (next to my Jag.) all other vehicles use the driveway.

 

On the other side of the coin, I had a 1973 Thunderbird for a year. Bought it with a friend for a summer beach cruiser. It was already grey primer and the vinyl roof was peeled off. Within an hour of purchase we were in my shop with a sawzall. Another hour and we were driving away in The Roadster. I used to walk up the center of the hood and hop into the front seat pretty regularly, and there wasn't even a dimple in the metal. Incidentally, that was the only car with an automatic I ever owned. Turned out be a crappy beach cruiser because the brakes would fade going down Mt. Tamalpais on the way to Stinson Beach. It'd burn some rubber though with that 460 ;^)

 

If I were POTUS, I'd like to issue an executive order requiring that every kid get their first car the same way I did. When I was 15, my father trailered home a wrecked car with a blown engine and said "Son, if you can fix it, you can drive it." I was working part time at a garden center unloading truckloads of fertilizer so I didn't think of the cost in terms of dollars, rather a cylinder head was going to take me about a month to save up for, the low-budget paint job was at least three months, etc. And while for me, it was the start of a lifelong hobby, even if a kid never picked up a wrench ever again, at least he or she would learn enough to question a mechanic and avoid being taken advantage of, not to mention able to put on the spare tire without calling AAA. With all the bad stuff you hear on the news, you'd think young women in particular would find it particularly desirable to be able to take care of a flat tire themselves, but no... Oh well, I'm getting off topic. Back to stories about inconsiderate fools sitting on hoods.