Wife and I went out to dinner tonight. The place was sponsoring a cruise-in when we got there. Besides the usual old muscle and pony car stuff - there were some interesting stuff there - A nice Volvo P-1800, a 50 something vintage German Goliath, and a beautiful 1950 Oldsmobile fastback sedan. There were some new cars there as well - new 'vettes, current Mopar stuff, etc. We were in our Saturn, but, it got me thinking. Wonder what kind of reception I'd get if I entered my 06 VDP in one of these things. Anybody ever show their cars in one of these things??

Regards:
Oldengineer

 

Hi Oldengineer,

I did something similar to this. While driving around in the Cheasapeake area my wife and I dropped into a free car show. Most of the cars were muscle cars and Pro Streeters. Being car guys, we compared notes on our cars and admired each others cars. When the show broke up, there was a great commotion of noise and dust as the cars fired up. I felt a little out of place because my Jaguar was almost silent. A funny thing though. About 3 miles down the road a bunch of the Pro Streeters were loading their cars on trailers.

Mike

 

That's hilarious. I never understood the trailer queen mentality. I like to drive.

I, too took my 2003 S-type to a local cruise-in. This crowd could care less about a Jaguar, unless it was maybe an XKE or maybe an old XJ6. If I happen to be in the area again, driving that car, may be I'll show up again, but otherwise, I will only take it to Jaguar shows.

 

As a muscle car owner, I personally don't like it. Unless the owner has done extensive work on it, it's stupid to me. Wy would you go out and show off a car that anybody with a financing plan could go and buy!? Stick to the european shows, they like to show off stock cars because of the money they spent on them.

Locally, we had a guy enter his s-type in a classic car show, he listed it as a 1968 eventhough it was a 2001, just so he could get in the show. He was mouthing off about being fair and allowing any car into the show. I sat there and made him look stupid when I started asking questions about the car. He was a typical "I own an expensive car, I am a car guy" and didn't know $hit!

 

Wait.... I think that was me

 

That's pretty funny about the guy with the 2001 S-type. What type of questions did you ask him? Did he know what was under the hood?


I like cars of all sorts, and as a rule, do most repairs and maintenance myself. As for most in this forum, I also appreciate the work that goes into restoring any vehicle. I respect those who can, and actually do understand why someone would be very protective of their cars. If it weren't for dedicated restorers, this hobby would be completely lost. On the other hand, if I ever restored a car, I would want to drive it. I guess I should have been more clear about what I was saying.

Even rarer than the restored vehicle, though is the all-original car that someone painstakingly maintained during its lifetime. Those are interesting, too.

I am glad to see that the car hobby is still attracting younger people like you. I was at a Jaguar show and people were lamenting the fact that younger people didn't seem interested at all in cars, much less Jags. I don't necessarily think that is true, but who knows?

 

FloridaJag,

I think you are referring to "Survivor Cars". These are becoming more popular in the antique and historic car field. There is even a survivor car class at Pebble Beach. In some cases these are worth more than a perfectly restored example.

Trailer queens are not limited to Pro Streeters though. There are plenty of them in the high end collector field as well. I never saw the point in trailer or garage queens either. The reason a particular car was great was how well it drove, so it only makes sense to me to use it on the road or track.

Mike

 

On Memorial Day weekend, I took my 1995 XJS 2+2 Convertible to a Cruise Night. (We also took my husband's 1978 Cutlass Supreme.) Believe it or not, there were several people there who knew quite a bit about the car and were very interested in it . One guy there said it had always been his dream car ( It's mine too!!)

 

Rian:
You wouldn't make me look stupid - I've been wrenching on cars since I was 14 years old - started restoring a 37 Dodge 5 window coupe before I went to High School. I'm now 62 and still work on my own vehicles extensively. Do you old musclecar guys get upset when folks show up at cruise-ins with brand new "vettes, Mustangs, Mopars, etc. I owned pony and muscle cars back in the day (67 Barracuda, 69 Olds 442, 75 Olds Starfire, etc.). That's one reason I like my S-Type so much - its quicker than the stuff I owned in the late 60's and 70's.

Regards:
Oldengineer

 

I took my 89 XJ6 to a local cruise in night on thursday evening. No one said anything to me about it. Heck I even washed it lol... of course a bird took to big fat poops on it by friday morning oh well....

 

I personally don't get it when stripper cars that got big engines in them are such a big deal...... Really though, the real car guys appreciate a nice car no matter what the year. So what if it can be bought new. That guy shouldn't have lied though. Anyway, I used to get some silly looks when I would cruise in to a show in my "fancy K car" convertible. Now she's going to get her historic plates this winter and will be considered, as Mike put it, a "Survivor". It still has the original top, heck, it still has it's original hoses and other parts as well. Some "real car guys" at a couple recent shows even asked me where I got my original Mopar parts. I just smiled and said, "they came with the car when it was built". Man the looks I get when they realize I haven't touched most of the car in it's 24 years.
Point is, when you go to shows, the real car guys don't separate into classes, they appreciate it all.

 

Jos:

My sentiments exactly.

Regards:
Oldengineer

 

I go cruise-ins alot, usually always end up with the evos, corvettes and nsx. I am chillin with a guy on a Lotus Elise when we go to shows.