What the fuck are you looking at?

[jonny69]

How many people do you get looking at your motor then? And what sort of people are they?

 

I've always got people staring at the Anglia. I think it's the fact that it's bright red, very low and you just don't see any around any more, so it sticks out. I get quite a few different types of voyeurs though:

-You've got the older blokes who owned them back in the day or had a relative who had one - they're usually on foot or passing by while I'm under the bonnet and always stop and chat or reminisce.

-There are the motorway starers. I feel sorry for some of these guys, because they're often blokes around my age (mid 30's) in their A4 or 3-Series having a good old look but they're actually checking me out as much as the car. After a lengthy online research process on various forums to make the sure they made the most sensible choice of car, they've spent all their hard-earned by ticking a box in a dealership. But now they've just rolled up next to someone who looks similar age to them who appears to not have to be anywhere near as sensible as they are and, oh god my life is actually so damn boring, I'm sat in here and I think I hate my job and my girlfriend is so dull. Can you pull better girls in an old car like that? Is it as fast as it looks? As soon as I glance over they look straight down at the steering wheel. Every time. No exceptions.

-At the supermarket when I go back to the car there's often someone leaning across the car having a good look inside. Big grin on face, often with a young son with them. I get uncomfortable at this point because I'm just going to sling the shopping in the boot and drive off, but I'm aware that I'm prematurely ending their moment of enjoyment and it always makes me feel bad. There is never a conversation, I just uncomfortably make eye contact and say hi and they have to step away from the driver's door so I can get in.

 

Enough rubbish from me. Your turn now

[Bren]

The AA have looked at my vectra. Several times.

[oldcars]

Funny you say that, i was topping up the Reliant coolant before work, and when i got home i needed to top up the window washer, its so small lasts no time. Saw the same chap in the morning and the evening, he said, "that thing drinks the water does it no" i just smiled and said yep 

[Junkman]

When I'm out with the Rover, it's not so much looks, but actually people approaching me for a chat as soon as it comes to a halt.

And did you know, that the P6 was once Britain's most popular car? There isn't a living person over 30 who hasn't a father/uncle/grampa that didn't own one at some stage.

Usually, fond memories of a lengthy holiday trip in it to some faraway place are then shared.

Or I return to the parked car and find it surrounded by people looking at it. I usually think they mock it for its LS&2SBish appearance, but no, usually they are in admiration.

I find this odd, to say the least.

In stark contrast, the Peugeot is invisible. Honestly, it's a stealth car. Do not use it if you need an alibi.

[AlabamaShrimp]

While a mk2 fiesta is a bit out of place it's not that ancient looking so you only get the odd stare normally from "car people" as in some guy in a mk2 golf the other day nearly broke his neck.

 

My mk1 has had more looks but then it's a bit square and beige...

[MrDuke]

I was amazed by the reactions my Mk 3 Scrote got, from gawping drivers, to mechanics running out of nearby garages when I parked in the street, and one guy stopping & holding up a queue of traffic to tell me how much he liked it.

[Lankytim]

I was in a traffic jam on the M6 in the XM a month or so ago and an attractive brunette in an Audi shouted across "hey, nice motor!" I said thanks, but apparently she was talking to the guy in the VW camper in lane 1. Fucksticks, how embarrassing.

[dollywobbler]

2CV gets plenty of attention. Not sure it's because it's cute and colourful, or because it's in such a dreadful state that folk can't believe it actually works. 

 

XM appears to get no attention at all. Had the same with BXs until I covered one in stripes. Then I wondered why people were staring at it all of the time...

 

The car that attracted most attention - to the point that I used to dread having to stop anywhere in it - was the Reliant Scimitar. "Princess Anne never rusts" etc. It was staggering how attention that car got considering I paid less than two grand for it.

[dieselnutjob]

the 604 is totally invisible in London.

 

the further north I go the more people seem interested in it

[cort16]

The most attention I've ever had with any of my cars was the avantime . I has people posing for pictures next to it, school kids photographing it when it was parked on the street and general befuddlement from the rest if the general public.

 

In the cortina or sd1 I find people are in the camp of that's cool, my dad used to have one or Jesus why are you driving that old car don't you know you can but new ones ?

[xtriple]

I parked my GoldWing (bike) outside a cafe on the moors, went inside to get... well, coffee and when the dearly beloved and myself returned there was a coach party of giffers having their pictures taken with it!

 

Seriously it was like the Darby and Joan fan club had arrived. I let a few old ladies sit on it to have the pics taken and they all loved it.

 

You meet the nicest people on a Honda!

[nigel bickle]

Depends on the car I'm in.

 

Some are so damn rare they daren't ask, in case they look stupid( pragmatic female partners would squint at the tax disc then announce the Make triumphantly). Usually , hubbo still doesn't know.

 

Some look suspiciously like something they ought to know, so you can watch the furrowed brow approach. Some will ask, most won't.

 

Then there's the motor they recgonise. Big smile, and a tentative approach which goes one of two ways.

The 'lovely, not seen one in years' type, or the lovely, but worth nothing ( obviously) , can I give you peanuts for it? Yes I recgonise you imported it from the other side of the world but it's still just a worthless old car, innit? Leaving hurt coz I didn't play fair.

 

I'm nearly always polite, but my wife frequently isn't. Others attraction to my old shite always puzzles her.

 

 

My work means that I have to deal with mid sized Corporate organisations, often with rows of 14 plate 'executives' out front.

I always ensure I'm in old chod. May be subtle, usually conspicuous.

Once I get past the smirking, I'll get a range of cost conscious questions, then reliability issues, then a wondering stare. No one laughs at me by the time I've been ' in house' for a week..

 

I enjoy it. As Jonny disseminated, the sheep are all predictable. I know the questions, before they've formulated them. Splendid!

[mercrocker]

With the Minor its usually older people or really young drivers that stop to chat.   Sometimes its a bit irritating - I only stopped for a pint of milk and they want to tell me about the time they broke down in Rhyl with young Graham in the back asleep etc....I do find it quite touching when one of the residents in the dementia care home is being taken for a walk and they see the Minor and their face will visually brighten in recognition.   Occasionally, too, somebody will offer me some spares from their garage which I always follow up but invariably tends to be a box containing worn clutch plate, scabby brake drums and a hose that has let go (probably somewhere near Rhyl....).    The Cowley is much the same but tends to attract rather more knowledgeable banter - an old vicar type once stopped his wife dragging him to Asda and shouted across the filling station forecourt "Offset Steering Column!"   

 

I find it quite interesting that my 190E is now 25 years old and elicits virtually no comment, ever, yet when my Mk 3 Zodiac was the same age people were all over it.   And people still comment on being "rich enough to own a Merc" every time I plead poverty over something.   Piss off, it owes me less than your gaffer-taped Mondeo.....

[alf892]

The Rover gets all sorts wanting to chat while others nod mutely.

 

Favourite is when we go to a local hangar dance and I park it inside........always a good few women of all ages wanting to pose so hubby can get a nice pic of her flashing sussies.

 

More scary are the older ones. I often dress 'in period' (1940s) to the car so have to be careful approaching older people looking over the car.........I often wonder whether a cheery greeting from me might be enough to see them off........

[UltraWomble]

Im a middle aged bloke driving a small MPV. 

 

Sometimes it has kids in sometimes it doesnt.

 

Still, I do have a bit of a silly grin when I boot it away from the lights and it leaves the car behind standing. Thank you Richard and your Stage 11 tuning kit and de-cat

[Cavcraft]

A mixture of sympathy and despair with a smattering of 'actually, I best not park or drive too close to that'

[Cavcraft]

Why get irritated by people asking questions etc? They're only being polite/genuinely enthusiastic, if you don't want that sort of thing, you're driving the wrong car.

[overrun]

I was amazed by the reactions my Mk 3 Scrote got, from gawping drivers, to mechanics running out of nearby garages when I parked in the street, and one guy stopping & holding up a queue of traffic to tell me how much he liked it.

Mine provoked similar reactions.

People holding up traffic, when the lights turned green, to chat through their windows etc.

 

Had a guy battle past three cars to get alongside me and pace me at about 40 mph, asking if it was real and how much it was worth, saying he loved it etc.

 

I felt like I was on an episode of Counting Cars, that day.

[skattrd]

I always get pleasing comments about any Lancia I'm seen out and about in, I had lots about the red HPE, less about my scruffy Spyder. Most don't know what the Delta is, but everyone thinks it sounds gr9, then I inform them it's the same motor as the Delta they may remember. Of course I am told about how they rust.... No worse than anything else from that era is my usual reply.

The most comments I had was probably about the Subaru SVX, generally about how rare they are and futuristic looking, even now. I didn't tell them I had its predecessor at home at the time. The valet at the Intercontinental in London made pleasing noises about the SVX, he'd never driven one before.

[overrun]

Colour plays a huge part imo.

My Volvo 360 GLS turbo had no grille slats and a FMIC visible, was scraping the deck on 13x7's and just generally looked out of place - but it was silver, so blended in a lot.

 

The Escort had contrasting silver vinyl, on a black car, but was still quite under the radar, compared to say a Sunburst red example.

 

The current MR2 is black and kids ( ) love it. #Batman

[Pillock]

I normally get smirks when I'm out at night with the roof down, I assume they think I'm having some sort of mid life crisis. I probably am. I also had some guy in a Mondeo Diesel ask "is that thing still working?" which I thought was quite ironic, let's see his car at 18 years old. Or just buy a case of baked beans, same thing.

 

In my silver astra, people don't notice it to the point of trying to drive through it quite regularly.

[forddeliveryboy]

The one positive side to using a car which people want to gawp at is that you're often let out of side roads, people don't pull out in front of you, they let you pass by slowing a little if they see you in the mirror wanting to get by and generally road courtesy is a little more 1950s than 2010s.

 

Unless it's a 2cv -but at least if you're looming in their mirrors, they'll put their foot down to avoid the ignominity of appearing to be holding up such a 'slow' car.

[gm]

I just nipped up to the local shop (for local people) and spotted this beauty in the car park, a passing taxi driver saw me admiring what was obviously not my own car and stopped for a chat, he used to have one of those, and a Citroen visa - happy times ! I took a quick pic and jumped back in my boring honda

[fordperv]

I get a nice range of people looking at my saph, the best reaction I got for it was a young lad in a mk3 mondeo asking me what ford it was, i replied it's a sierra, your cars great grandad. He obviously liked it his reply was "it's fucking ace that's what it is mate"

[RayMK]

1994 Tipo 1.4ie: No one notices it.

1988 Hyundai Stellar: An occasional second glance, with the expression of "why hasn't that thing rusted away like all the others?"   Note: It's trying hard!

1961 Reliant Regal Mk VI (last of the sidevalve models): Posh people driving horseboxes get terribly excited and wave a lot.  Sherry has that effect on people.  Ordinary people, not sure whether it's some sort of disabled contraption, look the other way and, if I'm out of the car, give me a wide birth in case they get dribbled on. Amongst Reliant enthusiasts, yes, there's at least one in most counties, my car gets the odd critical comment e.g. "It's brush painted" or "That label is in the wrong place."   Bollox.  It is my car, I enjoy driving it and I won't enter any competitions because I know that annoys the adenoid anoraks even more.

[oldcars]

1994 Tipo 1.4ie: No one notices it.

1988 Hyundai Stellar: An occasional second glance, with the expression of "why hasn't that thing rusted away like all the others?"   Note: It's trying hard!

1961 Reliant Regal Mk VI (last of the sidevalve models): Posh people driving horseboxes get terribly excited and wave a lot.  Sherry has that effect on people.  Ordinary people, not sure whether it's some sort of disabled contraption, look the other way and, if I'm out of the car, give me a wide birth in case they get dribbled on. Amongst Reliant enthusiasts, yes, there's at least one in most counties, my car gets the odd critical comment e.g. "It's brush painted" or "That label is in the wrong place."   Bollox.  It is my car, I enjoy driving it and I won't enter any competitions because I know that annoys the adenoid anoraks even more.

A nice selection of cars. Does the Tipo dash speak to you? 

[RayMK]

A nice selection of cars. Does the Tipo dash speak to you? 

   No, it has analogue gauges, schizophrenic wipers and electric front windows which often work.

[cros]

The antidote to being pestered in car parks, motoring's equivalent to leprosy. I should have a bell on the front.

[Dippy]

I see lots of people looking and pointing at my Victor but the longest stares usually come from van drivers and passengers as they pass me on the motorway.

 

Seeing something 15 years old is like spotting a vintage car around my parts, like the OP said its funny how motorists in their expensive new cars seem to wish

they were driving my old chod.

[captain_70s]

I've been late for a work on a couple of occasions due to people stopping me to talk about the Doloshite, it's flattering but rather inconveniant. I once slithered to a halt in a town outside Aberdeen to clear snow off my headlights in a blizzard to have a chap on the otherside of the road give me two thumbs up and yell "I HAD ONE THOSE. HELD THE ROAD LIKE A BAR OF SOAP".

 

Teenagers do their own thing, largely obscene hand gestures and throwing plastic bottles at me. I was once stationary in traffic with the window down (heater on full, trying not to overheat" and a yoof in a fucked Corsa B pulled up alongside and informed me I looked "like a massive fucking choad". Thought it was a bit rich coming from somebody who looked like they came from 5 generations of inbreeding...

 

Ford Escort owners often give it looks of disgust at car shows, I reckon it's jealousy that my car cost £850 and theirs was £8k and they have to trailer it to shows...