Is anyone else "touchy" about their Mopar? (long rant...)
Nope.
My engine compartment is black. I hear that crap at the track every once in awhile from on lookers. I just tell them to line up in the other lane. My Mom taught me to keep my mouth shut if I didn't have something nice to say. I guess I better be quiet now.
I can't blame you if the comment bothered you...but as I read it, you're proving his point. People get worked up about Mopars with black engine bays and when they do, it amounts to insufferable snobbery.
Geez...if they have such a problem with it, maybe they can sponsor you for the racing season and pay you enough to convince you to paint it whatever color they want. :D
If you are proud of it and want to show it, that's all that matters. I take my car to shows for people that want to see it. And the rest can walk on by. That is pretty much what I would have told him. No point in getting into it with an idiot. Cause that's what I think of anyone rude enough to say something like that. My car is a driveway restoration, slant six and I'm damn proud of it. It's painted now, but I started showing it right after I got it road legal before paint...
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Yeah...I totally agree and I think this is the advice that I would give someone else who told a story like mine! Actually going through this was a whole different experience and I couldn't possibly take my own advice here.
I know I'm not alone when I say that this car matters to me on a personal level. No, it's not a living, feeling thing...but it might as well be. My old Dodge represents one of the consistently positive, happy parts of my whole life. It represents simpler, happier days. It represents countless fun drives, countless hours of work, bleeding knuckles, perpetual grime under my fingernails...huge frustration and success. It also represents thousands of regret-free hard earned dollars that "should have" gone into the retirement account. At no point did I think the guy's opinion actually mattered. I guess that I just couldn't tolerate his idiotic negativity touching something that important to me.
Your /6 Dart is exactly the kind of machine that I hope to see when I go to a cruise like this. Being able to appreciate and be inspired by what other guys (
and gals...but usually guys) have been able to accomplish with their project cars is a really important and fun part of being a car nut.
Regardless of where we come from, who we vote for, what our favorite beer might be, which baseball team we're routing for...we all have an irrational love for these old machines in common. Finding that common ground is so valuable. I guess that's also part of the reason why it's so bitterly disappointing when one of our own turns out to be a complete asshat.
