No real point to this thread except to vent about an experience and to get a sense of whether or not you guys have felt like this before...
The local cruise night is always a really good time and it has been a part of my summer Mondays for decades. These days, I work full time and I also went back for grad school which in addition to classes, also requires a metric-****-ton of internship hours which are taking forever to get through and I'm just never free on weekday nights anymore. I hadn't been able to go to the show at all but this week, I cleared my schedule (at great expense) because it was the Mopar theme night and I just didn't want to miss out.
So my Dart is what it is. It's a driver, a work in progress, original/worn paint, original/decent interior, etc. In terms of appearance, it's a bit below-average for the quality of cars that show up for this cruise night but it's not bad for a 45 year old/driven/unrestored car and I'm still proud of it. In any case, I've put everything I've got into it in terms of time, money, blood, sweat, tears. It has been in my life since I was 17 years old (I'm 40 now) and it's practically a family member at this point.
The engine bay in my car isn't pretty. No chrome, no shine...and I'm fine with that. It's a bit dusty and scraped up but objectively, it's not even that bad...even if it hasn't gotten cosmetic attention since the engine swap. This kind of thing is very low on my priority list and to that point, I almost always leave the hood down if I bring it anywhere... but I happened to have it open when I first got there to help it cool down after sitting in traffic waiting to get in to the show.
Which makes me wonder why I turned into Arnie from "Christine" when fellow A-body owner took the opportunity to be a total d*** about it. I was checking out/drooling on the Hellcat that parked next to me and this guy didn't know the Sport was mine. He stands there in front of my car, pointing at the engine bay, shakes his head, chuckles and says to me "this looks terrible, look at this sh--... I'd be embarrassed to show this!" etc.
Well, he might as well have kicked my dog. I felt a flash of anger, I walked over, looked him in the eye and I told him to "go eff himself" (but I used the actual word!) and to get away from my car.
I'm absolutely not a violent nor angry person, I really never get emotional at all (which is probably part of the problem...) but for some reason this pushed my button hard. Naturally, he got defensive and said "well I have a right to my opinion" to which I replied "...and I have a right to tell you to eff-off" and that was pretty much it as he waddled away.
I felt regret immediately after! He's an older guy who doesn't seem to take care of himself and he probably has a pretty sad life... However, he does have a pretty damn nice orange '73 Duster 340. I know this because the first time that I met him a few years back, he was strangely sarcastic and rude when I asked a question about his setup when checking it out and admiring it and I've avoided him ever since. I'm sure that he didn't remember me as he was pretty surprised when I confronted him.
The rest of the night was fine. 99% of the people who go to this show are friendly and supportive wherever you are with your project and got to talk with a lot of good people about their cars. There were some amazing Mopars to check out and I got to catch up with some friends...but that exchange has stuck with me and really put a damper on what I hoped would be a highlight of my summer.
Has anyone else had this experience? Anyone else have that immediate sense of regret? I know I'll see this guy again and my inclination is to offer a handshake and put it behind us but he really seems to be rotten dude and I'm not sure if I want to bother. I guess I'll just go back to ignoring him.
View attachment 1715216763
No real point to this thread except to vent about an experience and to get a sense of whether or not you guys have felt like this before...
The local cruise night is always a really good time and it has been a part of my summer Mondays for decades. These days, I work full time and I also went back for grad school which in addition to classes, also requires a metric-****-ton of internship hours which are taking forever to get through and I'm just never free on weekday nights anymore. I hadn't been able to go to the show at all but this week, I cleared my schedule (at great expense) because it was the Mopar theme night and I just didn't want to miss out.
So my Dart is what it is. It's a driver, a work in progress, original/worn paint, original/decent interior, etc. In terms of appearance, it's a bit below-average for the quality of cars that show up for this cruise night but it's not bad for a 45 year old/driven/unrestored car and I'm still proud of it. In any case, I've put everything I've got into it in terms of time, money, blood, sweat, tears. It has been in my life since I was 17 years old (I'm 40 now) and it's practically a family member at this point.
The engine bay in my car isn't pretty. No chrome, no shine...and I'm fine with that. It's a bit dusty and scraped up but objectively, it's not even that bad...even if it hasn't gotten cosmetic attention since the engine swap. This kind of thing is very low on my priority list and to that point, I almost always leave the hood down if I bring it anywhere... but I happened to have it open when I first got there to help it cool down after sitting in traffic waiting to get in to the show.
Which makes me wonder why I turned into Arnie from "Christine" when fellow A-body owner took the opportunity to be a total d*** about it. I was checking out/drooling on the Hellcat that parked next to me and this guy didn't know the Sport was mine. He stands there in front of my car, pointing at the engine bay, shakes his head, chuckles and says to me "this looks terrible, look at this sh--... I'd be embarrassed to show this!" etc.
Well, he might as well have kicked my dog. I felt a flash of anger, I walked over, looked him in the eye and I told him to "go eff himself" (but I used the actual word!) and to get away from my car.
I'm absolutely not a violent nor angry person, I really never get emotional at all (which is probably part of the problem...) but for some reason this pushed my button hard. Naturally, he got defensive and said "well I have a right to my opinion" to which I replied "...and I have a right to tell you to eff-off" and that was pretty much it as he waddled away.
I felt regret immediately after! He's an older guy who doesn't seem to take care of himself and he probably has a pretty sad life... However, he does have a pretty damn nice orange '73 Duster 340. I know this because the first time that I met him a few years back, he was strangely sarcastic and rude when I asked a question about his setup when checking it out and admiring it and I've avoided him ever since. I'm sure that he didn't remember me as he was pretty surprised when I confronted him.
The rest of the night was fine. 99% of the people who go to this show are friendly and supportive wherever you are with your project and got to talk with a lot of good people about their cars. There were some amazing Mopars to check out and I got to catch up with some friends...but that exchange has stuck with me and really put a damper on what I hoped would be a highlight of my summer.
Has anyone else had this experience? Anyone else have that immediate sense of regret? I know I'll see this guy again and my inclination is to offer a handshake and put it behind us but he really seems to be rotten dude and I'm not sure if I want to bother. I guess I'll just go back to ignoring him.
View attachment 1715216763
