Canada's appreciation for classic cars?

BIGCARGUY · Addicted!

Canada's appreciation for classic cars?

rabbit64cs · Canadian Poncho Superstar!

Yup...pretty normal...

everytime I fill up my 64 custom sport,,,I get the q and a ....it's awesome ! biggrin

bferguson · Addicted!

BIGCARGUY wrote:
Hey guys, just a dumb question that I'm sort of embarrassed to ask. This past weekend I decided to take my daily driver gobi beige '70 Impala custom coupe with a temp 307 small block & turbo 350 auto I dropped in for a run. First time I actually drove it after I purchased it 2 years ago. Fresh gas and sending unit, brakes, bearings & seals, coolant, and detail inside and out and off I went. I decided to cruise up to Vancouver BC from Seattle where I live. The '70 performed flawlessly of course both to and from BC and got nearly 20 MPG! I noticed along with a compliment from the stringent border crossing agent into BC and cruising 99 into downtown Vancouver the number of thumbs up and looks the old '70 was getting. This never happens too much in Seattle. Everytime my girlfriend and I stopped at a light, people in BC rolled down their window and asked all about the Impala. We even got free valet parking at a nice restaurant & the valet parkers were arguing who gets to park the '70 over the BMWS and Lexus lol! Just curious, if all of Canada is this passionate about older cars like ours? Thanks

PS attached pic of the '70 before the ralleys

I've had kids whose parents probably hadn't met when my '68 was new turn, look & give me a thumbs up

73SC · A Poncho Legend!

I find it is pretty common in Ontario to wave or thumbs up when passing another old car guy regardless of make. If I drive my LeMans out on an errand or get gasoline I always get a question or two. The car is a great ice breaker.

Leo2+2 · Guru

It happens all the time. Usual questions are what year is it, what size is the engine; usual comments are nice car, then they tell you if it was them or their parents that had a ... whatever year or car they had. Once I even had a police cruiser stop and let me through and I was at the stop sign. Then if you come across another classic car we honk, salute or thumbs up to each other!

Enjoy your car ... it's a beauty.

jmont64 · Canadian Poncho Superstar!

I find this to happen too wherever I go and every bit as much in the U.S. I make a few trips into your great state and spent a holiday this summer in the San Juan Islands with my old car and it is no different than Canada. I have travelled through a few states and like others have said it opens up for lots of conversation at lights and gas stations. My favorite line when I am driving slow with the top down through a town or city is when I hear pedestrians say "It is a B..e..a..u..m..o..n..t" as they finally are able to read the emblem on the side. Last fall when I was in Nebraska with it I heard another good one when the one parking lot attendant told the other that he knew he had seen a car like mine before as he told him it was a Rambler.

long stroke · Canadian Poncho Superstar!

It has always been basic simple second nature for me to give any old car guy or gal a thumbs up. Regardless of what make it is and i always appreciate folks of all ages, giving my oldies a thumbs up or a wave. In a very small simple way, it really makes me feel like all my hard work has paid off. Raj, i am glad you are enjoying that appreciation for your pride and joys. Cheers. George.

hawkeye5766 · Canadian Poncho Superstar!

Call us curious Canadians and the luv of our cars , seems to be the norm no matter what you drive. Wherever you are or whatever classic your in, you will get stopped and asked about your car. Just a passion about cars as I'm sure is the same below the 49th.

GrtDanes · Poncho Master!

Im sure if you get out more with it around your area,you find the same thing there.
Try a few different streets lol.

poncho62 · Poncho Master!

We Canadians are so nice, we even let the damn Yankees join our forums......lol

eeluddy · Uber Guru

There is a good amount of appreciation of old iron around S-W Ontario. But in Detroit its at a whole other level. I mean like the Woodward Dream Cruise,etc.
I brought a 1977 Firebird Formula home thru Detroit up along the St.Clair Parkway on July4th weekend a few summers ago. Most people looked at it with disdain, as they were driving their German or Japanese luxury units. It was only the guys in their 50's driving old pickups that even noticed me and gave a wave. Very few. When I crossed into Canada at Sarnia nobody even looked at it!

Moving ahead to this summer driving my 1980 Trans Am I got a lot more attention, so I guess it's all about how bright the paint is on your car!

racer6929 · Addicted!

Nice to know it's not just the '69 SD..
I've had more lookie loos and such this year than ever before, made one of my last before plates expire
runs from work to the local Esso and it was like a rock star pulled in..pictures taken, how long have you had it, what's the motor..(gotta get that exhaust cut out leak fixed

427carl · A Poncho Legend!

BIGCARGUY wrote:
Just curious, if all of Canada is this passionate about older cars like ours?

NO not all

Indian · Guru

Pretty normal. I've been pulled over by RCMP on two separate occasions just so they can look at the car and say "hey, nice car"

goushdds · Addicted!

Sometimes I worry that I will cause an accident from people paying attention to my car rather than driving theirs!

racer6929 · Addicted!

Had one while back where a young guy in a 66 more door rusty driver Chevy 2 and I were at a 4 way stop,
my turn to go, he was watching as I drove through, literaly his mouth gaping, and his girlfriend backhanded him in the chest to make him stop from driving into me.

bjburnout · Uber Guru

......always lotsa comments where ever we go with an old car........."NICE CAR".....is usual

....pulled into a gas station with our 62 Corvette and the girl inside said......"What kinda car is that?"

....I said a Corvette...........she replied "Corvette???........doesn't look like a Corvette".......but at least
she noticed it.............and then said..........."NICE CAR"........

thanx for visiting ...BIGCARGUY.........cheers

oshawacliff · Poncho Master!

When I get comments I generally try to include the comment that I got the car in 1979, the same year I got my wife and they are both in great shape.

hawkeye5766 · Canadian Poncho Superstar!

oshawacliff wrote:
When I get comments I generally try to include the comment that I got the car in 1979, the same year I got my wife and they are both in great shape.

I can take the wrinkles out of my car, but can't take them out of my wife unless I want to spend the same amount of money on her as the car biggrin biggrin biggrin biggrin Kidding she's still in great shape ( arobics instructor)

4SPEED427 · A Poncho Legend!

Wish I was 1/2 as well preserved as my over 50 wife is!

I've looked 60 since I was 40 (gray hair since my teens has a lot to do with it....)

BIGCARGUY · Addicted!

Decided to end it with mine this week cry , it was for the better though. She wanted the marriage and kids deal (she's 34 and I'm 41). I agree about the marriage though no kids for this guy. My old man beat and scared the crap out of me as a child to ever be a dad myself. Luckily my younger sisters were his favorite and he never laid a hand or so much as raised his voice at them, saved it for my younger brother and I furious .

-- Edited by BIGCARGUY on Sunday 16th of November 2014 03:00:01 AM

-- Edited by BIGCARGUY on Sunday 16th of November 2014 03:01:26 AM

hawkeye5766 · Canadian Poncho Superstar!

BIGCARGUY wrote:
Decided to end it with mine this week , it was for the better though. She wanted the marriage and kids deal (she's 34 and I'm 41). I agree about the marriage though no kids for this guy. My old man beat and scared the crap out of me as a child to ever be a dad myself. Luckily my younger sisters were his favorite and he never laid a hand or so much as raised his voice at them, saved it for my younger brother and I .

-- Edited by BIGCARGUY on Sunday 16th of November 2014 03:00:01 AM

-- Edited by BIGCARGUY on Sunday 16th of November 2014 03:01:26 AM

Wish you all the best, might be tough times ahead but am a true believer that all things happen for a reason. Fatherhood might be a good thing? You'd be surprised at the good you can pass along. You know what not to do and the good things you do affect the positives in other peoples lives.

GrtDanes · Poncho Master!

Going a bit off the subject here. But if shes a good women,dont let the fear of becoming your old man scare you off. Go bk and give that girl a big sloppy kiss and go for it.My old man is the lowest P.O.S. living on gods green earth.Beatings were a daily routine around our house,the question was who was going to get it today?Anyhow all my siblings and myself have great kids and mates.Mind you they both pi...s me off at times,but im sure its the same every wheres.I might even peave them off at times,but I couldn't imagein why.lolTheir all grown up with familys of their own,and makes me proud to see how they and my grandkids are going.I had the same fears im sure as you,plus im sure other ppl around also. So I guess what im getting at is don't loose a good thing because of a pos,walk around it, and grab ahold of life,and don't let her go.
My .02 cents.

BIGCARGUY · Addicted!

Thanks guys, your right, just like the special women in your lives, she is too. At first she didn't understand my passion for older cars then she realized what they meant to me. My brother met a great girl and been happily married for 4 years and expecting his first. Like me, he is scared about being a dad especially after what we went through with our old man. Luckily our mom shielded him from my dad's irate rage more often than and I was pretty much open season for his fist and belt. My first car was a '64 Starchief sedan I kept at a friends property. I hid from my dad by working on it without him knowing (he would of literally put me in the hospital if he found out) the '64 was my sanctuary from him and enjoyed it until I found a '66 Bonneville wagon (pics below), then a '70 Catalina (miss that one, darn texting drivers!). Still on the look out for a decent '65-'70 Catalina or '63-'67 GP. My friend owns a sweet 4 speed '67 GP convertible with a 428 and 8 lugs, along with a '68 Ventura coupe and a super rare '70 Bonnevill 455 convertible with a factory 3 speed column shift set up...weird! He also has an a collection of '65-'70 full size Chevy's, 65 Biscayne 409,'66 427 425HP Impala SS,'67 & '68 Impala SS 427's, (2) '68 Biscayne 4 door 427 cars (one a 4-speed 425 HP version) and finally a '70 Biscayne, 6 cylinder,radio delete, manual steering sedan all original.

GrtDanes · Poncho Master!

Your friend better have a collection in his wallet too,
to keep all them cars going.