98 ASR 328 http://www.graffitipub.com.au
For the whole time we were at this car show we never heard a tyre
chirp, nobody racing off up the street to prove how their car is
amazingly powerful, nor anyone bad-mouthing someone else’s choice
of vehicle. And what a wide
choice of vehicles there were on
display.
How about a 427 Cobra with
a verified race heritage, a car
that is probably worth upward
of $1 million, but the owner
drives it to the car shows? It
sat comfortably with a blown
Hemi powered Willys coupe, a
Deuce roadster and a Porsche
Spyder. Nearby was a ’49 Olds
that was started as a project
car way back in the ’50s and
never finished, until the
family decided to get their late
father’s car out of the back
corner of the workshop and
put it on the road, complete
with all those years of patina gained by just
sitting all that time. There were also early
Corvettes sporting big blocks, a ’51 split window
VW beetle, radically channelled Model A Tudor,
a ’64 Falcon hardtop and even a street driven
speedway car. There were lots of others as well
but I’m sure you get the picture now.
All of the owners of these different vehicles
mixed easily with each other and each admired
the other’s interest in their particular car, even
if it wasn’t something they would choose to
own. I found that different to what we often
experience at home.
Here in Australia we often encounter some
over-enthusiastic individual who just has to
show everybody how great a burnout his car
can do, or leave the venue with smoking tyres,
just to prove they have no common sense.
How often have you been to such a car show
here, where any car that turns up that isn’t to
a particular person’s liking is poo-pooed just for daring to show up? It’s
time that changed.
So what if a VW beetle drives into your cruise night? As long as
it is an older model and is loved by its owner, it should be welcome.
Same goes for an English car or a Japanese car from the ’50s and ’60s,
they are part of Australia’s motoring history and should be welcomed.
The desire to keep typical events “American based” seems unique toAustralia, it doesn’t usually apply even in America!
Of course there are exceptions, and there will always be events,
shows and cruise nights that have very precise entry criteria. No
problem with that if it is
clearly advertised as such.
But if there are no particular
criteria apart from an age
cut-off or modification
requirement then leave the
gate open for all of them to
participate and keep your
negative opinions to yourself.
Unfortunately, the worst
offenders in this regard are
usually the purist street rodders
who seem to have the opinion
that they deserve special
consideration just because they
own such a car. It’s time to take
the blinkers off folks, we’re not
the only ones who love their
older cars.
My impressions of this more tolerant
nature overseas was reinforced further when
we got to the UK for the Euronats and NSRA
Supernationals. Once again the mix of entry
vehicles was extremely diverse. Heck there
was even a FB Holden! Similar to Australia,
there were many American imports that I’m
sure wouldn’t have been part of the English
rodding scene back when it kicked-off. But there
were equally many of their own home-brew
hot rods based on the English cars that they
had available. In particular, the early Pops
(Anglias) were very prominent and the Poms
have just about mastered the art of rodding
these miniscule vehicles. (The trick is to get
them sitting really low so they don’t look so
top heavy.) Throw in some European imports,
some of which I had never seen before and you
have an interesting, eclectic mix of old cars
that people love for lots of different reasons.
As the years have passed the variety of cars fitting into the older
car category gets wider and wider. I think that’s a good thing. It
strengthens the movement overall and we certainly need as many
supporters of our hobby as we can muster. That way we can continue
to enjoy our chosen hobby despite the desires of those lesser informed
humans who think all old cars are evil and should be removed from
our roads. nThe differences between here and there. How a one night visit to a suburban car show
in Los Angeles illustrates a gnawing difference in car culture between Australia and the
rest of the world.
The Last Word
Tolerance and Intolerance
O
n a recent visit to the USA, we had the opportunity to visit the car show at Bob’s Big Boy Burgers in Burbank, California. This was
no huge car show, there were only about 70-80 cars turn up to participate, that’s about all the smallish car park can accommodate.
That’s not the point. The outstanding thing about this particular car show was the variety of vehicles in attendance, the behaviour
of the participants and the tolerance for each other’s difference in taste when it comes to their special car of choice.Larry O’Toole