I know I am. Joined the local classic mustang club....didn't fit in at all. They're all 40 or older, and only approve of engine modifications. Anything else you get shunned. I overhear comments like "beautiful car till he screwed it up with that nitrous and stereo crap". Joined the local "street cruizers" club. Least these guys are around my age. But I then get comments like "Yo, that's a hunk of low-tech iron there". And have to listen to stories that all end with "and then VTEC kicked in and it was all over.." NO, I'm not putting spinners on my stang. No matter how "dope" they would look, and no.. I don't think your new fart can exhaust sounds killer. The 5.0 club wouldn't even let me in. Despite my claim that all windsor's were created equal. I think they were just jelous. Yet... here's the weird part. I take my car to a show and everyone loves it. Rarely can I fill it with gas without someone making a comment or wanting to talk about the car. And it seems to be people of all types.. young kids, teens, middle age... even some of the older folks. Guess I'd doomed to cruise the streets alone....
I know how you feel. I get the same crap from the ricers with "low tech pos." I then roast their ass and tell them, "you just had yours handed to you by a low tech pos."
Beautiful car, 70NE I say to each his own. Everyone has ideas, opinions and their own taste, doesn't mean we all have to be the same. I think as long as it's not some type of "specialty" stang (boss, shelby, etc.) do whatever you want to your car. That's why it's YOURS! I think there is a place for concours restoration and the like, as it's owed to the mustang community to keep some originals out there. But I agree with you, and don't have a problem making modifications to get all the enjoyment and performance we can, while cruising in 60's style!
It's nice to drive a car that you built from a bare shell you found behind your parts guy's barn and the running gear from the car you completely totalled in an exercise of poor judgement, and even though it's a patchwork of different colloured primer and filler, somebody walks up and says "Cool car, what year is it?". Yet when you go to Langley Good Times Cruise In (Nitrous must know this show) or any other large event you run into people from cliquey groups who will only talk about one car - Their car! As for the tuners and ricers who's knowledge of performance doesn't extend past product placement in mainstream movies, talking tech to them can be like teaching swahili to a goldfish. I don't think we're misfits. It's just that we get satisfaction out of our projects without pining for the praise of somebody with an embroidered patch on their sleeve representing their affiliation to a club that somehow makes them superior to us. P.S. If you are reading this and belong to a club, I assure you I'm not talking about your club. Your club is the best. Really.
I dunno.. I got into this because I wanted to have a car that I loved. I love the lines of my classic.. but not so much the classic technology. I got tired of accidently setting off my alarm and locking the keys in the car. So I replaced the old manual windows with power windows and I installed power door locks...now the doors lock and the windows close when I arm the alarm. Now I know that if the car's locked the alarm is on. And since I use to remote to lock the doors... no more keys locked in the car. I love it, but the classic guys don't. The factory 8 track just wasn't enough, and to be honest I didn't like the look/feal of those headunits that fit the factory dash. So yes.. I chopped a hole in my dash to fit the CD-player. Yes, I enlarged the holes in my package tray to fit 6x9's The way I figure it.. my stereo is there to listen to, not to look at. Plus only a mustang owner knows I had to modify the sheetmetal to make the components fit. That huge subwoofer enclosure where my back seat used to be can always be removed. I did keep the seats.. Yes, that's a mach-1 wing on the trunk. Yes it's mounted backwards. To me the trunk area looked like it was missing something. The mach-1 wing seemed to fit the bill and only needed some slight modifications to the bracket to make it fit right. It just looked better to me when mounted backwards. Seems to me that I don't fit in with the enthusiasts. But the regular Joe just loves the car.
70_N_E Don't worry about it, you fit in here on the Stangnet Classics Forum, heck, so does Josh with his spontaneously combusting / exploding self! We have members on this forum from early/mid-teens on up to the cranky old fogies......"stock-as-a-rockers" to modify-the-hell-out-of-it and everywhere in between! So don't let the Purist snobs or the Ricer-don't-know-jacks get you down!
I feel your pain. Heck I don't even fit here because I am one of the few Big Block guys and don't believe in bolt-on power (ie, nitrous or turbos)...blowers are OK though.. Hang in there. It is your car and in 10 years it will still be cool but the Honda Preludes will be out of style next month.
I think you are being shunned because the oversize tires, jacked up rear end, rear wing and big chrome dumps are very 70's, and many people don't like that style anymore. Clubs were always too social for me and not enough about the cars. I am not a club guy, so I can definitely see your point. Not fitting in is always better than conforming, IMO....
On another topic about your car - Have you considered moving those big tailpipes that appear to defy gravity by hanging under the rear valance into the void that looks like it was created just for them in front of the rear wheels? With the rear jacked up that high and the ****in' fatties an obnoxious side dump would look perfect!
I'm technically not a member of any club. But several on-line communities boast me as a contributing member A few people like my 17s when I stop at car shows. I just smile. A few people like my Bullitt seats when I stop at car shows, I just smile. A few people love my 351c when I stop at car shows, I just smile. Alot of people don't like my 17s when I stop at car shows, I just smile. Alot of people don't like my Bullitt seats when I stop at car shows, I just smile. Alot of people don't like my 351c when I stop a car shows, I just smile. You know why? Because when the show is over, I jump into my car with its ultra supportive high back Bullitt seats that I love, fire up the 408 beast that I have just the way I want it, turn the corner out of the lot faster than they think possible because of my wheels and suspension choices and leave 2 nice black stripes down the road until I hit third. Car shows and car clubs are always about what the 'popular' thing is and what the popular people say the popular thing is. I've noticed a few more restomod type cars that scream open track at the local shows each year, so eventually they will all catch up to me, but by then I will hopefully have moved on into a new phase. Maybe I will bring back the 4x4 mustang craze
I know what you're talking about with the car clubs. My friend and I joined one but the other club members never really talked to us much. My 73 mustang is so far from stock now it is not even funny. From the outside it looks like crap right now with like four shades of primer. The inside is really coming along, but diehard keep it stock guys would shoot me if they saw what I did to my baby in order to shoe-horn in a tremec. I've got 17 inch rims, swaybars, a 1.5 inch drop, a 351w, and I will add rear disk brakes soon. Hey I figure I'm upgrading. Don't let someone else tell you your mustang ain't cool it's you who decides what is cool or not.
Sort of. Most older people like my car. It has graphics all over it like a Trans Am car. It is well done and a totally complete car. Most of the people in the NUMOA (n. Utah) have nice stockers. It is not liek I get any dirty looks, only curious ones. Either way, it is fun. I need to post a pic.
I don't fit in with ricers at all. Not only because of the car I drive but because of it's condition. Most of them don't understand why it looks the way it does. It is ugly, and I do mean ugly. I am more interested in going fast than looking good, which is completely different than most of them feel. The older guys understand that it is a work in progress. And so do most Mustangers. but as put by dodgestang very well, the car is built for me and only me. I don't even have a passenger seat yet!! So when they don't like it, it makes it that much more fun to beat them with the old iron stick that looks like hell. To each his own.
I enjoy the mustang club im in. They are all pretty much 30/40 year old guys and they appreciate the fact that I'm interested in the same things they are, considering im only 17(18 in a month..woot!).
I still havent found a good club around in norcal for classics, or atleast one that I'd fit into. However, I do like your car, and dont change it! It's always nice to see a car still representing an era.
Man I feel your pain! I just recently joined a car club back in my home town, but dont really fit in, as pretty much everyone has 50's cars that are only slightly modified, if that. They are a good bunch of guys though, and seem to have no problem with the mods ive done to my car now, or with the ones im planning in the near future. If you ever get around Brainerd Minnesota, I would roll with ya!
