by "Turbineguy: Nom de Zoom" (will-alib)
Published 11/07/2017 at 22:12
by "Turbineguy: Nom de Zoom" (will-alib)
Published 11/07/2017 at 22:12
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STARS: 0
Back in high school (mid 80s) my dad had a Volvo GL sedan as a company car. For some reason or other he felt he had to add a custom touch, so one day he pulled the grille off and rattle-canned it flat black. Then he puts one of those stick-on mailbox letters (his last initial) from the hardware store over the Volvo crest and calls it a day.
Feck. Even at 14 I knew that was a cheesy thing to do to a car.
"AM3R, lost another burner" (am3r17)
11/07/2017 at 22:18, STARS: 0
Gotta credit my dad for getting me interested in cars, even though he wasn’t a big car guy, but he’s said some things that make me shake my head. Mostly just a reluctance to DIY’ing stuff.
The one thing that really makes me roll my eyes is when he complains about cars being deathtraps because they are “too low” or “too small”. An S2000 would be perfect for him, yet he thinks it’ll crumble up like a soda can if he ever got rear ended.
"AC2 - The Now 15 Year Old Jalop" (ac-2-shoes)
11/07/2017 at 22:20, STARS: 0
Got any pics? because other than the hardware letter thing this doesn’t sound like such a bad thing
Then again, I left the bronx but the bronx never left me.
"Urambo Tauro" (urambotauro)
11/07/2017 at 22:28, STARS: 0
My father drives a PT Cruiser. Does that count?
"Turbineguy: Nom de Zoom" (will-alib)
11/07/2017 at 22:36, STARS: 1
No photos. The mental scarring has been enough.
"AC2 - The Now 15 Year Old Jalop" (ac-2-shoes)
11/07/2017 at 22:40, STARS: 0
fair enough
"Turbineguy: Nom de Zoom" (will-alib)
11/07/2017 at 22:40, STARS: 0
I’m not sure where my car thing came from; was it spontaneous? I did help him put on the snow tires every fall. Maybe that’s when the die was cast..
"ranwhenparked" (ranwhenparked)
11/07/2017 at 22:42, STARS: 0
When you say company car, you mean a car assigned to him by his company? Did they not make a big deal out of painting the grille like that? I had a boss complain when I put a brodie knob on the wheel.
"SilentButNotReallyDeadly...killed by G/O Media" (silentbutnotreallydeadly)
11/07/2017 at 22:44, STARS: 2
Not so much embarrassed as entertained as my car clueless father went through a series of deeply unusual car choices after the demise of my parent relationship...all of them brand new. Note none of the pics below are of his cars...but are almost exactly the same
First off...Citroen CX Pallas circa 1978
Next up...Chrysler Sigma Scorpion circa 1981 and yes he fitted a landau top trim to his just like this example (his was metallic brown)
...then a circa 1985 Toyota Tarago GLS with a red velour interior
and finally, a Toyota Hiace H60 from around 1986 which he then kept for nearly 25 years
He remains utterly clueless about cars...
"Turbineguy: Nom de Zoom" (will-alib)
11/07/2017 at 22:46, STARS: 0
IIRC it was a car leased for his use. Dunno if they got dinged at turn-in because of the ghetto grille. Coolest thing about that car (to me) was it being a manual. This was after a long succession of autoboxes. And it had a cassette player, which was badass seeing as every other car we’d had was blessed with the factory AM radio. Ugh.
"Turbineguy: Nom de Zoom" (will-alib)
11/07/2017 at 22:55, STARS: 0
The Citroen is pretty slick. Where did you grow up? That Scorpion was sold in the US as the Dodge Challenger/Plymouth Sapporo. This was back when Chrysler was tied up with Mitsubishi iirc.
"SilentButNotReallyDeadly...killed by G/O Media" (silentbutnotreallydeadly)
11/07/2017 at 23:00, STARS: 0
Australia....the Sigma Scorpion was a Mitsubishi thing but it was very early in the shift from Chrysler to Mitsubishi down here so Mitsubishi decided to whack the Chrysler brand on it for a year or so while Mitsubishi marketing got underway.
"cbell04" (cbell04)
11/07/2017 at 23:01, STARS: 1
My mom had a 89 Pontiac Grand am in 89 with the license plate “AM2BAD” what do I win?
"AM3R, lost another burner" (am3r17)
11/07/2017 at 23:07, STARS: 0
My dad just liked bmw’s and liked driving stick. That was enough to make me obsessed haha.
"gmporschenut also a fan of hondas" (gmporschenut)
11/07/2017 at 23:17, STARS: 0
My dad is one of a few that got me into cars at an early age, but in the last years keeps uttering bullshit car myths that might have been true 30 years ago but are long obsolete.
Needs to idle car in winter.
damages engine to turn on/off too often (leaves truck idling for 20 minutes in jan)
snowtires don’t do anything ‘ i had them in 1982 and I didn’t think they were that great”
transmissions flushes destroy your transmission
"Turbineguy: Nom de Zoom" (will-alib)
11/07/2017 at 23:28, STARS: 0
Dad’s first BMW was an ‘87 325. Automatic, ‘cause he’s a nerd.
"Turbineguy: Nom de Zoom" (will-alib)
11/07/2017 at 23:29, STARS: 1
My sympathy?
"Turbineguy: Nom de Zoom" (will-alib)
11/07/2017 at 23:30, STARS: 2
Ah, Australia. I should’ve known from the accent...
"DC3 LS, will be perpetually replacing cars until the end of time" (dc3ls-)
11/07/2017 at 23:40, STARS: 0
Although I couldn’t say my dad was clueless about cars he certainly wasn’t an enthusiast. He had an old beat up ‘80s Ranger. Mechanically he kept it tip top (he grew up as a farmer) but the exterior was a joke. He did a rattle can paint job without primer and had wooden boards along the sides to make the sides of the bed taller.
It looked like an absolute heap, but ran fine.
After he died my mom sold it. She asked the guy what he was gonna do with it and he said.
“Take it down to Mexico and sell it, no gringo will by this!”
"AM3R, lost another burner" (am3r17)
11/08/2017 at 00:19, STARS: 0
I have an older brother who is 3 years but older than me. When he was 16, my dad wanted to get him a used BMW as his first car, since he wanted one for himself but his long commute into DC was better done in his reliable, efficient accord. I started really falling in love with cars (specifically BMW) at this point, because going around and seeing all these awesome BMW’s and sitting in them while my dad test drove them just made me appreciate the brand. I pushed for my brother to get an E30 (this was right before prices started climbing) but my nerdy brother didn’t care about cars.
"VonBootWilly - Likes Toyota, but it's still complicated." (vonbootwilly)
11/08/2017 at 04:08, STARS: 1
Years ago my Dad’s old Chevy Venture van had been backed into (the front was damaged). He decided to pick up similar parts from the re-branded versions of the same van, so he picked up an Oldsmobile Silhouette grille and Pontiac Montana bumper. There was a gap due to the parts not meant for each other, so he cut up a piece of Ford Focus grille and added it in with passable, but odd results.
I thought that was resourceful (not what I would do mind you) and he could have just left it alone at that point.
Next he takes the original Venture emblems, cuts them up to spell “REVTUNE” then reinstalls them. He then sticks a Pontiac front emblem right on top of the Oldmobile logo on the grille. In what way does two emblems ontop of each other work? Must be art with a hidden deeper meaning. Maybe pure genius. I just let it be. So strange.
Dads can be funny.
"SilentButNotReallyDeadly...killed by G/O Media" (silentbutnotreallydeadly)
11/08/2017 at 04:29, STARS: 0
Yeah I was laying it on a bit thick...
"CalzoneGolem" (calzonegolem)
11/08/2017 at 05:55, STARS: 0
My dad custom built a heavy duty frame from scratch for his big block Chevy powered 4x4 pull truck and put a ‘49 business coupe body on top. It was so embarrassing.
"Turbineguy: Nom de Zoom" (will-alib)
11/08/2017 at 08:19, STARS: 1
Thanks for playing.
"Turbineguy: Nom de Zoom" (will-alib)
11/08/2017 at 08:21, STARS: 1
Shit. You might be my cousin.
"Turbineguy: Nom de Zoom" (will-alib)
11/08/2017 at 08:35, STARS: 1
My dad did the same thing to the car I ended up driving in high school, a ‘75 Monte Carlo. It had rust holes (speed holes?) in the usual places but wasn’t an eyesore. For some reason I’ve never figure out, he taped off the left side and painted it black primer. And then left it that way. Black primer on a metallic brown car with tan vinyl roof - sexy.
"Turbineguy: Nom de Zoom" (will-alib)
11/08/2017 at 08:39, STARS: 2
Yep, my dad is still stuck in 1964. When he hears how much I paid for such and such, he tells me “I paid X for (something vaguely related) back in year Y” Ugh. My response is the same. THAT WAS FIFTY EFFING YEARS AGO DAD
"e36Jeff now drives a ZHP" (e36jeff)
11/08/2017 at 08:40, STARS: 1
Not my dad, as he is pretty up to date on cars, but one of the dad’s at my high school had a Chrysler K-car just covered in Mercedes badges. It had a Mercedes grille, gunner’s sight, hubcaps, rear badge, some made up numbering, everything. They were surprisingly well integrated into the K-car and if you didn’t know any better you might think it was actually a Merc. It was always good for a laugh whenever my father and I passed him on the road.
"Turbineguy: Nom de Zoom" (will-alib)
11/08/2017 at 10:26, STARS: 0
LoL. Okay, I feel better about my own dad now.
"Turbineguy: Nom de Zoom" (will-alib)
11/08/2017 at 10:28, STARS: 1
What was the embarrassing part? Did his welds suck?