Parents of Oppo

"Steve is equipped with Electronic Fool Injection" (itsalwayssteve) 08/07/2017 at 21:07 • Filed to: Work stuff

3

25

Is there something about procreation that makes your asshole pucker and your brain forget that you were once a stupid kid yourself? Work situation made me think of this...

A customer came in - an executive at a media company in Charlotte - and he just bought his 16 year old son a new Camaro SS. It’s the SS1 with cloth interior and the kid wants red leather. He saved up a couple grand this summer working at Auto Bell and his dad said he could get leather and wheels for it. Fair enough.

Got a text from the boss saying, “we’re trying to sell this kid on black leather.”

Anyway the guy and his son pull up in this black Camaro, 6-speed SS. The dad starts trying to talk about how the black leather is better and how it’s better for resale value. Mind you, the man just spent $37k on a 400+ horsepower muscle car for a 16 year old. I was thinking “there’s no way that car is going to make it long enough to worry about trading it in.”

The kid asks to see the colors we have. So I show him the leather swatches and he eyes the 075 Bright Red with the anticipatory glee of someone who is already envisioning his car seats wrapped in red leather.

A 2014 Accord Sport we did right after I started working at the shop

Anyway the kid has it good, and he knows it. And the dad is pooh-pooing the red leather. And as he spoke it reminded me of the dads at all-ages shows that I worked as a bouncer. I could almost hear him saying,”I wasn’t this stupid as a teenager.”

Shut the fuck up. Yes you were. We all were. It’s part of growing up. You make a dumb choice, you do stupid shit, and hopefully you learn your lesson and move on.

Make the irrational choice that makes you happy instead of the safe one that you can kinda live with. If you spend your youth playing it safe, you end up standing in the back during the intermission of your daughter’s dance recital, talking with the other dads about lawn mowers. I’d rather die.

HFV has no HFV. But somehow has 2 motorcycles > Steve is equipped with Electronic Fool Injection 08/07/2017 at 21:15

2

I hope thT I manage to avoid this. When I vent to my mom about the crap my 8 year old pulls her usual response is “yeah sounds like something you would have done.” But honestly that makes me want to help him make better decisions even more.

It’s not that Dad’s forget that they were kids once, it’s that they want their kids to turn out better than they did.

In this situation I would let the kid get the red tho. But I would be in that situation. I’m gonna do what my dad did to me, and give my son the choice of any 4 door, 4 cylinder, FWD boring car he wants. Because a 17 year old boy can get in trouble with any car, but let trouble in a slower one.

f86sabre > HFV has no HFV. But somehow has 2 motorcycles 08/07/2017 at 21:19

1

Yeah, this. I try to balance it with not freaking out when I see my kids do the same stupid stuff we did. It didn’t kill me and probably won’t Kill them. I just hope they learn from the experience.

TheTurbochargedSquirrel > Steve is equipped with Electronic Fool Injection 08/07/2017 at 21:21

6

The kid has it right though, red leather on black is much better than boring old black on black. Probably less of a heat nightmare too.

fintail > Steve is equipped with Electronic Fool Injection 08/07/2017 at 21:23

0

Yep, the kid is right.

Hope and pray the car makes it to resale with a clean title.

Takuro Spirit > Steve is equipped with Electronic Fool Injection 08/07/2017 at 21:26

0

I did all the stupid shit so they don’t have to... or at least I’m trying to keep them from repeating my mistakes. But sometimes you just got to let them fail, so they can learn to pick themselves back up.

LongbowMkII > Steve is equipped with Electronic Fool Injection 08/07/2017 at 21:27

5

Red leather is much smarter than buying a new Camaro SS for a 16 year old.

LongbowMkII > HFV has no HFV. But somehow has 2 motorcycles 08/07/2017 at 21:28

1

Then he should’ve bought him a 5g V6.

Jordan and the Slowrunner, Boomer Intensifies > Steve is equipped with Electronic Fool Injection 08/07/2017 at 21:34

3

Colorful Interior>Dull Interior = FACT

HammerheadFistpunch > Steve is equipped with Electronic Fool Injection 08/07/2017 at 21:34

4

oh we know. We know damn well...which is why we protest.

merged-5876237249235911857-hrw8uc > fintail 08/07/2017 at 22:12

1

A. He racks up tickets and points enough they have to sell it, or B he wraps it around a tree and insurance buys it. Or C he plays nice with it and keeps it for a very long ..... oh hell, I can’t even finish typing that out. Hopefully he doesn’t kill him self or worse his passenger.

There’s a reason insurance is stupid expensive for a teenage male, because we do stupid shit. I’m going to make my boys buy their own cars, or repair a rough car, that way they have skin in the game. Probably a bit of blood too, but I’ll make sure they get their tetanus boosters updated first.... my first three cars didn’t cost more than $3000 combined, and I loved each one of them. I was given the first one though, but it was a 77 dodge van that I helped replace rockers on before it got a maaco single stage paint job. I would love to have that one back today, but it was in need of new rockers when we sold it off.  

Wagon Guy drives a Boostang > Steve is equipped with Electronic Fool Injection 08/07/2017 at 22:19

1

Hell yeah I did stupd shit, and I still do. Which is why, as a father of 3 and a grandfather of 1 I drive a modified Boostang instead of a boring sedan. I applaud the “stupid” choice when it comes to cars.

Though I would also have never bought a 400+hp car for a 16y.o., I would have recommended black leather outers with red centers.

Dru > Steve is equipped with Electronic Fool Injection 08/07/2017 at 22:34

0

But red seats in a black car is sexy.

I can’t into boring choices.

gmporschenut also a fan of hondas > Steve is equipped with Electronic Fool Injection 08/07/2017 at 22:47

1

My manager comes in every Monday and starts going on about stupid shit his teen does, but “as least __ not like their freind __” and then proceeds to discibe even dumber stuff their kids friend did. “But my kid wouldn’t do that, __ one of the GOOD ones.” If your kid is hanging out with them, odds are they are doing stupid shit too.

This is also the guy who has bragged about how wasted he used to drive in the 80s. Hmm apple doesn’t fall far from the tree.

fintail > merged-5876237249235911857-hrw8uc 08/07/2017 at 22:50

1

With any luck, he was raised right, and it will be C - but when daddy buys something like this, the odds of that aren’t great.

I’m not complaining that I have 99 problems, but if I did have a devilspawn, I’d get them an old Camry or something, and if they want more or cooler, start paying for it. My first car was a decent enough 66 Galaxie that was quite inexpensive back in the 90s, and while not too fast, the big engine and loud pipes encouraged stupidity. Maybe fortunately, it was also such a guzzler that I couldn’t get too far.

shop-teacher > HammerheadFistpunch 08/07/2017 at 22:52

1

Exactly. It’s a futile attempt to try and get them to not have to learn the hard way, like we did.

AMGtech - now with more recalls! > Steve is equipped with Electronic Fool Injection 08/07/2017 at 23:11

0

That car for a 16 year old is the dumbest thing thing this family is doing in this story. Red leather is best leather. I love me some red seats. I spent the better part of a year tracking my car down because it’s black with ventilated red leather seats. Absolutely love it.

SLS knows what’s up 

GTRZILLAR32-Now saving for Godzilla and a condo > Steve is equipped with Electronic Fool Injection 08/07/2017 at 23:27

0

Just had a 23 year old come in and buy a 2017 Camaro ZL1 from me and the first one I sold was to a guy the same age as me...27. Its scary to think that with money being relatively cheap you can buy a 650hp missile in a few hours with a cheap payment if you still live at home.

But more on topic... Yes, I believe that parents sometimes need to take a step back and let their children make some of their own decisions and suffer the rewards or consequences of their choices. Personally, I wish my parents had let me join the service instead of forcing me to go to college for 5 years and leave without a degree.

RallyWrench > Steve is equipped with Electronic Fool Injection 08/08/2017 at 01:50

1

Shit, I’m a dad and I’d spec a red interior in a black car too, if I had the choice. Hope the kid doesn’t total it, and realizes he has a silver spoon in his mouth. At my kids’ age, by the time they can drive, cars might not even be worth it to them. That’d save Dad here some money, at least, but I’d like them to understand the freedom that having your own car brings. Insurance and gas will probably be too expensive by then, I’d better not think about it.

RallyWrench > HammerheadFistpunch 08/08/2017 at 01:50

1

Don’t do that! I did that! It was dumb!

davesaddiction @ opposite-lock.com > GTRZILLAR32-Now saving for Godzilla and a condo 08/08/2017 at 08:49

0

- lives with parents

- buys $65k car

SMH

LongbowMkII > merged-5876237249235911857-hrw8uc 08/08/2017 at 08:51

0

eh, safety is a concern too, but yeah, pretty much.

GTRZILLAR32-Now saving for Godzilla and a condo > davesaddiction @ opposite-lock.com 08/08/2017 at 14:06

1

To be fair I didn’t make a much better financial decision at 23 when I bought my M3 but it was 1/3 the cost of the ZL1. Three years later and I sold the M3 so I can start to save the money necessary to buy my own place and hopefully an R32 GTR to fill the void left in my soul lol.

davesaddiction @ opposite-lock.com > GTRZILLAR32-Now saving for Godzilla and a condo 08/08/2017 at 14:19

0

I almost bought a used and out-of-warranty 2001 S4 around that age. My older brother talked me out of it, and I got a ‘05 Mazda 3s hatch instead. Drove it for 7 years before getting my M3 at 34, in a much better financial situation.

Excited for you to get that R32!

GTRZILLAR32-Now saving for Godzilla and a condo > davesaddiction @ opposite-lock.com 08/08/2017 at 19:54

1

The smarter play back then for me would have been to buy a Miata or RSX, learn to wrench a little, and then learn to drive with autox or hpde days and finally buy the GTR which I have wanted since I was 11. I don’t regret buying the M3 because it did teach me how to prioritize maintenance and the cost of owning a real performance car.

Also I am now making double what I did when I purchased the M3, so hopefully rather than finance a portion of the car I will be able to purchase it outright and the money I budget for the car can go towards maintenance and modification.

B_dol > GTRZILLAR32-Now saving for Godzilla and a condo 08/08/2017 at 20:23

1

Enjoy the journey! Transitioning from a 93' Miata to a R32 GTR might save some $$ and a headache or two but you would be hard pressed to appreciate the progress and quality.

Each car I have owned or driven has changed my enthusiast outlook ever so slightly, the dream car and build of today is vastly different than it used to be. It doesn’t hurt to be “stuck” in a beloved classic BMW either.