Pet Peeves- things people do to their cars that you think look goofy!
 

Started a new thread because the other thread started today is only for high end cars. Well, I see googy things all the time on classics that are not high end cars but the things they do still look goofy. This is for opinions, if you get your feelings hurt easily this may not be the place for you. People critique my car all the time. If I hear something more than once, it makes me wonder just how stupid something does look and then maybe I will or will not make a change.

Now I realize each car belongs to the owner and they can do what they want etc. However, that doesn't mean that what they have done looks good. LOL

I'll start:

Big goofy rims & tires on ANY classic
Parts from other cars that don't belong (ie: Camaro parts on a Firebird)
The missuse of the term "restored", when in fact a car is customized not restored

Just thought of this one. Two years ago at the Ames Nationals at Norwalk there was this young guy there with a nice 68 Firebird. He had a Bart Simpson shifter ball, aftermarket rims and some other "customized" parts under the hood etc. Well, after the judging and everyone went to the award presentation, this young man and his girlfriend were livid over the fact that they did not win. When you have your car entered into a national show, competing against a group of nicely restored cars, it should be somewhat obvious why you didn't win. But appearently not to everyone...

NOZ stickers, coffee can mufflers.... stickers like I saw on a Dodge Stratus reading "Street Rod"....lol

trunk spoiler on FWD cars!

BuicK "porthole" emblems on the fenders of anything else.:rolleyes:

Hooptie Wheels on anything

400-4 air cleaner stickers! And my Favorite: The vertical bars in '71 & '72 GTO's hood scoops painted body color! Supposed to be BLACK!!!!

Those stupid 400-4 stickers everyone puts on their air cleaners on cars for sale on E-bay.
Also aftermarket Judge spoilers that dont fit right with large gaps at the quarters.

Those are REALLY popular here in H-town right now. We ARE mighty close to the border . . . :eek:

I guess the most passe' deal I still see in cars to this day is a CD dangling from the interior rearview mirror. REALLY - you've got a CD player - WOW, I AM impressed! :rolleyes::rolleyes::rolleyes:

Yep!

Big, Chinese graphics/words on the ricers, usually applied at strange angles. They probably all translate into "#27, Beef with broccoli".

LOL More like "cat" w/broccoli...

Any classic where they prepped the body and made the paint stand tall - BUT the motor is still covered in grease. That drives me nuts.

Alright,how about a Chevrolet engine in any Pontiac!

I do not like flames on any Musclecar, especially Pontiacs. No offense to anyone who has them. I just do not think they look good on anything other than a Hot Rod or full on custom Merc or something similar.

The other add-on I do not like that is very popular with the 50s cars is the Continental Kit (enclosed spare tire on a shelf behind the trunk). I personally think it ruins the lines of some of the most beautiful designed American cars ever made. I have many friends who disagree with me vehemently on this, but living in America, I can have my opinion and strongly beleive you have the right to yours too.

By the way, I NEVER say anything about flames or Continental Kits or other stuff I don't care for while looking at someone else's car at a show or elsewhere. I tend to keep my opinions to myself except when bench racing with friends. Jim

Or basically posting anonymous on the web....?? :D

Obviously like what was mentioned, big rims on muscle cars or classics.

The other things I kinda hate is with the old hot rod/ street rod stuff, everybody seems to try to be different with their Model As and early V8s, however they all end up looking the same but with different colors. I like it when people do completely wild stuff or go stock, but looking at chopped channeled rod after rod with SBCs it kinda gets boring. The point with that crowd is to be different a lot of times I would think.

Some guys at a different forum looked at my dad's stock Model A Cabriolet and the '33 pickup and just about the first thing they said was to chop them up. I told them no, because that's how I'll stand out.

Some other things that kinda irk me is when people chop off a huge amount of a bed on a pickup truck or fill it with junk. I like pickup trucks to have a level of function to them, and when you bob the bed down to the point where a golf cart can hold more stuff, it kinda gets me.

Vinyl roofs look kinda goofy too. I understand if it is on to be correct, but having dealt with two GTOs that had vinyl roofs at one time, I really hate them. My roofs are burnt to a crisp.

How about a sunroof cut into a classic? The previous owner of my 66 GTO thought it was a good idea :(

I think we have a winner here.

Third.

http://i891.photobucket.com/albums/a...l/DSC00436.jpg
http://i891.photobucket.com/albums/a...l/DSC00409.jpg
http://i891.photobucket.com/albums/a...l/DSC00495.jpg
http://i891.photobucket.com/albums/a...ill/Camaro.jpg
http://i891.photobucket.com/albums/a...bill/WTFIT.jpg

Another one that just drives me nuts when I see it, braided hoses whith the blue or red annodized ends. IMO nothing says cheap & cheesy more than this. Also the bright colored plug wires on an otherwise nice looking engine compartment. Or again, the MSD boxes screwed to the inner fender or firewall with drywall screws, I have seen this time and time again. I don't get it, those boxes can't be that hard to hide, not too mention unless your racing your car on the track every weekend, there are other options...

The guy staring at the Volkswagen. :pound:WTF :pound:

Door ding strips down the sides of GTO's. Yeah practical, but really detracts from the smooth uncluttered styling of these cars. RAIV stickers on the hood only to find D-port heads on the engine..........what a disappointment! I don't like to see FRAM oil filters on any engine, especially Pontiacs (feel sorry for those engines).

Have you ever priced AN fittings? I've got a relatively simple system, and have over $300 in fittings alone.

Cheesy? Maybe. Cheap NO WAY!

Oh, and they don't leak.....

Guys who rattlecan the plastic interior parts a neon transparent bright color. WTF ? The air vents especially look hideous :gag:

Calvin peeing stickers; those were getting old in the early 90s

My '68 GTO had a yellow interior. The door panels, headliner, dash pad etc. were all recovered and done in yellow. Then someone spray painted them black. At least the original seats weren't touched. Also the paint was yellow too.

Can you elaborate on the Fram oil filter. Two of my previous engine builders of my 400's have said the EXACT same thing, but never really said why? And now a third builder down here in FL also said NOT to use Fram oil filters.

Maybe he's talking about the fake ends that cover hose clamps?

I didn't realize they wern't cheap, sorry. I trully can not stand the look overall, but that's just my opinion. I have the original style clamps on my 67 LeMans and had them on my 68 Firebird and they NEVER leaked. I am just too much of a purist I guess and just love the look of a bone stock engine compartment. Even when I install my 461 stroker in the LeMans, knowone will ever know it's not the 326 that is in there now. I will dress the 461 to look EXACTLY like the 326!

I have customers come into my store sometimes not wanting Fram oil filters. I personally don't like Fram either after my first DIY oil change. I put a Fram filter on there, it got stuck, I ended up making it worse and a friend and I had to basically rip the filter off to change the oil. I hear they don't do too well actually filtering oil.
My filters are usually AC Delco, sometimes Bosch, Motorcraft on my Ford, and maybe STP if I can't find anything else. I love using K&N oil filters too when I feel like it. I love having the wrench-off type filter.

67 LeMans 326
Senior Member Join Date: Jan 2010
Location: FL
Posts: 195
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I didn't realize they wern't cheap, sorry. I trully can not stand the look overall, but that's just my opinion. I have the original style clamps on my 67 LeMans and had them on my 68 Firebird and they NEVER leaked. I am just too much of a purist I guess and just love the look of a bone stock engine compartment. Even when I install my 461 stroker in the LeMans, knowone will ever know it's not the 326 that is in there now. I will dress the 461 to look EXACTLY like the 326!

They aren't there for a "look".They are there for function.And i mean as in functioning superior to non-braided line.

There have been any number of reviews of fram oil filters (google it) Edit: i found a link: http://www.knizefamily.net/minimopar...ers/index.html

Basically they cut open a number of fram filters and compare the innards to competitive filters. The frams tended to have cardboard ends, poor anti-drainback valve designs, and less overall filter media than the competition.

AND, there are the stories circulating about people experiencing a sudden fram oil filter failure, and subsequent engine loss.

Why buy fram when there are better filters available for just a little more money? Heck, walmart supertech filters often rate better than fram.

The only thing I kinda don't understand is the colors. I'm all about the SS lines, but I think black anodized or polished silver would look better on AN fittings unless your engine or body color matches the fitting color.

Fram Oil Filters are cheap construction and poor quality.......check out this YouTube video.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kX0xr...eature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NzWen3Q5ksc

I had a friend of mine who put these on his truck,3 on each side.As a joke i told him that buick put 4 on each side for the V8 engine,next time i seen his truck he added the extra one.

X2 That's burns my azz

They are aircraft fittings.Thses are the colors they use.But yeah- i agree with the black/silver.

I kinda figured there was an underlying reason why they used those colors. I'd still rather go black or polished though, just matches better.

Another thing of mine that is kinda weird is when people put way too much money into making their car look good. There's a guy that comes to my store sometimes with a '60s Nova and I guess he spent 125K+ or around there on it. Everything that can be chromed is chromed. Everything is basically custom. It's extremely nice but I'm scratching my head on how you can drop that much coin into that car. You'd think you would run out of stuff to do to it.

these dorked up cars will never stop hurting my eyes. I like the (original) styling of this car too bad it's been ruined by the owner.


[rant mode on] My car was blessed with one of those by the previous owner and I hate it. As mentioned it doesn't fit right and in my opinion the lines of the car come out better without a spoiler.
But too bad for me the wallet doesn't allow for body work yet so the spoiler stays for now to hide the holes in the trunk that were drilled in there to install that damn thing. Did I mention my car is orange and that stupid spoiler is black? it stands out.. yuck.. [/rant mode off]

How about the office lighting some 'people' install under their cars in various colours.. I think that looks pretty stupid as well..

Here's another one, in my country one sees a fair amount of POS ratlle canned flat black chevy 305 powered heaps of ****.. worth next to nothing. They often have a dual 3" exhaust system with either cherry bomb or flowmaster 40 series mufflers with enormous tips sticking out of the back or sides of these cars..
These '500 hp' 305's make me laugh..

Interesting info on the Fram filters. I have not used them since my first 400 rebuild. That builder told me to use NOTHING but NAPA Gold (Wix). In fact, he made me promise not to use anything but and I have since then...

Wix used to be very highly regarded, but it seems recently their reputation has taken a dive as well.

Exactly.

When I was doing mine, I wanted all black or silver, but some of the sizes/styles I needed weren't available in those colors, so I went with red/blue ones. I wouldn't use them on a stock car, but mine is far from stock and with the KREs, electric fan, aluminum rad etc. etc, it will never look "correct" for a 389.

I was going for that when I put the 462 in my '66. I wanted it to look like a stock 389, but outperform it by a large margin. Unless you're using the "correct" 326 heads (bad idea on a 461), get ready for "you do realize that those heads are incorrect" at every show/cruise night you attend.

I don't even bother explaining why the ported 6Xs I had before the KREs were superior, in every way, to the "correct" '66 093s, (especially on a 462) anymore.

MY pet peeve are all the "judges" (who invariably drove to the car show/cruise night in a minivan or equivalent) that pick apart a car that I spent 8.5 years "restifying". A ton of thought/research went into every piece of it. There is a functional reason (performance, safety or strength) for every non stock part or mod on my car, and I hate when folks minimize the effort because it isn't stock, even if it's FAR better than stock in every way.

Black painted egg crate grill on a 66 Tempest......they where silver, only LeMans and GTO where black.

Camaro painted stripes on a Firebird...

And Ill bet the motor is tarnished in grease and has all sorts of oil leaks.

I actually like those on a PT cruiser.

[QUOTE=Tripower455;4083103]I was going for that when I put the 462 in my '66. I wanted it to look like a stock 389, but outperform it by a large margin. Unless you're using the "correct" 326 heads (bad idea on a 461), get ready for "you do realize that those heads are incorrect" at every show/cruise night you attend.
QUOTE]

Actually, I will be using my 62 heads that have been completely redone, port & polished, bronze buides, SS valves etc. So the 62's will be a give away, I will also be using H.O. 2.5" manifolds from R.A.R.E. along with a 2.5" mandrel bent exhaust system. But I will keep the 326 air cleaner, painted valve covers etc.

Speaking of PT Cruisers, IMO they are a pet peeve in their own right. Why is it that just because they have a retro look, people bring them to classic cars cruises/shows. Actually, this was more popular up north when we lived in Buffalo area more so than down here. Everytime we would go to a car show/cruise night, there were an entire group of those cars. Used to drive me nuts. LOL

One of craziest things I ever saw was maybe the first new 66 GTO I saw on the street in DC. It was a Barrier Blue hardtop, all original looking except for the fact that the guy had a big white wing-spread eagle mounted on the trunk (sorta like a continental kit).