Thread: What others see.

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I'm curious.
How many of you, after finishing your rod, have seen it on the road from a different car? Today I was going to take my model A over to Bob's to work on it. Since he was in the area, he dropped by and on a whim, I asked him to drive it over to his garage while I followed in my regular car. Looking at your rod going down the road from another car is cool. It gives you a whole different perspective than driving it. Since mine has short exhaust turnouts, it sounds like a race car inside with the loud drone, but from the outside it has a nice period hotrod sound, although from what period I'm not sure,lol. On the freeway, with a 4:11, 2900 rpm at 65mph, it sounds great. This little trip (10mi) changed my thoughts on how the car is viewed by others. I'd like to hear from any of you who have done this and what you discovered about your rod that you didn't realize by just driving it.

Thanks,
Have a great day.
Milner

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Don't know how many times I've wanted to do just that and now you have given me even more incentive. Thanks, nice coupe BTW.

meller

Too many times!!! Build cars for others, then go to the track and watch them go fast!!!!!

Having someone else make a pass or two in my car and watching the run always teaches me something about what the car is doing that I didn't realize driving it myself!!!!

The first time I saw my car on the road from outside
was when the guy that bought it drove it away. It
looked better than I thought it would.

I've followed my brother driving my Vette several times.and it never gets old watching people double take and go WTF? I've ridden behind some of my projects before and nit picked them to death too. Haha

I didn't see this until after the fact. My daughter took it as I was driving to the shop to have the A/C purged and filled and the brake fluid replaced. However, it's the only photo I have of it on the road.

I did watch the technician drive it away to test the brakes. My pipes dump just in front of the rear wheels, so it sounds much more awesome from outside than inside.

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Nice stance on your rod, Milner.

I have to admit, it is a lot of fun, and I take great pride in watching people drive away in the trucks we've re-worked. I can't really remember how many we've done, but it has been fun. A lot of head aches though.

It can change your perspective, seeing your car from the point of view of an "outsider". The last time I re-made my former '59 Chey pickup, I took it to a shop in Huntington Beach to get the Q-Jet blueprinted, and the engine fine tuned. I left it there - they told me it would take about two hours - and went for a walk, got some lunch, and was on my way back tot he shop when I heard a pretty healthy sounding engine revving and tires squealing. I looked up the street, and here comes my truck, rear tires smokin', and the front end pointing more towards the sky than the ground; he caught second, and it din't even bobble, just kept on storming down the street. I think my chin was hanging to my knees; and I was absolutely thrilled. I watched as he turned the corner and motored very smartly off down the street, impressed as I could be.

I did that back in the 70's with the panel truck. I had my wife drive it around the block at the NSRA Nats. in St Paul. I have photos some place but it's anybody's guess where they might be.

To Henry Rifle - Love that picture of your coupe, beautiful. I see you like to live life in the fast lane, driving in the rain like that. Nothing gets the heart going better than an unexpected 360.... My car is so light with such big tires, the lbs per square inch of contact patch is very light. It almost could run over your foot and not hurt you. Let's see, how do you spell hydroplaning, lol.

Thanks for all the replies, it sure makes for interesting reading to find out what others are doing.

Milner