Quote:
Originally Posted by ChrisV
Saving our breath reinforces that behavior. When I was 17, I had been racing cars in the SCCA for a year, and had already experienced domestic muscle, European sports cars, street rods, and Japanese sport coupes.
He's got a fun car he can work on, but he needs to keep an open mind. And maybe if we catch him now, he can become a well rounded enthusiast and a valuable, knowledgeable member of the automotive community.
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I will admit that when I first got into cars (mainly when I got my 76 Monte Carlo that I'll take to the grave

), that I was more close minded about new cars and imports. I disliked them all through high school and my first year and a half through college. I eventually started to come around. When I first started going to car shows, I saw brand new cars that had literally nothing done to them and was like "wtf? why is that car even here?" Today, I am a member of the Portland Grand Prix Club (
PDXCGP), which is mostly made up of 90's and newer Pontiac Grand Prix's and 2000-newer Chevy Monte Carlo's. I am still a little closed minded about imports, however I am starting to come around a little. It just comes down to personal tastes. I will respect an import, "domestic rice" and new cars if it is done tastefully.
I know what it is like to be shunned by an automotive community. The 1973-1977 GM A-bodies (i.e. Monte Carlo, Chevelle, El Camino, Can Am, Grand Am, Grand Prix, Century, Regal, Cutlass) are still "shunned," but strangely enough were some of the best selling and most popular cars back in the day. In 1976, the Chevy Monte Carlo broke its own sales record when it sold 353,272 cars (411,033 in 1977). In 1977, the Oldsmobile Cutlass was the best selling car in America, selling more than 630,000 cars. Yet, they are reguarded as being too heavy for performance and "not popular" enough to make reproduction parts for.