coppercutlass

i drove my 72 cutlass to work today., just to paint a good picture im 22 and most people see me as some young ignorant kid. While im at the gas station fueling up at 6 am a prius owner comes up to me and says "i hope your stupid car is worth polluting out enviorment". I was kind of shocked so i look at the guy and ask " how long does it take for plastic and the batteries it runs on to decompose" he didnt have an answer then he say's "it all gets recycled " i say "yeah it does but the process pollutes much more than my car does" by this time he is mad and he says " its people like you that trash our enviroment and dont care" . I look at him with a smile and say "look around you everyting runs on fossil fuels even your prius sure you burn less gas but the materials its made of will never decompose and the process the recycle pollutes much more " he still wanted to bash my car but i simply let him talk as i pulled away . has anyone ever had this happen before its not my first time for me . luckily i work on cars for a lving and most prius owners are arrogant and un educated car wise .

jensenracing77

lol. his car burns coal or nuclear power. something has to charge those batteries. maybe he could mount a wind generator on his car and it charge while driving it.

GreekDog

I also heard that the creation of the battery for the prius itself causes a huge amount of pollution.

Good for you for remaining calm and not kicking his *** like most people would lol

Run to Rund

Making the battery is so dirty that EPA won't allow it, so they are made in Canada, I'm told.

Centurion

I think I would have wanted to point out to this "pious Prius" owner that it was far more energy efficient for me to maintain and drive a car that was built forty years ago than to purchase a new Prius. "Think about the resources that were consumed to build the Prius and ship it from Japan to America. And, when you're ready for a new Prius, you'll dump this one, and more energy and valuable resources will be consumed to build you a new one. Meanwhile, I'll keep saving precious resources by continuing to drive the same old Oldsmobile."

CQR

Good for you. Just calmly ask if he has seen how environmentally friendly a lithium mine is?

stevengerard

wow, everyone jokes about my fuel economy but never had that happen, I am kind of a hypocrite as I like to be as green as can be and try to recycle everything, all CFLs in my house etc but I drive all big American cars. I'm not sure I ever had anyone be that nasty to me.

I tend to joke and tell people I drive my 442 to support the war on oil, everyone laughs though I disagree with us being there I still support our troops whole heartily - and they take it as the joke it is.

Sounds like you handled yourself well, I tell my wife all the time the E85 she wants to use in her car is less efficient so it cost us more and the process to make it is just as energy inefficient.

J-(Chicago)

I'd have just polluted his face, with human mucous and saliva.

I hate those types of people. Keep to yourself ya know-it-all busybody piece o trash.

coppercutlass

i actually sold my holley 650 dp cause fuel mileage was horrible with it i went with an edelbrock 600 and im getting near 10 mpg on the street with a 400hp motor and 3.73 gears . I think i also get hassled at times because i fill a fuel cell, have roll bars and it has a rowdy idle. most of the times i fill up i always get someone looking at what the heck im doing filling up in the trunk.

greenslade

well the least you should have left him a cloud of burnt rubber to ckoke on.

coppercutlass

i hung it sideways out of the parking lot i would have done it anyway regardless of the situation

BosMobile

WOW!!! I saw a quote one day that said "please drive a priuse,...I need your gas" I thought that was preaty funny. I,m guessing this guys wife makes most of the decisions in his misriable life,poor man,hahaha.BO

Funkwagon455

Man, I pray that this joker approaches me someday, this is the stuff that great stories are made of!!!!!!

coltsneckbob

There are many good responses listed here, and your reply was also appropriate.

In truth the Prius does cause less pollution in the atmosphere even if u factor in the plastics, and batteries. However, you could still make the valid argument that (as u implied) he IS still using some gas and if he truly wanted to be such a hardcore evironmentalist he should walk or ride a horse.

On the serious side who is he to tell you what kind of car you should drive anyway. Does he understand your circumstances - no of course not. Does he stop and yell at every 2011 SUV or perhaps the driver of a new $200,000 Mercedes SLS (which probably gets less mpg then your car).

I've not had a direct encounter with a Prius owner as you have, but I can tell just by the looks of the people driving them that they feel somehow superior and look with scorn upon me in my 2009 SUV. Additionally, virtually every Prius driver I encounter shouldn't be driving in the first place........not sure they even could pass the learner's permit test.

DeltaPace77

Batteries suck, and suprised a Prius owner had the gall to approach a muscle car owner with a running gas fill hose in hand. Sounds like the guy had a bit of a soaking coming. Never actually did this myself, but probably would've in this case. None of this bozo's buisiness what you're doing.

coppercutlass

actually to mine the nickle for batteries you need to use hydrochloric acid and it kinda snowballs from there on how bad they are . Even my own girlfriends father say's they are an enviormental diaster waiting to happen and he has worked for toyota for 20+ years

Bill in NC

jaunty75

I'm surprised anyone would walk up to a complete stranger and pick with a fight with him. You were a nice guy, but he could easily have gotten a punch in the face, or worse.

jag1886

Are you sure you live in ILL, that sounds a lot like the transplants we get here in ID from even farther west than I live. My 65 meets current EPA standards here, it's pretty easy to do if your car runs properly.

coppercutlass

well i dont think he was picking a fight he was just trying to make a smarta$$ comment but he didnt count on me knowing my stuff lol. I wouldn't mind punching this guy in the face but going to jail, getting my car towed, and court fees would mean less crusing., plus punching a middle aged nerdy looking guy wouldn't make me look like a hero.

Olds Dad

First off - nobody seems to think about how "green" it is to drive a car that was manufactured 40 years ago - no new energy was used to build a new car - in a sense, driving your car is a form of recycling -

Second - let these environmentally pompous asses drive what they want - but don't tell me what to drive - I recycle my cans and newspapers and compost my garbage for my garden - and I don't (usually ) dump my motor oil down the storm drain...but I also drive vintage cars and an Escalade - because I want to I becauase I can

The problem with these zealots is that they are trying to tell all of us how to run our lives..and if we're not vigilant, they eventually will....beware.

The attached picture is on the back of my ESV - I have gotten flipped off multiple times and hosts of dirty looks - funny how this pisses them off but they can have a "My Prius Sips, Your SUV Sucks" stickers and that's ok...the double standards kill me.

You have more restraint than me because I would have told him to shove his CAFE standards up his glory hole!

442much

I'm all for saving the planet, but not at any cost. There has to be a balance. Good for you for not taking it.

Years ago there were rumours that the Canadian gov't was looking into a pollution tax. If your car was older than a certain year you'd have to pay this tax. I wrote the deputy Prime Minister (who was also Minister for the Environment) and told her that my 442 didn't pollute as much as the new cars because the new cars were driven year round and my 442 only on nice summer days. So how was my old car polluting more than other cars? She actually wrote back and told me not to worry, that they realized that and were not going to implement any tax on old cars. They didn't.

So with this guy at the gas station, being a polite Canadian I wouldn't have argued with him...I would have just politely told him to "go..." ah, let's just say that my suggestion would have been physically impossible.

Redog

Then you'll like my thread from a few years ago:

https://classicoldsmobile.com/forums...uscle-car.html

The best part is that a Pruis emits more greenhouse gasses, which is what made the hole in the ozone layer in the first place, than a Hummer H1 getting about 6 MPG (probably my lead fuel running Delta as well)

The funny part is that even with that fact proven, Pruis owners think they are saving the world when in fact they aren't, and everybody that doesn't follow in their footsteps is a monster and wants to kill Mother Earth.

A few weeks ago I, a Pruis pulled up next to me and if looks could kill, I think I would have been more like 12 feet under. So I did what anybody in my place would do. I floored it when the light turned green and smoked the tire (one legger) as much as a 307 Olds could. Wasn't much, but it was the right thing to do. Yes he was on the right side (or maybe the wrong side) of the car

The wife (now ex) and I did take extra steps to help the enviroment, because of that car. We would recycle old batteries which was not offered in our township. Pack the newspapers extra tight in a brown paper bag (here we call them "Acme Bags") to use less bags. Took our extra plastic bags that we wouldn't use for the dog **** to the supermarket and put in the recycleing bin for them. I've even taken old battery operated tools to the store to recycle. Not many, but we did it. Like Ken said, there's got to be a balance.

auto_editor

Agree and genuflect when someone tells you fuel must be saved. Support wholly and without question the opinion that your "old" car is evil and must be destroyed. Help in any way you can to get everyone you see to buy a hybrid/electric/hydrogen/nuclear/whatever car.

Why?

Gas is $4 a gallon right now. It is that high because of demand. If everyone BUT you doesn't use it anymore, then not only will there be MORE of it for YOU, it'll be CHEAPER.

There's nothing like a $70 hit every time you fill-up to make kissing a little a$$ look BRILLIANT!

coppercutlass

@ redog read your thead i was lmfao brilliant response

Redog

I like that a lot

I got the "This is my Hybrid, It burns gas, oil and rubber" off a decal on the back window of a kick *** GNX at a car show, but I was thinking about this for my back window

"My Oldsmobile emits less greenhouse gas than your Pruis"

Redog

Thank you

And a question:

As much as I HATE the terms "Gold Rocket" "Blue Rocket" "Green Rocket" when it comes to refering to Olds motors, If I took a 1950's Olds 324 Green Rocket, with no emissions and requiring leaded gas, and put it in a Pruis, is it still green?

rocketraider

My usual response to such rudeness is to ask if we've been introduced, and then to tell the intruder that unless he is paying the license, tax, insurance and upkeep on my vehicle that what I drive is none of his business.

That also works when certain types try to challenge my SCV bumper stickers and license plates.

If, after a light warning rattle, they persist, then I am no longer polite and they damn well get what they had coming for trying to start something with someone who was minding his own business.

chrisneu68olds

If I still had my '71 (that had glass-packs) I would have revved it and said "...I'm sorry, what? I can't hear you."

Look my daily driver is a Honda Civic, and I get a consistent 32 MPG @75 MPH since my commute is ~75mi/day. It makes sense that I drive that car every day and I recycle what I can and try to keep the environment as nice as I can. But when I get my dream restore done, I intend to drive it as often as I like, damn what anyone else says.

I saw someone with a '71 Boss Mustang today at the pumps. My first thought was not, 'Ozone killer' I was thinking "killer ride."

junior supercar

I find it ironic that this pruis "owner" was at a gas station. I've never had that happen to me. Usually people ask me what year the car is or are you going to fix it up.

And you've driven it a few times lately as I've seen you driving north on Finley just past Butterfield a couple times, roughly at 4:15pm. I was in the white 70 F-85 heading south on Finley toward Butterfield.

coppercutlass

@ juniorsupercar i have been driving it alot lately. I have seen you as well i also have seen your car at the downers grove cruise nights before i love the post coupe i work right in downers grove

Aceshigh

I think I'd have handled that quite a bit more colorfully.
If some *** comes up to me and talks ....like a *** like that, I'd have called him a bitch and told him to beat it.

I pulled up next to a Prius in Chicago last summer and asked them how great of MPG they got.
They said like 40+ and I said I get like......11, and it's also a hybrid. Burns fuel and rubber.

What gas station was this at ??
You're right by me.

coppercutlass

the speedway in lombard on main street

Aceshigh

Ahh.....

Hey, just an FYI Downers Grove has a car show downtown district of Downers Grove tomorrow.
Going to check it out again. http://www.flickr.com/photos/mindtal...7606644936939/

They have a Bally O'Doyles there I grab some good brew while I check em out.

jag1886

Get a bumper sticker like mine and most of those types will stay away.

Lady72nRob71

I did the math once to determine if (IN THEORY) I sold all my cars to buy one of those crap pots to save gas. All of my cars get from 16-20 in the city. If the homo car gets 40 then it would take 15 years for it to pay for itself, providing there are NO breakdowns of the homo. Lithium batteries? They last about 7 years max.

Never would i get one of those. If your servo driver dies out of warranty, prepare to cough up a few thousand to fix it....

Old cars are so cheap and easy to work on - that is where they outlast the new ones.
I get more smiles per gallon than anyone in a homo-car.
I will keep my oldies, thank you...

Aceshigh

Absolutely easier to work on.
But more importantly, they are ALWAYS APPRECIATING in value.
This is my excuse I tell my wife when I just "invested" $6,000 more into my Pro-touring 1970 442 clone.

The Prius is only depreciating and will NEVER be a collector.
Not to mention the money he's saving NOW he's going to lose when that battery change has to happen.

That's where you can tell the queerbait that his Lithium piece of crap is
going to be worthless in 10 years while your classic is worth 2x what it is now.

I think Hybrids are a waste of money. Diesel options are far superior.
http://www.businessweek.com/magazine...9060491065.htm

Granted they use Imperial gallons which are bigger.

Lady72nRob71

My company (I included) develops IC's and circuitry that go into these homo cars and many other regular cars and I will tell you - I am shocked at the tiny, delicate and complex nature of this stuff.
Enough that I will not buy a new car, or other new expensive electronic item.
(Kinda like a fast food restaurant worker who will not eat fast food)...

A mechanical engine can last 100 years if cared for. Electronics will die from many reasons without notice. A 2x2mm 25 cent IC will mean spending $400 on a module that will need special programming by the dealer. These ICs cannot be easily replaced without special equipment and they may need programming, too.
A mechanical problem can be easily traced and troubleshooting. Electronics, NOT! Add software and firmware and you have a whole host of problems waiting to happen. Oh - toyo has already let their's out of the bag with the secret tin whiskers in the gas pedal sensor problem...

Fakser

Hey I lived in Glendale Heights in the 90's thats the suburbs of Chicago. If i'm gonna buy a 50k car it's not gonna be a prius. I could build me a couple nice Rockets for that, hell I could even rat em out with some moped motors and cut the floors out so I can get unlimited Foot miles per gallon. I'll just install a kickin stereo that plays mp4 with a gnarly cam lope recording. I might even make the interior out of hemp and paint it tye dye then all the granolas will love me! FREE Love!!

Redog

Buy a diesal, buy an old heating oil tank, get it filled up with home heating oil, run your diesal on that.

Home heating oil and diesal are the same thing, one is red, one is green (I think the home heating oil is red, and taxed a lot less, thus cheaper

It's dyed to see if the truckers are using it instead of regular diesal at those weigh stations you see on the state line