Am I crazy or are most people just stupid?

I live in the DC area. For the last week I have been driving my '71 cutlass convertible to work because my normal commuter car ('02 Jetta) decided that it was time for the timing belt to go and take the rest of the engine with it (don't you just love the engine design on all newer cars).

Being the DC area, I spend allot of time in stopped traffic. Several times someone next to me would comment on my Olds and ask questions about it (which I normally have no problem answering).

What's making me question my sanity is that, so far in the past 4 days I have been asked 9, COUNT 'EM...9 times if it was a '68 cutlass. Sorry, make that 8 times, one guy thought she was a '67. The 67 and 68 body styles look nothing like the 70-72's. Where do they come up with this? Are they just trying to sound like car guys and not realizing that they are just coming across as idiots?

Thanks for letting me rant and get this off of my chest.

 

Actually 66 67 look nothing like 68-72. 68 and 71 are not that different to somebody that is not familiar with Olds. Considering that most people are not familiar I don't find it weird.
People have tried guessing the year of my car so many times that I changed the license plate to reflect the year of the car.

 

I don't believe these folks intended to irritate you, the bottom line is they liked the car......9 times in fact! You don't have to be an expert on these cars to appreciate them. I would suggest to enjoy the appreciation for what it's worth.

 

i wouldnt sweat it... they dont know olds but they are interested enough to say something nice about your car and throw in a year they think it could be....people say the darndest things in traffic jams

 

Thanks guys. I actually do appreciate the comments (as I'm sure that you all appreciate the ones that you get). Sometimes it just gets irritating correcting the same wrong comment.

By the way, I already thought of a license plate that said "71 OLDS", but that was taken. I'm currently waiting to find out if one of my 2 other choices will be approved by the state. They are "3M-TAE" (read it backwards like someone looking in their rear view mirror), and "MDLFCRS". Both fit me I think.

 

People are always trying to figure out what my car is. It has no side emblems, you can tell the ones with no clue as they always circle around to the back.

 

Even this often fails to work. I have YOM plates with a 72 in the corner. People have looked at the back of the car and still asked if it was a 70 or 73 or 68 or 71 or......

As mentioned do not let it annoy you. They like the car, just do not know the year. Many have even forgot what an Olds is, let alone looks like.
Be careful using the nice car in DD duty!

 

Correct them with a smile. Then tell them where they can see whichever cars they thought you had at a local cruise in or show. Who knows, you might inspire someone else to take up the car hobby.


Roger.

 

are these people older or young old people remember them young people never even heard of them

 

Would you rather they said "Nice Chevelle!" ?? since that's what the vast majority of us get...

I always get "nice Riviera!" on the Toronado, "nice Cadillac!" on the Ninety Eight and "nice Impala!" on the Starfires.

 

'Nuff said.

- Eric

 

true...how true

 

"Heh, nice Chevelle!"

 

Hey, I had one EXACTLY like it years ago, except it was green...and had 4 doors...and was a station wagon...and was a Ford...and on and on

 

You are expecting way too much from the general public. We all may live, eat, and breathe Oldsmobiles every day, but the general public doesn't. The fact that they recognize it as an Oldsmobile at all should be taken as a major plus and leave it at that.

Heck, even I sometimes cannot tell at a glance from a distance if a Cutlass is a '69 or a '71. I don't own one, and, to me, they all look the same!

I can tell the '68 because it has the turn signal light between the headlights where the later ones do not.

 

i cant believe your complaining..they knew it was a cutlass..you should be honored

last i checked oldsmobile was a dead car company..so, its so iconic it still get recognized

 

+1. More times than not, people think I'm driving a Chevelle or a GTO. I've lost count of the number of times I've corrected CO-WORKERs, people who KNOW me, and have talked to me about my car (yes I've got pictures posted on my office wall), and yet they seem to forget that OLDSMOBILEs existed, ever. At least people are confusing my car w/ another GM A-body, and NOT a Camaro or, egads, a Ford!

 

I always consider a year guess an intro to a conversation about cars, the closer they get to the actual year is how I determine how deep we will get .Many ask what make it is then the year...Shallow conversion...Tedd

 

So why haven't you registered for our All-GM show in Rockville on Aug 9?

As for people in the DC area being stupid, that's a given.

 

lol..........come on buddy!.........besides yourself you are probably one of a handful who live in DC and actually have any brains!..............DC is whats wrong with our country!.........common sense and a feeling of pride for our history let alone an appreciation of our country's past is definitely not prevalent in DC....the big cities are full of idiots!.......I know, i've lived in the sticks and in the concrete jungle.....lol.....oops I think I broke the cardinal rule!....lol....ps...sweet ride

 

Last week when I parked by the local movie theater 3 teenage kids aproched me, 2 boys and a girl. The girl asks me what year is my car, I tell her it is a 1967 Cutlass they all say nice whip and start to walk away and I hear one of the boys say I told you it wasn't a 1990

 

I will be out of town that weekend. The wife is dragging me along to visit one of her friends and their family. At least I'll be driving my Olds there and back, so the weekend wont be a total loss.

 

think of it as an opportunity to educate and interest folks.

 

I've gotten '69 and '68 a few times...but never '73, thank God. The most common incorrect guess is '71, which totally makes sense because they look so alike. But the WORST I get is "is that a Charger?'...simply because it's freaking orange. Check out what the newspaper said about me a few weeks ago.
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DC.......don't y'all have a baseball team? Anyway, diognostically speaking, we would need more information if you seriously want us to tell you if you're crazy. As far as the "guess the year, make, model game", I've learned to enjoy it for what it is. They'll go, hey is that a 70 Chevy 442? I'll be like, naw bro, it's a convertable. They'll nod and say, so it's not a 70? Nope, the top goes up and down on it, watch. After a couple of minutes I got a carnie thing going with half a dozen people standing there watching to top go up and down, playing the guessing game.

 

What makes that even worse is that you're clearly wearing an Oldsmobile T-shirt!

Maybe you should write 'Oldsmobile' on the windshield in large white marker pen

 

The wheels threw them off

 

Well, you do have '71 Supreme grilles in it.