Can I sit in your car?

[1crosscut]

Realizing that I do not have a pristine vehicle that you can only touch if your "naked" as I see some signs on cars at shows I enjoy letting people sit in my truck. Matter of fact on the information sheet I have on my window at shows states that it is okay to touch... just be gentle.
If I see people, especially youngsters that are showing more than a passing interest in it I will most always extend the offer to sit inside if they want to do so. Sometimes there gets to be quite a few people in the que to get in. People really enjoy getting their picture taken behind the wheel.
Pretty sure that doing this has helped spark an interest in a few of the kids so that they may some day pick up the hobby.
Do you let others sit in your rig?

[1930artdeco]

Just ask away and you can.

Mike

[mass A man]

Yes, I do, but a word of warning... the "longer leg" kids CAN reach the starter button & if your car does not have a complete kill switch in the "off" position, the car WILL move if it is left in gear. Make sure your emergency brake is GOOD and TIGHT.

[mccsix]

Asking or assuming are the keys to owner intervention.
At a recent car show(unbeknownst to me) a girl climbed into the truck's drivers seat at her BFs direction, he was at the ps door when I spotted him opening the door. Went up to him and asked what he was doing, he replied sitting in the car with his gf, that's when I noticed she was already in the car fiddling with the the column levers (at the time I had a light short so she blew the fuse). Told them both to get out/away from the truck. At that point she started screaming that she didn't know how to open the door! I suggested that maybe the cops could show her when they responded to my call...that really rattled her. No apologies no remorse, they were dismayed that they weren't allowed to get in the truck "because after all, isn't that what it was there for"........@#?!!!...college kids no less.
An hour later I catch a middle aged guy removing my copper plug wire to show a friend how quaint the old Fords were...snatched out of his hand and told to get the hell away from my truck before I rearranged his nose!
Love car shows!

[PC/SR]

Sitting in a diner once with a pal, my back to the window. Pal says Hey, and points. Turn around and some woman is putting her kid in the car to take a pic.

[Dusty]

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No, because at a show this will simply open a can of worms that you will never get closed. Its like splitting the atom once it starts it goes on forever and just gets bigger. As stated in a previous post people take way to many liberties at show as it is, I can't believe what I have seen at shows, it is unreal what people think they can do.

dusty

[Onlybackroads]

Yes you can sit in my car, especially if you give me $10 for a ride across town! Is that how taxi service started?

[700rpm]

If little kids ask, I always tell them they must have their parent's permission, and the parent has to be with them. If adults ask, it depends on the person. I get a lot of requests for pictures. I always say yes. After they take the photo, then I tell them I normally charge $xxx.oo, but I'll give them a special price. Always gets a smile, and after all, isn't that one reason we drive these cars, to make people smile?

[Jon]

A couple years a go we were at a restaurant and a family with 4 kids was leaving the same time we did. As we got near the car the kids got all excited and I told them they could get in and honk the horn. Each of them was carrying a nice big melting ice cream cone. The smiles on their faces was worth it all. That's why I bought the car!

[captndan]

Originally Posted by Jon

A couple years a go we were at a restaurant and a family with 4 kids was leaving the same time we did. As we got near the car the kids got all excited and I told them they could get in and honk the horn. Each of them was carrying a nice big melting ice cream cone. The smiles on their faces was worth it all. That's why I bought the car!

Cars especially mine and ice cream cones don't mix. Wash um dry um then ask me.

[Kevin in NJ]

I think people forget, these cars were designed to be used and can handle people sitting in them.

It is important to expose people to these cars and let them know they are not some fragile museum piece. There may come a day when the legislature may decide that the cars should not be allowed to be driven on the road. After many years of being told the cars are these fragile things that only go 45 MPH everyone will only believe this. What the car is will be left behind for what the people think the car is. Too many see the A as something like the T. Not to bash the T, but they are totally different cars. The A still looks like the T and everyone thinks it is just some old slow toy that is quite to see at a car show and needs to be loaded into a trailer.

By owning an antique car we are each historians and are responsible to present the real facts. To no know the facts may come to bite you in the future.

Now for some stories....

Once at a car show with the 39 Ford I was over talking to the local guy with a Detroit Electric. I watched a guy open the driver door on my car. It was across a wider street in Ocean City, NJ. I do not mind people opening the door- a bit disrespectful, but nothing to be upset about. Then the guy leans into the car goes across and obviously is doing something in the glove box!!! So I go confront the guy. His answer, it is a car show and he can look at anything he wants!
So while the Detroit owner and I were discussing the arrogance of the guy, a young kid with a slice of pizza jumps on his cars fender. Yes, on the painted area just ahead of the running board!! So we go over and tell the kid to get off, with his parents standing just behind the car. We turn our backs and the kid jumps on again!!

After that I bought a glove box lock for my 65 Mustang Conv as I never go anywhere in that car with the top up. Well unless it is raining hard then I put the top up.

[Ray64]

Yes but I tell them to leave the sandwiches and drinks on the outside.

[mshmodela]

Gee, thanks need get that Battery disconnect switch in soon...

[Skeezixx]

I don't have any horror stories. In my experience, it's always polite people asking me if they may take a picture. I usually reply, "That's fine with me but how about this..Why don't you let me take the picture with you behind the wheel?"

[Mike V. Florida]

Originally Posted by Skeezixx

I don't have any horror stories. In my experience, it's always polite people asking me if they may take a picture. I usually reply, "That's fine with me but how about this..Why don't you let me take the picture with you behind the wheel?"

I have a "Please do not touch" sign where I have crossed out the word "not" and wrote in "ask to", so now I have a "Please do ask to touch" sign. I have a toy Tommy Gun and a Fedora and a straw hat as props for picture tasking.

[eagle]

There are jerks everywhere, including car owners. If someone is interested in my car I enjoy it. If they want a ride, or to sit in it, thats fine with me. I've even let some people drive as long as I'm in the passenger seat. I would love a trailer queen, and it would stop being a trailer queen the second it was unloaded in my driveway. It would at that point become a really nice driver that anyone could come over and admire/touch/sit in/ and yes maybe drive! I hate control freaks and I refuse to be one. Now don't get me wrong, your car is your car, but...My car is MY car and I will allow others to admire it all they want. The model A is very tough AND repairable.

[Mike V. Florida]

Originally Posted by eagle

There are jerks everywhere, including car owners. If someone is interested in my car I enjoy it. If they want a ride, or to sit in it, thats fine with me. I've even let some people drive as long as I'm in the passenger seat. I would love a trailer queen, and it would stop being a trailer queen the second it was unloaded in my driveway. It would at that point become a really nice driver that anyone could come over and admire/touch/sit in/ and yes maybe drive! I hate control freaks and I refuse to be one. Now don't get me wrong, your car is your car, but...My car is MY car and I will allow others to admire it all they want. The model A is very tough AND repairable.

I'm with you!!!

Originally Posted by Patrick L.

Most are just fine and respectful, but, I've had some stick their kids in and spill their soda or ice cream on the seats.
.

I have told parents that their kids could not enter my car with food, most have come back later.

[Napa Skip]

You may touch this car 2 - small.jpg

[Tom Wesenberg]

Originally Posted by 1930 coupe

I was at a car show and people keep opening my trunk, it was full of tools and spare parts so I locked it with the key. Some big no neck grabbed the handle and pulled it clear off of the car, broke the shaft off. He mumbled something and threw it down and walked away.

I wonder if a nice grease coating on the handle would have stopped that guy?

I made a walking beam steam engine with a polished flywheel. I had it running slowly on compressed air, but people kept touching the shiny flywheel, which would leave rusting fingerprints. I repolished the flywheel and gave it a good coating of oil. This stopped some people, but not all of them. Seems there is something about shiny that makes people want to touch it.

People can touch my 28 Phaeton all they want and sit in it or honk the horn, but hopefully they do it when I'm around. A couple times I had to turn the lights off after someone turned them on. I was in a Goodwill store once when an announcement came over the loud speaker that an antique car had it's lights on. Another time at the same store I came out after only being in the store for 4 minutes, and found someone had stolen all my magnetic dash plaques from the threashing shows.
Respect for other people's property isn't always alive and well.

[Tom from Drippin']

At every car show that I bring the '31 Deluxe Roadster, when I see parents with young kids looking at, and discussing the open rumble seat, I offer (to the parents, first) to help the kid into and out of the rumble seat for photos. I also tell 'em that "You now are probably the only kid in your school that has ever sat in a rumble seat." It brings smiles from the kid, his / her parents, all the other folks around, and especially me.