And so the hood closed

[Mike S]

  Today I attended a car show here on Long Island to see the 50th Mustang anniversary show and browse the swap meet. There were Mustangs in their own part of the grounds and surrounding was a mixture of all other car brands.
  I had seen a small grouping of first gen Camaros so I strolled over and while looking over the cars I held small conversations with each owner. Sure, some had SS emblems that were questionable if it was a real SS, and there was a 69 that had Z28 markings and upon closer examination of the tag, draped with an unusual amount of thick black paint, I did make out an X11. I'm not a Z28 fan but I'm sure X11 is not a Z28 or an SS396. I had seen some discrepancies on the cars except one SS350 that looked authentic enough from the trim tag and other body parts. I'm certainly not playing the Camaro sentinel so I wasn't going to take picture of tags and stampings even if it was a public event out of respect of privacy. Of particular though was one owner who had seen me walking around and talking with the other Camaro owners. I had spotted his car and was making my way towards his eventually. When I started to approach his car he closed the hood and walked away. It was a ’69 Z28 with 302 on the hood.  My wife asked what I had said to him because she said he looked annoyed and I told her not one word.  I then realized it must have been the CRG shirt I was wearing and perhaps he knows of this group. Sure makes my wonder!

  It will be interesting what others experience when wearing their CRG shirts this year, the year when CRG moves from life on the web to live people walking around.

Mike

[lakeholme]

Nothing but positive comments and/or questions.
It also helped me pick Rick out of the crowd in Charlotte.

Let's face it, not everyone is open to conversation about their car at a car show.  Some register for a show just to get a good parking space.

[dannystarr]

Well all I can say is, it's his loss!! He is probably pissed because someone gave him the proper info in the past, OR on his present car now and he didn't like the outcome. I would have liked to have gotten the license number of that car just to have it. Then if I ever see it I can check it out and wonder what it was for fun.... Danny

[ggtsvnv]

I was at a show early this spring and was talking to a guy with a 68 wearing ss 350 emblems. As we talked he casualy asked where i had learned so much about camaros? I had said nothing bad about his car and in fact most of our conversation had just been about camaros ib general. I told him that i have owned a number of camaros but had learned a lot on crg. He replied "oh those guys! I went to that sight once and wont go back. They are too uppity  and snooty." I just thought he must not like the truth and left it at that. We did continue to talk and had a good time but it did seem a little odd to me as everyone always seems so nice here.

[jims69]

Everyone here is nice.   That has been my experience and I read postings on this site daily and always look forward to it.
Talking about Camaro's (or anything else) is always learning experience.  No one knows everything; but as a community of owners; the novices
learn from the more experienced. There is always something new to learn.   
I'm old enough to remember when learning  meant a purchase of books; or a trip to the library and  research.  It is such a gift
to have the internet and be able to talk with others and share knowledge, photo's and experiences instantly. 

Jim

[68Zproject]

You don't know how much the people on CRG know until you've been on here a while.  If you come on here with long-term incorrect beliefs about something and you're "corrected" by someone, it's easy to just say "They don't know what they're talking about".  It's not a big deal, but I always get asked if my 68 has the correct "DZ 302" engine in it.  I usually don't correct them because I thought some things that were wrong too after reading various Camaro sources.  You either have to be very trusting of the people on here at first, or you need to spend a lot of time getting the big picture of knowledge available here.

[VINCE Z28]

"He who knows naught, knows not that he knows naught" Which means, he who thirsts for knowage and has an open mind will reap the rewards of this bounty of Camaro enlightenment. I like to think, closed hoods doesn't mean closed minds....

[Mike S]

 My feeling is the guy who closed his hood and walked away may have felt threatened especially if he was aware of CRG. Likely a bogus Z-28, IMHO.
Let's face it, most CRQ members are a step above in correct and/or detailed knowledge, IMO, about Camaros.
So many times I comment on peoples restored cars after they ask me what do I think, and I suggest, as an example, that for the level of work they did that they use the correct period correct bolt head markings and finishes instead of the shiny zinc plated ones from a hardware store.
You would be surprised how many don't think to that level of details. To us it is second nature, but now start to talk to those who don't get into the detail level we do here at CRG and you quickly will realize how much in depth you do know about Camaros.

Mike