Gave a Person a Ride!!!

[chicagoslick]

Went out to lunch today and decided to drive. My fellow worker could not say enough good things about the car. He loved everything about the car. Especially loved the color, features, manual transmission, and stereo. He was surprised it was a Fiesta. He thought that the Fiesta was a low budget, no frills car.

Anyway, that got me thinking. How many people on here have a similar experience?

 

[Truth in Ruin]

My uncle in law picked my car up from an oil change (I was busy that day), and drove it to his house. He had no idea what a FiST was, and didn't know they existed. He was blown away by it; wouldn't stop talking about it.

 

[robbie_d]

My step dad is a die hard muscle car mechanic. He grew up working on those big bests. He doesn't even really like Ford, let alone a 1.6 turbo economy box.

Well, he test drove it after I had it for about six months. Keep in mind that by now my wife also drives a FiST. He understood why. The ride along was fun, I drive 99% of the time. He did floor it and got up to back road speed.. Since he is used to going mostly straight, he didn't really push it turning. I mean he thought he was tearing it up.. but nope. I had to show him that part.

After the drive he walk a few circles around the car and said it looked great (black w/ black wheels and red calipers). Next time I come out during shop hours about 7 muscle car guys open the hood and doors. I don't know exactly what he said to them, but to get muscle car dudes to drool over a FiST was a sight to see.

 

[chicagoslick]

My step dad is a die hard muscle car mechanic. He grew up working on those big bests. He doesn't even really like Ford, let alone a 1.6 turbo economy box.

Well, he test drove it after I had it for about six months. Keep in mind that by now my wife also drives a FiST. He understood why. The ride along was fun, I drive 99% of the time. He did floor it and got up to back road speed.. Since he is used to going mostly straight, he didn't really push it turning. I mean he thought he was tearing it up.. but nope. I had to show him that part.

After the drive he walk a few circles around the car and said it looked great (black w/ black wheels and red calipers). Next time I come out during shop hours about 7 muscle car guys open the hood and doors. I don't know exactly what he said to them, but to get muscle car dudes to drool over a FiST was a sight to see.

Awesome to hear...

 

[arlisscm]

Back in June I took my FiST to a small local car show (ended up having maybe 30 cars). The only other car there less than 30 years old was a 14-15 Challenger, so essentially it was all muscle cars and then my roller skate plopped in the middle. As expected, most of the other people didn't really get the idea behind my being there with a hatchback, however a family friend who has been a car guy for longer than i have been alive was excited that i brought it out. He actually said that he keeps trying to explain to the older crowd that cars like ours have a place at shows for car enthusiasts and that if we continue to get snubbed then the younger generations will stop showing up and attendance at events like this are going to drop. Now, i understand that this is somewhat generalizing age demographics, and as we are all aware FiST owners vary greatly in age. But i dont feel that it is unfair to say that at a show like this most of the older crowd was probably thinking "explitive, explitive, 4 cylinder, explitive, size of a shoe, explitive" or something along those lines. haha. After the show was over i asked if he wanted to go for a little spin in my car, and he was very excited to accept. (i should point out as a side note, the man who i am speaking of actually won best in show with his cutlass at the show, and also at another show the week before, not important, just a fun fact) So i made my way out to a back road with a long straightaway, got everything up to temp on the way, and told him "I'll just do a little 2-3 pull" i asked if he was ready, he nodded and i put it to the floor at about 3.5k in 2nd. Next thing i know, his hands are on the dash and he is repeatedly yelling "holy s***, holy s***!", this went on until i lifted at the top of 3rd. When we got back to where the show was he immediately went up to his wife and said "you have to go for a ride in that thing, it is insane". I had told him about what had been done to the car, but i dont think that prepared him for the ride i took him on. haha. Needless to say it feels pretty good when you can scare a muscle car guy with your little 1.6L turbo hatchback. So far everyone that i have taken for a ride looks at my car completely differently afterwards, maybe thats the key to swaying skeptics.

TLDR: Went to a car show, old(er) guys didnt get it(my FiST), took family friend for a ride (muscle car guy), almost made him soil my passenger seat.

 

[Waterfan]

I can;t remember where I stole this, but anyone who gives it a moment of thought ought to realize Hot Hatchback's are the modern day Muscle Cars, only better...

60-70's Muscle Car formula:
1. Take a cheap mass market sedan and put a powerful engine in it (possibly with LSD).
(There were no choices for more power other than more displacement)
2. Slightly upgrade suspension, brakes
3. Special wheels/tires, colors and/or interiors

Hot Hatchback formula (starting 1981 with VW GTI? and perfected in the FiST?)
1. Same as above minus potential LSD, now with more turbo (stock has similar low end punch as small V8 )
2. FiST handles and brakes much better than base Fiesta. And base Fiesta handles better than any classic muscle car
3. Same as above

<FLAME ON>

 

[chicagoslick]

I think the biggest thing I took from all of it, was the amazement that a car could be fun again. We have made so many cars so numb with no feeling or emotion that it can be hard to be a car enthusiast at time.