Just got my 84Z painted black and she is hot. Only problem is I wont let anyone touch it. I even rearranged the garage to keep my kids from needing to go near it to get to their toys! I would love to hear some stories on how you balance the love for the car and real life.

"Anal" is in direct proportion to how much you spent or how much work you have into it.

Someone will cause that first chip or ding though. Just a matter of time.

I learned how to paint from an old timer who has a superstition about putting the first scratch in the paint yourself.

DISCLAIMER: Long old man story ahead.

He used to be into 2nd gen Camaros, NEVER FIREBIRDS (I don't know why, but he doesn't like the 'birds and makes a point to tell you), and he had a 77 that he had to paint 3 times in one summer cause first someone keyed it, then he got sideswiped while it was parked roadside, then he a deer.

After the body got patched up and repainted he was backing the car out of his garage but he forgot he left metal crate underneath it and it left a big long nasty scratch in the fresh paint on the lower rocker panel. He said it wasn't visible unless you laid down and looked, but he drove the car another 3 summers without a single scratch or dent before selling it.

He is into 73-87 trucks now and after we paint em before we put the bed on he takes that same crate and puts a big scratch in the top layer of the paint on the back side of the cab. He drives one and a few members of his family drive the trucks he rebuilds and with the exception of 1 of them, they all look better than the day the rolled off the factory floor.

We are painting my 91 this summer and I think I am going to succumb to his superstition and put a scratch on my rocker underneath the GFX for good luck.

Hows this for anal? I got my mint black 88 L98 GTA a week before I got my license. I have have had it for a year now, and still take the bus to High School. I always get pissed off and yell when people slam the doors (Why does EVERYONE have to slam the damn door?) I always yell when after people get out, and there are hand prints all over my anally kept black paint. I always yell when I go over too big of a bump in the road. I never let anyone else drive it no matter how much they beg me. I always have to have my parking spot at work that I picked out for the cars safety, and I still always check on it multiple times during the course of my shift. I keep the car safe in the garage so much, that only my close friends even know I have it. Oh yeah, I took a girl to the movies the other day in a beater 93 cadillac deville instead of my GTA. I just love that feeling I get after I wash it. I cant help myself but to stare at it, wondering how someone my age could get their hands on such an awesome machine. I often find myself just daydreaming about the car in school. When I do drive it, its like all my troubles just go away. I wouldn't trade this car for the world.

I recently had my car repainted. It's black, has a couple of flaws, but looks pretty good. I keep it parked in a storage unit($$$) because when it's in my cluttered garage, the scratch demons visit.

Bill

Anal...what anal..Something else exist other than my cars, I must of missed something, lol

I pay my parents $100 a month for a garage space
I don't drive it in the rain, or if it looks like rain.
I park in the farthest spot from whatever store I'm going to, even if there's a few cars...

When you put time and money into something that can be easily wrecked by someone else, you take extra time to make sure no one has a chance to get near it...

It's a car. Insure it to death and drive the snot out of it .

And as I say that I cringe at the thought of a scratch on my new G8 GT or the newly-painted '88 Notchback.

Just a note for those of you who use the "back of the empty parking lot" method to save your cars from door dings:

I used to work at a store with a huge parking lot and I'd see people do that with extremely nice cars. Once I was working the register and saw a guy with a brand new Corvette park far away and walk the distance to our door. No sooner did he breach the front door than a runaway shopping cart slammed into his drivers door at full speed leaving one heck of a dent.

Whenever I'm worried about my car, I track down the nicest car in the lot and park next to it. If he's worried about door dings, I don't have to

My dad used that theory until someone dinged his 87 Monte Carlo.

Now he just parks sideways. :]

Put it this way. I dont drive at night (except for taking pics, then i drive like 10 mph), in the rain, when it's overly cloudy, never to work, never to the grocery store yada yada. It only gets driven when there's a 10% or less chance of rain.

Fingerprints, thats why god created quick detailer!

Scratches, i vowed to myself that whoever puts the first scratch in it will pay the deductible to have that panel repainted.

Dents, same as above.

parking, never go to the store, prevents all problems. When you park at like a park i always have it within a 100 feet of me lol

Oh and the person that said it depends on how much $$$ you have into it, i've got 10K+into it already

I got my black Formula new and have been pretty psycho about it. It's always been in a garage and I have always watched the weather channel before taking it out- it has been in rain twice (only because the weather channel was wrong! ) And as soon as I got it home I washed and waxed it in the garage. I don't even go out soon after it rains because of puddles. Have you ever had people say "Oh, but the rain will wash it, won't it?" They have no clue.

I have gone and gotten lost trying to avoid streets that were wet from fire hydrants and I drive around sprinkler sprays and puddles.

Back when I first got it, I bought a $300 volare to drive around and park all day when I went to work because it was not a great area. Hey an alarm was 300-400 bucks.. but if my car is safe at home I don't have to worry about it. I drove a pea green Volare in public to spare my car.. that's love haha

I have never gotten a greasy hand print on it so I don't know why other people do, or have such greasy hands.. close it with your sleeve or window or 1 finger on the door handle. It drives me nuts to check my car and find finger prints next to the window, under the window, all around the handle, on the roof.. WTF! It's like they stick their hand in Vaseline before they grope all over that side of the car.

I used to always go to full service stations as a teenager (my mother for some reason told me never to use self service ) and the attendants were always careful, either because they liked the car or because I was watching in the side view mirror with this crazed look... until one time some guy dribbled gas all down the side. It was really hot out and it seemed to bake right through my 50 coats of wax. I had to do emergency surgery right then with water, spit and wax and finally got it out and perfect again. That was the last time I went to a full service station ever, in any car.

I've stopped friends as they approached my car with a slobbering Whopper sandwich or meatball sub or some other messy thing.. eat it on the curb and wash afterwards with these hand wipes! LOL

Once a guy farted (not an accident, more like "wait, wait.. check it out.." *rrrrrrrrippp* "Haha!") in my car and I made him get out on the side of the road and came and picked him up in my other car. Not really a paint story, but... Farts in my poor baby's cloth seats

yay i guess im not the only crazy person in the world well i dont take it quite has far as some of u but thats only cause my car dosnt have perfect paint plus its my only car so i do drive it in the rain which turn out to be a big mistake one time but when it comes to parking lots i always circal looking for the best place i try to stay away from the back cause people were i live tend to want to speed acroos the parking spots like crazy and im just sacared someones gona hit it a lot worse than a door ding so i normaly always park in the spaces where only one car can park next to me and hope that cuting the odds in half will spare my car. but i hate finger prints every one leaves them all over my car it really shows me how meany people touch my car cause i can park it after just washing it and go in the store for 20-30 min come out and ill have finger prints on my hood,fenders,roof and everywhere else it really disgusts me to come out and see that someone was groping my car. and another thing about parking lots i tend to drive people to the store and places alot and it scares me so much what gose on in parking lots when ur in the store iv been parked and siting and iv seen so meany people run into the handycap sign polls (and hard to)iv seen people parked in front of me put there car in drive instead of revers and barley catch there mistake in time and i get out and bitch them out every time.one time this girl opened the door on her bmw so hard that it hit my door and bent the edge of her door abit i got right out yelled untill i couldnt yell anymore luckily those moldings on the side of my door save me from damge but i was so pissed

Im not too picky yet, as all my work is in the engine. I am kinda a nazi about my black leather 4th gen seats... and no eating in my car. I know for a fact once I get her repainted, that I will alot more of a grouch.

I used to park in the back of a parking lot and everytime, some POS would park next to me... A different car each times. Its like WTF!

It might also be the fact that my car has been vandalized two times...
First time, bat to the hood, windshield, and side window.
Second time, cinder block to the hood and the windshield.

They always have to hit my Formula hood and eff it up. It really pisses me off. I haven't been able to find a good condition one locally yet either.

"Once a guy farted (intentionally, then laughed) in my car and I made him get out on the side of the road and came and picked him up in my other car. Not really a paint story, but... Farts in my poor baby's cloth seats "

PINK CLOWN ... you got to relax a little. Who doesn't like a good fart joke? I mean your screen name is pink clown.... Best thing to do is fire back at them and keep the windows rolled up.

I think we have some people on here that need a little proffesional help.
although I am currently building a barricade in my garage to keep my family from scratching and pawing my freshley painted car.

I'll have to admit I was probably one of those people, lol. When I had my old beater truck, and I'd see people parked alone in the back of lots, I'd park right next to them just to freak them out. Wish I woulda seen the look on someone's face when they saw the old, rusty, red truck parked next to their shiny new sports car.

great to see i am not alone. Glad I started the thread.

Makes it tough when you have 3 little boys all under 8 who think daddys car is "cool" and wanns get close to it!

This is crazy! I thought i was the only lunatic when it comes to my IROC!

Well I am very careful when it comes to EVERYTHING about the car.. To start off, I keep it parked in parent's driveway (garage is too small and full of stuff) but I keep a soft cover on it EVERYTIME IT's PARKED, and then a hard rain proof cover on top of that which completely covers it that it goes on the ground and I have 8 bricks strategically placed around it to hold the cover down from the wind, etc... WHen I take it out I carefully back out o the driveway so it doesn't scratch ground fx and I never touch the paint to not make a mark or scratch, and if i do, i make sure to take my sleeve or kleenex and swipe.

I NEVER drive in rain. EVER. I take it out only when there's less than 30% chance of rain.. and if it looks like it's gonna rain i will drive home from work and put on the covers and take my other car BACK to work during lunch break lol..

When I work on the car it takes me longer to set up cloths and newspapers on the interior than actually replacing the part! (so things don't get greasy on the inside.. beige interior.. dirts fast)

I have a special set of shoes on the interior when I go to the garage so that when I get in the car i put on the clean pair of shoes and put the greasy shoes in the bag.

I also hate it when people:
-drive SO close to my car just to pass me to get one car ahead at a stop light... i wanna get out and just take a baseball bat to their car to show them..
-park their cars close to me so that i have to crawl in the passenger door to get in the driver's seat
-people SLAM my doors that I just rebuilt (thank god for the soft weatherstripping!)
-when people put their feet up on my dash (like wtf??)
-when people can't open the doors so they pull SOOOOOOO hard on the inside handle it almost breaks until they realize they are pulling then handle towards the inside of the car and the doors swing open towards the outside.. (DUMBASSES!!)
-when people swing the door open without even looking and it slams onto a sidewalk and scratches the bottom corner of the door... (especially when it's the same person the 2nd time)

So yea.. This car is a dream come true and and amazing machine but when it comes to other people I would much rather drive it along... I think I should just remove all seats but the driver's seat!

later..
-marc

im pretty crazy about my cars too.
Heres a heads up from a guy who used to hang out with dirtbags:
Do NOT take 2 spots in a parking lot or otherwise obviously place your in a "priveleged" position. do not snake a parking spot from someone. You will get keyed badly!!!

I agree parking in the back by yourself is just asking for the wind to catch a cart or a parent teaching their kid how to park to come find you.

I also agree that taking up multiple spots or anything like that is just asking some d bag to find your car.

If you are like me and you love your car and you fear what my dad calls the "door ding gnomes" then don't take your car out for errands, take it out to drive it and then take it home.

Since i restored my car its gotten so bad i dont even wanna drive it.. besides the usual no rain and such.. i wont bring it down to english town anymore.. i love the shoe idea though

ive found that girls dont appreciate these cars.. the find it imbarrasing if anything.. they think because there 20+ years old there tacky.. its def mainly a mans thing... but whatever i just look at it as no added dirt on the passanger floor

Dude I'm the same way..

My family thinks i need to stop worrying bout my car all the time.. Even tho its "just" a V6, I love that car more than anything. I won't even let my best friend drive it on his drive way

No way man, My lady loves my car.


Seeing as our first time was in the back seat...

Bicycles and newly painted cars DO NOT MATCH but seemed to find me TWICE! In my own garage! Yes if you want to enjoy it--drive it. Piss ya off WHEN it happens but chances are, it will. It's yours to take care of so prolong the life of that paint job ---NO BIKES IN THE GARAGE!!

lol well i am the one that painted my car so i know the price of me repainting it again will not cost as much but it still irritates me badly when somebody scratches it at all. i just found out my little sister was throwing rocks and ended up hitting my hood. im also anal about opening the doors by a curb and scratching the door have had that happen once so far. and last i hate it when people slam the doors!!!!

anyways i love my car and dont want it gettin hurt.

This girl not only appreciates her car, but she's obssessed with it, lol. Tacky? NOT! My Cam is bada**!

I had someone getting in the passenger seat last week and made him stop so I could put a towel on the floor mat. (He had walked through some water from the hose I had just used in cleaning my engine.) He was like, wtf, that's what floor mats are for. I said, no the floor mats are to protect the carpet. The towel is to protect the floor mat.

And the only people who don't slam my doors are my guy friends with third gens. I even stopped having a friend ride with me last year because she ALWAYS slammed the door, no matter how many times I told her not to. ARGH!

I work hard to keep my ride nice, and think people just have no respect for other people's property anymore. Then again, maybe they never did.

How did you manage that?

...

You don't have to answer that.

Im Guessing split folding rear seats

i hear that man... i bought the 150$ z28 custom mats black with white lettering and i already have a stain on the white in mine i cant use a floor mat over the floor mat cause it looks so stupid.. but i probably soley keep the detail and rag company in buisness i havent hit the car with soap and water since she came out of the garage in april

Ive dated alot of superficial girls worried about thier fashion shoes and hand bags so thats probably why.. by girl now is awesome,, she wants her own hunter green 97 camaro( but a v6) oh well

You have got to talk her out of that. Got to have a V8! And if/when the time comes for a new motor for Cam, I'm going with the big boy V8. LOL!

Although I respect most of you guys and your ways, I must say I could never be like that.
My motto is and always will be "DRIVE IT LIKE YOU STOLE IT"...
I put ALOT of work into my car, I work on her alot, both exterior: polishing, paint, wax, detail, and interior: engine mods, cabin mods. I think if I were super anal and kept my car always cooped up and hardly take it out, I would be doing a disservice to her.
I like to work hard on her and driver her and enjoy every minute as much as I can. I can understand not driving your hard-work car because your afraid of getting in an accident and such...but what if you hold off on your hard-work car, only drive it twice a year and it STILL gets in an accident one of those times? All that anal for nothing? Why not just have a trailer queen?

Again, I don't mean to judge anyone, I can understand your point of view, this is just my

thats ok cause i dont understand i either.. its just something i do and cant control. example= i was supposed to finish the putting back the center console i restored but i cant because its cloudy and i wont even back her out of the garage in cloudy weather.. who knows but its something i cant get past

Well, I thought I was bad. I have 6 cars in my driveway. 3 are my cars, wife has a car, daughter has one and her boyfriends car. No one is aloud to park next to my Formula. The car has e150's at the front and rear. My daughter parks towards the back on the side. I have pics of any dings and hell rises when I get a new one. I do park in BFE in parking lots or I find a new mustang. They want a ding as much as I do.

maybe were you live buddy...the girls around here Love my car..they always wanna drive it....and i love pullin in a parking lot or sumthin..the hotties are starin wen there boyfriend will be right there lol..then again i do have a Bright Red T Top 89 formula in mint shape with brand new black gta wheels

LOL, I've said that many times too. All of my vehicles have towels covering the carpet and mats at all times.

What makes me mad is when people have "restless legs" and the towel gets waded up. How hard is it for people to keep their feet still?

My car's paint is pretty rough... it's covered in swirls and scratches and everything else... so whatever.

The only things I really get anal about is when people lean on my car. People that have jeans, or pants with buttons and zippers and rivets and wallets and wallet chains etc... They LOVE to lean right on the car....

They quickly learn that's an easy way to see my bad side. And no sitting on the hood either.

The only thing that seems to surprise me is people always want to grab the dashpad getting in and out of the car or to lean over or wahtever they're doing. I've never once grabbed for the dash pad, but my passengers are like magnetically drawn to it, and the dashpad about the ONLY thing on my car that is actually mint, and the idea of my dashpad cracking all up because someone was grabbing on it really upsets me. And please, no slamming the door. Is that REALLY necessary? lol...

But it's just not in good enough shape to be afraid to drive it around... so I just enjoy it.

In response to all the passenger's in your cars: Since i bought my car in may '08 there have been 6 times that a passenger rode with me.

1. Dad on the way home from buying it.
2. Mom
3. Uncle to see what it could do the day after i bought it lol.
4. Sister
5. Prom date (well she rode in it a couple times)
6. Camera, it's with me when im in the car at all times lol

And since i put brand new carpet in:
NOT A SINGLE PERSON! Not that i wouldn't mind, but there's been no reason for me to have a passenger.

SIDE NOTE: How do you guys like Mequiars Quik Detailer Spray? I've used it to get the bugs off the front and it works great. I'll have to get the ultimate detailer spray and see how much better that is.

Big fat amen to that! I take excellent care of Cam, but she's a daily driver, too, and I LOVE taking her places. She loves to go, too.

A friend and I were talking the other day about whether our cars might know how much we love them, lol. I told him, after all of these years of me and Cam being together, she has to know, with all of the care and attention I have lavished on her, that I love her dearly. No disservice being done to her at all.

My car is no trailer queen but I do love her like a member of the family. I do drive her often and have multiple passengers but when I take her to a parking lot, I don't really like walking far so I find two spots next to each other and double park. i'm protective with all my cars but people know me around here and don't touch my toys

ITS JUST A CAR!!! lol. I have repainted most of my car myself. And Id have to say I can be ANAL on something and keep at it tell I get it PERFECT. Like I repainted my rear quarter panel 3 times cause it didn't look "right" but if I get a scratch, I really don't car all that much, i just say o well, I guess I willl have to repaint that. I drive my car in the rain (although it does bother me a little) I drive it when its cloudy, overcast ETC cause it doesn't really matter. But I would NEVER drive it in the snow. Just because if I did, I wouldn't have a car, it would be a pile of rust. But when I paint my 84z and re due all that, I might get kinda weird, BUT ILL TRY NOT TO!!

Also I do LOVE my car, But I don't feel the need to be to anal, cause my paint is not perfect, although I never let people lean on it or put there pop or something on it. My car even gets kinda dirty for a few days before I wash it! as far ad people riding in it I dont care who, I just don't like to have 3 other people, (we all know this cars are really tight)

But I enjoy my car, I give it a good amount of gas and don't drive it like I'm in a funeral recession.

i love it... thats really all i use.. what ultimate spray are you talking about i would like to give that a try.

I love Meguiar's products. Those detailer wipes are pretty handy in a jiffy, too, but not much liquid on them. The quick detailing spray is a show car's friend, lol.

I am reading the post, the only thing I thing I am thinking is........some of you guys REALLY need a girl friend.

read again...manyof the posters have families with garages full of stuff. Just because they're real protective doesn't mean they don't have a life outside their car....a paintjob isn't cheap!

yeah man true,, i got a women a house and a job lol we just love our cars

No one drives my car but me and I make an effort to keep an eye on my car when I know something could happen. I park with other cars now where my car is visable, because while I was at work a few months ago (which I parked on the side of the building away from everyone) someone came down and popped off the centercaps on my vette alloys on the passenger side and took off with them... so now I park where I can see my car when I'm in public.

Lol I don't find that true. Girls Love my car and always give me compliments on it.

My girl loves my car lol no problem here. she asks to drive it every time. but she can barely see over the hood so i usually dont let her go too far.

Lets see:

Always garage kept now - good rain or bad.
No one sits in the back seats. No one. Ever.
No food. Ever.
No drinks. Ever.
There's at least a one door notch space on both sides of the car.
Covered in the winter, in the garage.
Not driven in the rain.
Never taken to the mall...ever.
Never parked in a parking garage.
Never taken to the supermarket.
I'm the only one that washes it - no drive through car washes, no automated car washes - hand wash, hand wax only.
Separate sponges for paint and wheels.
I'm the only one that drives it, minus NYSI.
If I plan to drink, even one - car stays home.
If for some odd reason i leave it unattended ... it's in the spot in the lot, alone, away from other cars. Not to mention , the viper alarm with transponder and motion sensors is activated.