What makes someone a Gear Head
 

I am in a college class and am required to write a paper on my chosing. I have chosen to write on the defending of "Gear Head" mentallity, since this is of an intrest to me just like all of you. If possible I'd just like some info on why some of you have chosen to devote yourselves to American Muscle Cars. Any comments would be helpful. Thanks :)

hehe, my 3rd choice of license plate (they dont tell you if they're taken or not) is "gearhed" :D


anyhoo, gearheads generally like to make and work on things themself. they take pride in the work they do.

a larger then normal percentage of gearheads are "manly man" guys that like danger, excitement, women, ect..... some of their actions are the ones that give gearheads a bad name at times... but its just part of the way things are.

most real gear heads think about their car all the time and alot of them put the car before other things in a way most people dont consider "normal"..... for example, id rather eat hot dogs and 99 cent pizzas for dinner all week if the money i saved will let me get that mod i want.....

*shrug*


i donno exactly what you're looking for... could you narrow it down some and perhaps i can help?

MrDude_1 That's the kind of information I'm looking for. I am going to end up with atleast 20 pages. so any information will help. Thanks

gearheads think burning out is cool, a manual trans is way cooler than any automatic, driving a car with no top is like going to church, a gearhead can sense a problem with anything mechanical before it breaks, they always take a look back at the car on the way into the house, work, store ect. thinking is mostly done about cars and how to improve or change something on it, women probably come second to this. a gearhead would rather spend a sunday wrenching than watching football, unless its raining then theres always football. gearheads are supposed to have respect for anything fast or cool (even if it is a honda, if its faster than your car it is cool, you cant deny it). the true gearhead will break into tears when their ride is crashed/totaled or stolen (lord knows the waterworks went out to my rx7 when she was killed). being a gearhead is about passion, putting all your time and money into something that becomes a part of you and who you are. gearheads dont bring their car to a mechanic unless ABSOLUTLY necessary (alignments and auto transmissions come to mind). gearheads never get sick of talking about cars with other gearheads, being a gearhead is being a part of something, a comraderie of sorts, so wave the next time you see someone that is driving something that lets you know they are a gearhead, I know I do

Peace, Tim

cars are constantly on their minds.

and anything car related.... its hard for people to grasp this.


i can talk about how to do stuff, my plans to do stuff, what i have done, or anything thats has to do with my car....


i like all cars, for what they are, regardless of make.... really i should say all machines, im not limited to cars.


for example... i love my camaro, it can corner, it can go fast, its fun to drive

my bike... i love riding it. its not fast as alot of other bikes, but i bet i can make it turn and stick under anything that doesnt have slicks on it. including the newest sportbikes out there...

the spitfire... its slow, it handles wierd, it has no modern anything, and its electrical system sucks. i love this car. its fun.



thats another thing.. fun to drive.

i can drive for 8 hours a day.... and it RELAXES me, i love it..... when i drive, i can SEE how everythings moving, i can feel the car, i know how its moving, its a extention of me..... while you hear a wierd noise at the rear, i can feel thats the panhard bar tapping the heat shield..... or whatever..

i once had a job where i drove a pickup truck around texas... i mean somtimes over 12 hours a day.... every once in awhile, longer then that. all boring over the hwy/interstate stuff... but what do i do to relax? i drive the camaro, or i ride the bike.... its my excape, my relaxation, my freedom.

not to make a case study out of a good friend or anything... but i think if you goto 3GO ( www.3rdgen.org ) search on the board for "Jeremy"... theres several threads he wrote that is pure gearhead stuff... mostly the threads that are about what hes thinking and stuff... he types alot more then me.

i'll search real quick and post links.... heh, and i hope thoes 20 pages are double spaced.

http://www.3rdgen.org/bb/showthread....ht=%2Arelax%2A

thats one of several threads i was thinking about.

Just start with the topic, then after that just talk about cars for about 19 pages and end forget what the original topic was..... Was it how to build a streetable big block or race proven small block.

funny ****!!!:driving:

I am always thinking about cars, mine in peticular. what new parts to buy for it and how to keep improving on it. my garage is very clean most of the time unless my wife invades my domain. I got a gear head catalog in the mail recently and saw a tile floor that I could buy for my garage. they are interlocking tiles with 3 colors for you to choose. every morning I have to get up at 5 am but my alarm clock is set at 5:02 and any gear head knows that is the king of the crates displacment (502 big block!!).
only a gear head would even consider putting a tiled floor in their garage and set the alarm clock to a popular engine displacemnet.HELLO MY NAME IS MIKE AND I AM A GEAR HEAD!!!!!!

I've been called worse!
 

Gearhead -

A lot of the folks above have captured a bit of what it is, but there is more to it than that.

A true gearhead won't just bolt something on a car because he thinks it's cool. It has to fit and it has to work with everything else in the system. A gearhead is more technically oriented and pays a great deal of attention to detail. Before a mod is attempted a gearhead will have a pretty good idea of everything involved and will have purchased the items for that mod that will give the most improvement possible within the constraints of his/her budget.

In short, a gearhead is a more technically orientated carnut.

There are lots of people out there who love cars. There are lots of people out there who love cars and work on them. There are fewer people out there who love cars, love working on them, and have a technical grasp of what they are doing. Those few are the GearHeads!

Re: I've been called worse!
 

Pretty much it. They will spend hours researching products that will benifit everything for the most cost effective gain. Gearheads are people who just have a passion for what they drive. They live for that one stare that someone will give their car as they drive by. Theres nothing better to a gearhead than building something from the ground up and hearing it roar for the first time! Its when u take a pile of what some call a "pile of junk" and make it into a decent runner that will always turn heads cause of the very uniqueness of the car. Whether it be a rust bucket truck or a 502 big block camaro with a suppercharger sticking out past the hood.

I have fallin into the gearhead status...every morning when I wake up I'm thinkin about how I tweek somethin on the car. Before I go to work I give the car a once over just to admire what I have done so far. If I get a new part I always throw it in just to see what it will look like in the car. Before it even comes time to install it. Then I work on cars all day at work. Come home and hang out with friends that need advice on their cars. then go and work on my own. Even when I was datin my gf I would always drift off thinkin of the camaro. LOL mostly when she was sayin somethin straight to me!

But I say its more of a passion of loving to turn wrenchs and to build something without using directions and being able to hear it work. Anyone can turn a wrench but a gearhead knows the whole picture, from engine rebuilds to tire repairs. He knows the car as a whole, not as something that u put gas in every week and gets u to the grocsery store and back. Its the drive to the store and to the station that makes that car worth the money, time and research.

I'M JASON, AND I TO AM A GEARHEAD!

a gearhead is someone that can stand the smell of differential fluid, worse yet smoking hot differential fluid after using a torch like i did today.

Thanks, for all the comments everyone they will help a lot. If anyone wants to voice there opinione they are always welcome.

if you spend more time (working, thinking, and dreaming) and money than i do on cars, then you are probably a gear head :D