Gone are the days of cruzing and hanging out

[Mike DC]

 
One of the best gifts that the ricer scene gave us was to draw the heat off us. 

IMO the musclecar scene had largely grown out of dangerous teenage street racing and was shifting focus towards preserving/restoring the cars by about 1990.  But it was 2000 before the cops stopped treating us like it was 1980.  The ricer scene was what finally did it.   

 

[Tilar]

   
The average adult doesn't want teens unsupervised in public, doesn't want teens unsupervised in private . . . but still doesn't wanna spend money & resources to give them decent things to do. 

There is a lot of truth in that. There was a drag strip in Owentown, Tx which is probably 8 miles north of Tyler that always had a king of the hill night on Friday nights. Race all night for $5. It was a good place for the kids to go because generally speaking, if they were there, they were not out getting into trouble. It was out in the country away from everything but a couple businesses. There was a small housing subdivision go in basically across the street from the drag strip and they ended up getting it shut down due to noise.  What the hell did they expect by living directly across from a drag strip?

[1969chargerrtse]

" You may not realize it and it may go unspoken, but when you pull up to a stoplight the guy or gal next to you in the "practical" camry probably has a flashback to his or her first car or a fast car they once owned.  Similarly the soccer mom in the minivan, years removed from such a sight, will remember back to "so and so" who had a 68 Charger.  She probably even remembers the engine specs, idle, and smell of the exhaust (not that she lets that be known).  Most importantly, the little kid in the back will raise his head at the low rumble of a cammed 440 and ask his parents, "What is that orange car and why is it so loud?"


Funny you say this.  I was at a light in my Orange Charger the other day and I was telling my wife how these 2 real old  ladies in the car behind me were pointing and talking and pointing at the rear of my car.  I could only think what you wrote, which is remembering the large beautiful lines of these 60's cars.Though my car isn't loud.

[LoneStar Mopar]

We have alot of cruises around here. Of course it is mostly people parked talking about cars. They are all organized cruise nights. At the one I go to the most we have mostly old cars and a decent amount of younger kids in Ricer cars, and new Mustangs and Camaro's. Every once in a while someone (adults with old cars and youngsters with new cars) gets the bright idea to do a donut or peel out while leaving. For the most part this behavior is kept to a minimum. Mainly because the parking lot is at a main intersection of two major roads; and the cops sit at the businesses of all four corners; and usually one hiding behind the shrubbery in our parking lot. So whenever someone (usually a newb) decides to show off they get the reds and blues behind them withing 30 seconds. 

I don't know about all of the other cruise nights but at ours we get alot of different people, from alot of different backgrounds, with different incomes, and of different ages. And while those people have varying tastes in cars everyone seems to have a great time with very, very, few problems; and the cops dont hassle anyone unless given an obvious reason to.

[Steelshanks]

Cruisin' used to be a way of showing off your car; now it comes with shootings and gang violence. Back when there were fist fights, not shootings...maybe that's what has made the difference in the law.

Lots of cowards out there. I grew up in LA and you definately don't want to cruise around my home town. I live in a small town in Northern California now and we got a club that goes to the A&W every week. Just got to get a bunch of people interested and talk with the property owner to get approval to use the parking lot like they did.

[Foreman72]

its pretty chill in NH...there are plenty of parking lots to kick it in...but its those few (or many) who do dumb stuff who ruin it for the decent guy

[chargerboy69]

The girls just give you oral sex behind the gym in between classes and then you can sit in your room and play X-box Saturday night.

Can I go back to school at age 35? I would never miss a day at that school.   

[TexasStroker]

" You may not realize it and it may go unspoken, but when you pull up to a stoplight the guy or gal next to you in the "practical" camry probably has a flashback to his or her first car or a fast car they once owned.  Similarly the soccer mom in the minivan, years removed from such a sight, will remember back to "so and so" who had a 68 Charger.  She probably even remembers the engine specs, idle, and smell of the exhaust (not that she lets that be known).  Most importantly, the little kid in the back will raise his head at the low rumble of a cammed 440 and ask his parents, "What is that orange car and why is it so loud?"


Funny you say this.  I was at a light in my Orange Charger the other day and I was telling my wife how these 2 real old  ladies in the car behind me were pointing and talking and pointing at the rear of my car.  I could only think what you wrote, which is remembering the large beautiful lines of these 60's cars.Though my car isn't loud.

I know the feeling.  I have had so many people "trying" to talk to me at stoplights or slow speed roads that I can pretty much figure out what their looks mean, lol.  I haven't had many run-ins with the ladies that would have been 18-25 when these cars were new, but come into the next generation and I get it all the time.  Same goes with the Duster, the lady at the DMV just lit up smiling when I went into renew it one year.  Usually you worry about getting hassled, but she pulled the papers and just went into rehashing her college boyfriend   

Stoplights are always interesting...if someone isn't wanting to race you or wondering what kind of car you are in, they likely know and are re-living days gone by. 

[Old Moparz]

Like others said, the organized cruises at whichever business allows the use of their parking lot, is what replaced the old drive around cruise. I still like to drive, but just don't have the time to kill anymore. Lets face it, we drove around because there was basically nothing to do & all of us are busier now. I suppose most of us had hopes of finding something to do, like meeting women, but you learn quickly which friends to bring along & which ones to leave behind. Like my old pal "Mike" who you wouldn't want in your car. He had no problem hanging out the window to his waist yelling at chics you drove past demanding attention. If he couldn't get someone to smile, he'd moon 'em. 

I did go to a local cruise this past Tuesday, it was the last one at this location for the season. (Made sure Mike wasn't with me too) My daughter wanted to go along & did, but my wife was busy. I told my kid that I was keeping the top on the Satellite down, so make sure you dress warm. I think it was in the 40's & the top stayed down all night. She pulled her hood over her head & tried to huddle up by the heater vent on the way home. 

[dodgecharger-fan]

There's a parking lot "cruise" around here every night of the week from May until the end of September.
The furthest away is about a half hour drive down the highway. That one gets a good mix of old and new, but the new stuff is usually a club gathering. That tends to work out well. They're there and enjoying themselves, and If you're interested, you go over and check things out. If not, they're usually a big enough group that they take up a section of parking lot that makes them seem separate from the bulk of the gathering. You can stick to the main section and get the full experience of a mixed bag of cars at a cruise.

The one that I usually try to get to most often is a very good mix of cars with a decent handful of MOPARs including a nice HEMI Charger (Hi Ger!). It's a good hundred or so cars - at least - every week and they really need to ask to move to another section of the parking lot to get more room. Some days, you can't get a spot.

The A&W has one as well. Smaller, but they still run out of room. Luckily, the business next door let's them use their lot as well. There's a core bunch of folks that fill that one up quick. It's still a fun night out and I get an Uncle Burger for dinner. 

[Mr.Woolery]

I think it's ironic that many of the arguments against cruising, and it's subsequent banning, have actually created bigger problems.  It wasn't until cruising was banned that street racing became a problem.  Kids who'd otherwise be happy to go cruising found that they'd had less choices for participating in the car culture in a positive (or at least not damaging) way.  Let's face it--what choices do todays young car enthusiasts have to enjoy their car or car culture?  Not many...tracks get shut down, they get run out of "cruise in's" by closed minded older folks who won't tolerate "Ricers" in their midst, they're hassled by the police if they DO try to cruise, they can't mod their cars anywhere near like older cars are allowed to without being hassled by the law (police & smog laws in some states).  I'm sure many would complain that many of these new generation act like asshats and don't know the rules--but why is that?  Is it because they have a problem, are they ignorant, or is it because no one passed down the etiquette to them because they've been shut out from participating from mature segments of the car scene?

I'm saddened and angered every time I see one genre of car enthusiast (for example, musclecar/hotrodders) pick on other enthusiasts of the car hobby out of ignorance.  It's really easy to lament the past when, if you look at it, we're so intolerant of the same attitudes today that we had when we were younger when it presented with it--but I consider that a form of hypocrisy.  Perhaps instead of pissing and moaning and then expelling the younger folk from the car hobby, it would be better to take them in and show them the ropes...that way we wouldn't have to worry about an usupervised, uncontrolled, unmentored and underground illegal street racing scene.  Car enthusiasts come from all sorts of backgrounds with all sorts of "specialties" in the things they like about cars...why do we need to exlude/diride them simply because they don't (and in some ways CANNOT) enjoy the same hobby as we do ON OUR terms?

I'd much rather have a mix of all enthusiast cars, old and new, cruising  peacefully on Main Street USA bringing fun and business to the area than a hobby thats split itself into cliques who can't stand each other along with aspects of the hobby being forced "underground"  (ie, street racing) in order to enjoy it.


I for one lament the fact that cruising has been banned from so many cities, and wish it were brought back, but brought back for everyone.  I make this observation as a car enthusiast with interests across the spectrum of the car hobby--I enjoy and own musclecars, exotics, european, and import cars...all for different reasons.

[Cooter]

 Is it because they have a problem, are they ignorant, or is it because no one passed down the etiquette to them because they've been shut out from participating from mature segments of the car scene?

I'm saddened and angered every time I see one genre of car enthusiast (for example, musclecar/hotrodders) pick on other enthusiasts of the car hobby out of ignorance.  It's really easy to lament the past when, if you look at it, we're so intolerant of the same attitudes today that we had when we were younger when it presented with it--but I consider that a form of hypocrisy.  Perhaps instead of pissing and moaning and then expelling the younger folk from the car hobby, it would be better to take them in and show them the ropes...that way we wouldn't have to worry about an usupervised, uncontrolled, unmentored and underground illegal street racing scene.  Car enthusiasts come from all sorts of backgrounds with all sorts of "specialties" in the things they like about cars...why do we need to exlude/diride them simply because they don't (and in some ways CANNOT) enjoy the same hobby as we do ON OUR terms?

I'd much rather have a mix of all enthusiast cars, old and new, cruising  peacefully on Main Street USA bringing fun and business to the area than a hobby thats split itself into cliques who can't stand each other along with aspects of the hobby being forced "underground"  (ie, street racing) in order to enjoy it.

Well, It isn't because nobody taught those Import guys the ropes, it's because every time you get all kinds of cars at one place it's usually those
Punks" that have something to prove to the bigger,badder, louder, "old skool" muscecar guys that mess things up....

Sure, you have 2JZ's out there putting out 1000 HP at the wheels, but it's no longer a "Hot Rod" that was built cheaply and pouts out that kinda of power, it's a full on $100K car...

I'm a huge fan of a friend of mines 2JZ Celica..Nice ride and it's a 650 HP STREET car that he does drive. He too gets the haters at the cruise nights, but he doesn't let that cause him to have prove something to the older guys as he knows his car will outrun most of them..If you didn't know any better, you wouldn't even know he drove up in that thing without asking him.
It's the "posers" with those hugely stupid wings that serve NO PURPOSE until about 250 MPH, the Huge 4" fart cannons sticking out the rear, Lowered to the point they have to ask their girlfriend to get out so he can pull into the lot, guys that screw everything up usually. Don't get me wrong, there are ALOT of old skool guys that are a PITA as well. One showed up drinking and would NOT stop Starting and revving his Blown alcohol Vette..Christine has a remote start and it's fun, but this guys sh*t was a full on drag car and loud as hell...Basically, if you try that "Cume-by-ya" stuff with everybody cruising/car showing, you end up with a few undesirables in the mix that screw it up for everybody. I think it's a good idea to only make it hard on the ones causing the trouble, be it import OR domestic...

[Mr.Woolery]

Well, It isn't because nobody taught those Import guys the ropes, it's because every time you get all kinds of cars at one place it's usually those
Punks" that have something to prove to the bigger,badder, louder, "old skool" muscecar guys that mess things up....

...Basically, if you try that "Cume-by-ya" stuff with everybody cruising/car showing, you end up with a few undesirables in the mix that screw it up for everybody. I think it's a good idea to only make it hard on the ones causing the trouble, be it import OR domestic...

Yep, I agree that it's the undesireables (by way of behavior, NOT the equipment they bring) that mess up the scene, whether it's cruising the boulevard or a parking lot show.  My whole point is that the only crackdowns should be against these people, not painting everyone with a wide brush based on what they drive or their age (which happens now).  I'm a regular at a few of the "Kumbaya" type meets that are, for the most part, quite successful in their ability to mix everybody in.  A couple of my favorite local meets (Irvine "Cars 'N' Coffee" and Woodland Hills "Supercar Sunday" in CA) pull this off quite well.  At both meets I can take in some great examples of hot rods, musclecars, exotics, imports, classics, motorcycles, weird stuff, one offs, etc...and they all get along quite well with each other.  I love it.

[73rallye440magnum]

One of the very first times I had my car out, I had a pretty neat experience. I pulled up to a stoplight, and there was an older gentleman in a van in the lane next to me. He thanked me for bringing back some great memories. We had a short conversation as we waited for the green light. It was brief, but one of the cooler experiences I've had in my car to date.

One of the local fast food gigs has a cruise in every thursday night all summer. It's getting really popular. Hoods open, old music, and good conversations.

[Cooter]

Hell, it's enough for me to even drive one of mine out to the local cruise night anymore without having to fix it that's a kick for me...I USED TO enjoy the local "Street Racing" scene, but call it growing up, or whatever, but now, I have more fun listening to the older gentlemen telling me how they remember the '58 Plymouth when it was new....

[c00nhunterjoe]

cruising around my neck of the woods is good times, we do it at every available oppertunity.  there are several informal meets every weekend at local parking lots and as long as it doesnt get crazy (burnouts and donuts and loud revving motors) no cops bother you.  there is a place near where i work that muscle cars meet every friday night in a dunkin donuts/home depot parking lot. cops sit in the corner of the lot and get out and look at the cars. they only bother you if you leave the parking lot sideways

[71 Bee Man]

Clearwater, FL passed a law where you aren't allowed to pass the same area more than three times or you get ticketed, arrested, towed. Well what can you expect from an area that won't let a male jogger run with their shirt off. It's disgusting to see a persons sweaty body...REALLY! Cruisin' used to be a way of showing off your car; now it comes with shootings and gang violence. Back when there were fist fights, not shootings...maybe that's what has made the difference in the law. Can't wait to cruise my car to the local spot, pop the hood, and grab a bite!

Are you guys serious ?

And I thought the U.S was all about freedom ? That's the impression we get here in Australia at least. I can't believe some of the things i just read here. I am stunned to be honest.

Surely people over there protest these laws ? I realise there's the argument about individuals who these laws are meant to stop, but what about the old saying "Those who compromise their freedoms for security end up losing both"?

[Mike DC]

  
It's been creeping in a little at a time for decades.  

I wouldn't say that above paragraph is representative of the normal here, but those spots do exist.  



The cruising complaints we're making also aren't "average" daily USA driving experiences as a whole.  It's more like we're griping loudly because we recognize that these are the first stages of encroachment on our driving freedoms.    


Much of the small-time BS legal crap we get in the USA is not at the federal level or even the state, it's the local.  When you get a certain area disproportionately full of one type of person, they can use their beloved "freedom" to start writing strange laws.  For example an area with tons of retirees (like parts of Florida) can end up passing local housing laws that wouldn't be stood for in an area with a lot of younger/trendier singles.  (Trying to prevent developers from building dwellings that suit anyone younger or with kids,etc.)  And the same kind of rowdy party scenes that would go over fine in a trendy-singles neighborhood would be griped about in a neighborhood full of families of 8yo kids.  Sometimes all this "freedom" really means you're a the mercy of how the largest percentage of the local crowd particularly wants the place to be.  

For example the cruising laws - The cops start restricting things because too many local home/business owners are complaining about the congregating kids being too loud & destructive.  Like sometimes the local teenagers' parents don't necessarily LIKE bailing their kids outta jail if it comes to that, but at then same time they don't really mind the cops busting up the groups of kids in an attempt control drugs & violence that they worry the kids might be getting into (whether they really are or not).  And more than a few cruising spots have been busted precisely because of public outcry in favor of busting it:  The streetracing scene had started endangering/killing innocent motorists by accident.    




But it's not all tamed yet, that's for sure.  I've been in more than a few rough inner-city ghetto areas where you could empty a .38 into the air at any time day or night without drawing attention.  And when you get out of the more densely populated urban/suburban centers you're still pretty unrestricted as a whole.  

[b5blue]

The Clearwater thing is about tourism more than anti cruzing, The whole "strip" is lined with restaurants, souvenir shops, bars, hotels/motels and filled with tourists from all over the world. The kids have another 30 miles of beach to hang out on but they packed in there and really a few years ago if you went there you just sat in one big traffic jam (it took 40 minutes to get out of there and I know all the back streets and short-cuts having grown up here) It was killing the small business owners and the grid lock was insane, remember being young....hanging out at AW with 65cents in you pocket and wanting save that for gas tomorrow? That's kinda what the kids were doing, inadvertently choking off business and customers were saying they were not coming back to Clearwater (a "family" oriented area) Here we have Biff Burger-Quaker lube and oil-Sonic-Burger King on US19 and more spots in Tampa to go, all doing well welcoming the car scene.   

[elacruze]

I distinctly remember that in my cruising youth, *WE* were the asshats, we just had camaros and novas. We acted just as 'stupid' as kids the same age do now, we just didn't recognize it. 2am neighborhood burnouts in an unmuffled sidepiped Z-28? Yeah I think that was worse than a fart can Accord.

Tangent;

Phil Peterson's Harley-Davidson of Miami (plug) has a poker run to Key West every year for about 30 years now. Some of the locals started making noise about it, so they pulled the poker run for a year-and all those locals realized quick that a significant part of their yearly bottom line came from the poker run and the bikers who came around subsequently. Some towns like Daytona would be nothing more than a grass hut on a nice beach if not for 'cruisers'. The racers don't pay the bills, the civilian cruising population does. Mass movements on local government meetings, especially if accompanied by some well-known business owners who survive by those masses sometimes turns the tide and opens the eyes of government. Any car or bike group that call themselves a 'club' should regularly attend government functions that affect them, as a group or at least send a representative of that group.

[CharcoalCharger]

   The small town in which I live in passed a no cruising law in the early to mid 90's.  Of course it was passed right at the time that I would be driving.  A buddy of mine and I used to cruise town in my Dart anyway.  He had an Olds Cutlass.  You weren't allowed to pass the same spot 3 times in 10 minutes or so.  Our town is really nice.  Delaware Ave. is a nice, wide main street.  There used to be cars parked all along the street.  The cops really didn't hassle you if you were just parked along the street.  I don't even know of anyone getting a ticket for cruising, they usually warned us.  There used to be Camaros, Chevelles, Mustangs, a Torino...there weren't too many MoPars, I had my Dart and another guy had a Demon.  Everyone from school would be down there.  My buddy and I would cruise up and down a few times.  We'd park my car, then we'd hop in his car and cruise a few more times.  Sometimes we would just hang out across from the grocery store he worked in.
    I never did understand why they passed the ordinance.  The money alone from the number of cartons of iced tea that were consumed by us all on the weekend would be enough to fund a small country.  For a small town, we'd had our share of pizza places (about 4), I'm sure they appreciated the patronage.  And even though gas was only .99/gal. our cars still sucked it down and we needed to fill up.  It is funny to drive through town now on a Friday or Saturday night.  There is no one out.  How sad.   

[Brock Samson]

 We'll be cruisin and hanging out tommarow,.. 

[Arigmaster]

Well, the problem here in Va is instead of the "Cruising/parking/bullsh***ing being done by the older, faster, sometimes wiser guys, we have to let Everybody in on it as well...Here-in lies the problem. You will not be out for more than 20 min. before the import/wannabe Vin Deisels are out in force and are NOT content with admiring their cars..They want to "Up the an-tee" by drifting, racing, squaling tires, burnouts, etc...

This ruins it for the older guys that are probably faster and have nothing more to prove, that just wanna hang out...When I was cruising the local Wards Rd here in the late 80's, we would meet up at the spot and look at everybody's handywork then, if someone wanted to try 'em out, they went out of town...Now, they just try 'em right there in front of "The spot"...I'll admit, some of the things I done were a little dangerous, but they were done out in the middle of nowhere and NOT on the main drag with 100 people standing around....

I can completely relate to Cooter on this one....

We had a few known cruising areas around here when I was younger along with a hand full of businesses that didn't mind us parking and popping open the hood. As long as there was no trouble or burnouts leavinhg the lots, the local police were pretty decent about it too.

We also had a few places way out of town where we would "test" our cars out and sometimes two at a time. These were straight one mile stretches of road and another was a private airport. Now there are houses along thos roads, the private airport went from an asphalt landing strip to a grass one. And, with all the little wanna-bes described above there is more violence and recklessness in the cruise areas and lots. Because of that, it ruined it for everyone.

Even with some of the places that allowed us older guys to hang around... The places end up being converged on by the clown cars and the owners end up putting an end to anyone hanging around.

[Ponch ®]

Here in SoCal cruising is going through a renaissance of sorts. The Van Nuys Blvd Cruise  is held the 2nd wednesday of every month and it draws over 1000 cars (except for last wednesday cuz it was raining). Amazingly enough, in the first 4 months, everybody pretty much obeys the laws of traffic and doesn't do anything stupid (even the ricers and mustang racerboy types). In fact, the cops walk around and talk to people about their cars, etc.

[ChgrSteve67]

We were all parked in the fire lane next to the Marina and both police cars that came by stopped but never said a word to us.

Of course we looked like a bunch of hardened criminals.

I actually am really suprised they did not come over and talk to us.