Cruise Night....

I did the rounds last night, went up to Strats, a boat load of kids and a boat load of cops. As I pulled out to turn right a car did a u-turn and got real close so I goosed the throttle to get away from him and then got off of it to get into the left turn lane.

One of the many cops immediately pulled out and got behind me so I thought ok, first ticket for exhibition of speed, perfect. We sat at the light, I could see him running my plate and look right at me, the light turned green and I turned left and he turned around and headed back to Strats, whew. Clean record, old fart, cop decides against pulling me over.

I don't think I'm going back though, these kids are different than the last bunch that hung out there in 2000-2009. These kids make fun of the car as it goes by, they taunt and it's so dark you can't tell which person said it. Plus, all they do is sit there, nobody walking around checking out the cars, like zombies. I had hoped to have some good conversations about their cars... when I was their age we loved it when the old farts came out with their cars.

So I decided to head out North West and found another group of kids, similar situation only this time as I was leaving one of them in a very loud 2013 or so Coyote decided to come after me, I wasn't going to race but that didn't matter, he pulled out and did a ricer fly by, I thought only ricers did those, nope.

So no go on trying to figure out where like minded car people are hanging out these days. One note, on the way home while alone I thought I'd see how the car would do now that it's more broke in, turned off traction control, put her into drag mode and nailed the gas, it smoked the tires in 1st, 2nd and 3rd fish tailing the whole way. It was like driving my Supercharged Mustang without the blower! :eyebulge:

Lesson learned, BUY TIRES!

I also drove it to work, so far on this tank before the fish tailing I was averaging 27.8 mpg, friggin awesome.

We have the same wheel/color combo. I love how it can look purple, black or brown depending on the lighting.

I've had the opposite problem. I can't get people to leave me alone about the car, lol. But they tend to be guys older than me.

michail71 said:

We have the same wheel/color combo. I love how it can look purple, black or brown depending on the lighting.

I've had the opposite problem. I can't get people to leave me alone about the car, lol. But they tend to be guys older than me.

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Agreed, I absolutely love this combo.

While driving everybody seems to want to race, friggin Dad's in mini-vans and every single kid driving a Dodge Dart or Subaru wants some. I didn't see a whole lot of Mustang's at Strat's and maybe I need to get there earlier so I can find a good parking spot and see what happens after that.

I find your post interesting. I'm 24 and I bought my gt when I was 22. People my age and younger give me the dirtiest looks and make snarky comments all the time . One time while sitting at a light outside a high school I had one kid who made eye contact with me the entire time he was in the cross walk. He then gave me the finger. I couldn't help but laugh.

Then I meet guys older than me and they are super polite and excited to talk about the car. Sometimes I really feel like i was born in the wrong generation.

Coolmanfoo said:

I find your post interesting. I'm 24 and I bought my gt when I was 22. People my age and younger give me the dirtiest looks and make snarky comments all the time . One time while sitting at a light outside a high school I had one kid who made eye contact with me the entire time he was in the cross walk. He then gave me the finger. I couldn't help but laugh.

Then I meet guys older than me and they are super polite and excited to talk about the car. Sometimes I really feel like i was born in the wrong generation.

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I hear you, just 12 years ago when I bought my last Mustang GT, the young generation seemed to be much more open and willing to talk. I had no issues just pulling over when I saw a crowd of cars even when many were fart canned Honda's, I didn't care, we all just talked.

It's the beginning of the season so I'm going to keep trying, if anything I'll make it it to some cars and coffee events since the cruise nights that were popular back in the 2000's seem to have died off. :shrug:

Loki-GT said:

It's the beginning of the season so I'm going to keep trying, if anything I'll make it it to some cars and coffee events since the cruise nights that were popular back in the 2000's seem to have died off. :shrug:

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Cruise nights in Northern Illinois are still popular. Just have to look around and be willing to drive to them.

Augustinos rock and roll deli in West Chicago and Carol Stream, plus The Lodge on 64 have Cruise nights that have folks more in line with what you seek.

Mount Prospect has a great cruise night at the city parking lot on NW highway

Irongate Car Condos has a super cruise night on Fridays during the season.

You're a bit early for cruise nights, they don't startup much till late May. Going to Strats is just looking for trouble and the local police have been known to mete out some pretty heavy handed tickets for even minor infractions.

Wriggly said:

Cruise nights in Northern Illinois are still popular. Just have to look around and be willing to drive to them.

Augustinos rock and roll deli in West Chicago and Carol Stream, plus The Lodge on 64 have Cruise nights that have folks more in line with what you seek.

Mount Prospect has a great cruise night at the city parking lot on NW highway

Irongate Car Condos has a super cruise night on Fridays during the season.

You're a bit early for cruise nights, they don't startup much till late May. Going to Strats is just looking for trouble and the local police have been known to mete out some pretty heavy handed tickets for even minor infractions.

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Agreed, May is the month but around here they started in April and none of them will be around this year. It's been 9 years since I last went to Strats so it shocked me when I got there, they spread out to multiple parking lots and I have never seen so many police congregated in one area. Mostly all stealth Explorers with regular plates, still easy to make out but they sure pulled a lot of people over along North Avenue.

I'm going to check out the ones mentioned, definitely don't mind driving to them, that's half the fun!

Thanks! :cheers:

Forgot to mention, I had a new Shelby GT350 in that light gray color next to me on Randall with a young guy driving it North from St. Charles, still had window sticker on it. I need to install a dash cam so I can post some of the cool cars I see.

We have a great cruise in canton Ga. it’s been going on for 20 years now. It seems like the older crowd. Some young people who seem generally interested in all type of cars. It’s both old and new cars. There’s always something new I haven’t seen before. Going today @ 3pm. It runs to about 8 pm. On a good clear day there could be as many as 500 cars. Meeting an old friend who is 20 years older then me. He is 89 and can’t drive anymore. His son brings him. He had over 20 older vettes in his basement years ago. I bought a few from him. All I know is I’m driving anything I want now a days. If its boring or bites me it’s.......Gone ! So far the 18 is doing ok for itself. Got my eye on the C8 though.

5.0 435 said:

We have a great cruise in canton Ga. it’s been going on for 20 years now. It seems like the older crowd. Some young people who seem generally interested in all type of cars. It’s both old and new cars. There’s always something new I haven’t seen before. Going today @ 3pm. It runs to about 8 pm. On a good clear day there could be as many as 500 cars. Meeting an old friend who is 20 years older then me. He is 89 and can’t drive anymore. His son brings him. He had over 20 older vettes in his basement years ago. I bought a few from him. All I know is I’m driving anything I want now a days. If its boring....it’s Gone.

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That's the exact kind of cruise spot I need!! Nice list of cars!!

To the OP:


You can’t go back. Those cruises are theirs and you are the old fart - an outsider. That is if you are really in your late 40s and up. If you really want to live around a car again get a Vette - join the local Corvette club and just DD your present car. The atmosphere may be more to your liking. Guys like me getting into the Mustang community after thirty years are in for a shock but they could have figured it out if they thought about it.

It’s kind of like an old fart sheepishly going to his doctor for a Cialis prescription only to find out later the kids use it all the time and he never knew. Times change...

Fatguy said:

To the OP:


You can’t go back. Those cruises are theirs and you are the old fart - an outsider. That is if you are really in your late 40s and up. If you really want to live around a car again get a Vette - join the local Corvette club and just DD your present car. The atmosphere may be more to your liking. Guys like me getting into the Mustang community after thirty years are in for a shock but they could have figured it out if they thought about it.

It’s kind of like an old fart sheepishly going to his doctor for a Cialis prescription only to find out later the kids use it all the time and he never knew. Times change...

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I think it depends on the area... the groups here are nice. Only "issue" I have is we will have a parking lot with 10 cars and I'll be the oldest person out. Then there will be these high school students with their girlfriends.

They are out with their GTs... ha ha ha... but they never make me feel unwelcome or uncomfortable or even talk junk about my 4-cyl.

Honestly, they are all "car people".... having fun... learning about the cars (asking about my tune, etc)... not burning out/acting stupid.

Couple of times the cops would come through, get out and look at the cars as well.

Not sure why I never have issues with the new generations... they are people just like I was at that age. You will have some "a-holes" in each group. Hey, there are still plenty of older a-holes around as well.

Look for the good and keep an open mind...

Fatguy said:

To the OP:


You can’t go back. Those cruises are theirs and you are the old fart - an outsider. That is if you are really in your late 40s and up. If you really want to live around a car again get a Vette - join the local Corvette club and just DD your present car. The atmosphere may be more to your liking. Guys like me getting into the Mustang community after thirty years are in for a shock but they could have figured it out if they thought about it.

It’s kind of like an old fart sheepishly going to his doctor for a Cialis prescription only to find out later the kids use it all the time and he never knew. Times change...

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I was expecting a response like yours. Get a Vette and join a Vette club, now that's funny right there. :lol: The atmosphere of most gatherings typically suites me just fine.

My post isn't about missing the past, of course I can't go back but from 1978 through 2009 things went about pretty much the same as people got into cars and many got out as they got older, rinse repeat. I'm noting the present I see today which is a recent change in how the youth are overall, not just in the car culture.

I understand how things work, I was young once but we didn't mock people, we certainly didn't taunt them as they drove by and if somebody did well....

The youth of today (not all of course, many are awesome) lacks the respect of even the generation before them so if this is "theirs" they can have it. We'll see how things go as the months go by. Maybe if I get there early and I'm parked they'll have to say those things to my face, which changes things a bit. My bet is I find many who are only interested in talking cars and the disrespectful ones will stay in the dark part of the parking lot. I'm not trying to come off as a tough guy, just one who gives respect and expects the same in return, much like all old farts before me.

Typically in the car culture the young were accepting of the old farts because they had awesome stories and typically could be very helpful to the new generation.

That Cialis analogy is outright silly and not worth going into.

jtmat said:

I think it depends on the area... the groups here are nice. Only "issue" I have is we will have a parking lot with 10 cars and I'll be the oldest person out. Then there will be these high school students with their girlfriends.

They are out with their GTs... ha ha ha... but they never make me feel unwelcome or uncomfortable or even talk junk about my 4-cyl.

Honestly, they are all "car people".... having fun... learning about the cars (asking about my tune, etc)... not burning out/acting stupid.

Couple of times the cops would come through, get out and look at the cars as well.

Not sure why I never have issues with the new generations... they are people just like I was at that age. You will have some "a-holes" in each group. Hey, there are still plenty of older a-holes around as well.

Look for the good and keep an open mind...

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Great points, it's early in the season so I'm going to go there a few times more earlier and I'll be you're right about most of them.

As for plenty of older a-holes, true dat!

If I see a so called squirrely stang sitting almost on the ground with tons of bling I’m not going to look at it up close. That person doesn’t want me looking at it either. Age has nothing to do with it. There has always been people when I was 18 that had squirrely mustangs. There always will be out there with their super load exhaust and reving at every stop light. Leaving a car show and showing everyone how a squirrely mustang handles. Kind of kidding but we have all seen one or two.