Rebuilding again...

[darkwolf45]

So, my cayenne red 1995 Cutlass Supreme coupe is sitting waiting for the shop to be able to take it in again for body work.  It's been so long since i posted that I thought I might do a recap on what brought me to this forum to begin with: this car and I have been through thick and thin together, so I went to the trouble of rebuilding it from stem to stern, learning to do as much of the work as I could on my own.  I was really thrilled with the results, but to be honest, it wasn't that long before I needed it in the shop again.

I guess what I am trying to figure out is why this car is such a magnet for abuse, and I mean that literally.  I have always had trouble with people marking my car up for one reason or another, but it's definitely worse nowadays.  I've had it in a couple times since I last wrote on here, but right now the car is going to have body work for a serious gouging that someone did on the rear passenger side fender with their keys, another keying job on the left rear fender, and work on the front bumper that was messed up because a FORMER mechanic dropped it off a tow dolly without lowering the ramps and the best one was a guy who intentionally cut me off and blocked the entire road on a road that hadn't been plowed after a snow storm.  Normally, there should have been more than enough distance to stop, but I slid right into his driver's side door and after making contact, he was already facing directly at me in his driver's seat and lifting his right arm up and out, elbow up despite his vehicle being positioned and stopped in the middle of the road 90 degrees from me.  When we finally made eye contact, he seemed kind of in a daze, then shook his head at me and drove off well over the speed limit on city streets a few blocks from where the George Floyd thing happened.  My personal take?  I was about to get shot. Oh, and there was the tail light I had to replace because someone kicked it out in a parking ramp.

So, I'm at a serious loss.  The key job on the right rear fender happened at a target parking lot where I intentionally parked out in an empty section, well away from any other cars and when I came back out, I found that surprise.  I don't think it's too much to say that something about my car seems to tick people off, and I'd like to stop spending thousands on body work.  I'd chock it up to taking the poor car to the bung hole of Minneapolis, but even out in the suburbs when I take it out I need to make sure I have it in sight at all times.

Does anyone have any idea what it is about this car that is setting people off so bad?  (picture was from a previous rebuild)

[pwmin]

Sorry for your shitty luck.  Glad you keep soldiering on with keeping the car up. 

[darkwolf45]

Ya know, I'm going to be really heartbroken when I can't keep this car running anymore.  Whenever I'm out in it, I feel something that I never feel when driving anymore. I enjoy driving again.  So yeah.  Right now It's pulled apart to replace a power steering line.  Can't wait to go cruising again.

[Jim_rockford_007]

easy ..MOVE. You will never get peace when you live in a literal war zone shithole state. 

 

[rich_e777]

Maybe better off keeping her in a storage lockup and DD`ing a beater Corolla that`ll run forever. 

I recall a conversation with a Corvette owner and he was talking about how out of spite people will vandalize nice cars because they stand out. The name Cutlass Supreme holds meaning in the hood so it stands out. Get out of the hood because its only going to get worse. 

[oldmangrimes]

Here's my take:    Now that Cutlass Supreme's are older, more and more people don't know what they are and think they are really expensive.  For example, I drive a beat-up, $1000-on-a-good-day 1995 Oldsmobile Cutlass Supreme.    But it's red, and becoming rare, and is a convertible so it attracts attention.   I find that grade school age kids often will turn their heads when I drive by and say "cool car!", etc.   Of course older car guys don't ever say anything because they know it's a beat-up fwd w-body with a 3100 V6.    Anyway, the point being that I think ignorant people with the brain power of a grade schooler (there are sadly many of them out there) are seeing your car and thinking you have an expensive Ferrari or something, and you're an evil elitist rich 1%-er and they resent you.   Parking away from everyone is kinda a snob move, honestly, and attracts unwanted attention from these idiots.   What I do is park one or two spots away from other cars, so I don't get any more door dings, but never more than that so it doesn't look bad.   People are stupid, and mean, and bitter, and in general just don't understand the real hierarchy of cars.  I think they hate their own meth-riddled lives and blame their laziness on the media-influenced perception of "the man" "holding them down" and they see a nice red car and assume it's expensive and owned by a slumlord or something.   If you stopped 10 random people in a Walmart parking lot and asked them how much they think your car is worth, I think you'd be surprised at how high some of the guesses are.

But also you may just have had a string of bad luck, and people will key cars for all sorts of stupid reasons.   I had my old Nissan Altima keyed once, and it wasn't a nice car by any stretch of the imagination.   I hope things improve for you.    

[darkwolf45]

20 hours ago, Jim_rockford_007 said:

easy ..MOVE. You will never get peace when you live in a literal war zone shithole state. 

 

Honest question here about this, since I'm not talking to many people not in MN these days- is that how people outside of here are looking at MN?  I don't live down in Minneapolis, I just worked down there.  I'm actually right on the edge of complete rural area and I don't shop in low income areas generally.  This type of thing happened when I was going through college with this car, it just happens more now.  

Anyway, so yeah, I actually have been thinking hard about leaving the state but feel like I missed the window to do so last year and need to wait a bit longer in order to keep from getting gouged with housing prices right now.  I hesitated because I'm really frustrated by what's been going on around here but literally everyone I talk to is constantly telling me I'm unreasonable and overreacting and just going to end up living some place where I don't know anyone because it's just as bad everywhere.  I'd appreciate hearing more about what you've got to say on this.

 

10 minutes ago, oldmangrimes said:

Here's my take:    Now that Cutlass Supreme's are older, more and more people don't know what they are and think they are really expensive.  For example, I drive a beat-up, $1000-on-a-good-day 1995 Oldsmobile Cutlass Supreme.    But it's red, and becoming rare, and is a convertible so it attracts attention.   I find that grade school age kids often will turn their heads when I drive by and say "cool car!", etc.   Of course older car guys don't ever say anything because they know it's a beat-up fwd w-body with a 3100 V6.    Anyway, the point being that I think ignorant people with the brain power of a grade schooler (there are sadly many of them out there) are seeing your car and thinking you have an expensive Ferrari or something, and you're an evil elitist rich 1%-er and they resent you.   Parking away from everyone is kinda a snob move, honestly, and attracts unwanted attention from these idiots.   What I do is park one or two spots away from other cars, so I don't get any more door dings, but never more than that so it doesn't look bad.   People are stupid, and mean, and bitter, and in general just don't understand the real hierarchy of cars.  I think they hate their own meth-riddled lives and blame their laziness on the media-influenced perception of "the man" "holding them down" and they see a nice red car and assume it's expensive and owned by a slumlord or something.   If you stopped 10 random people in a Walmart parking lot and asked them how much they think your car is worth, I think you'd be surprised at how high some of the guesses are.

But also you may just have had a string of bad luck, and people will key cars for all sorts of stupid reasons.   I had my old Nissan Altima keyed once, and it wasn't a nice car by any stretch of the imagination.   I hope things improve for you.    

I've avoided any additional damage for a while now by keeping it in the garage and only taking it out to get the cobwebs off, but I finally left a job that was working me 12-16 hours a day seven days a week and have time to work on my Cutlass again.  I never thought about parking that far out being a snob move, I just figured I was making it less accessible for people to mess with it.  this is good advice, though.  Thanks for your insight.  With as much work as I've put into it lately, I don't really want it sitting and collecting dust anymore.  I want to enjoy it.

[Jim_rockford_007]

yeah, the entire country views the state that way. I dont have any problems even remotely close to that where I am In N.C. I just seen today that white BLMers  stopped a black trans woman/man/it  what ever the fuck it is ad demanded it sign a handwritten not that they would drop charges on the protesters that finally got arrested.  Pretty sure that is a felony offence. she was apparently a Defund the policer and what did she do..called the cops,, They rode by a few times but did nothing..LOL  

 

[Schurkey]

The "Metro Area" is bat-shit crazy.  Full Libtard-ville, with riots and crime-rates as proof.

The rest of the state pays the price for allowing nutters to control the State Government.  High taxes, insane policies, "Sanctuary" for cross-border invaders, "refugees", Burn Loot Murder, and free-range crazy people being "accepted" as if they were normal.

You don't have to leave the state--although that's probably the best solution--but you should consider moving into "Greater Minnesnowta".