Walked into my first big car meet and hit 50 cars in the lot before 8am

I pulled into the Starbucks parking lot off Highway 99 last Saturday thinking I'd be early at 7:30. There were already 50 cars lined up in three rows, including a dude with a supercharged Mustang who was revving his engine while waiting for his latte. I parked my bone-stock Civic next to a guy who'd spent $12,000 on just the paint job on his Mazda. Has anyone else walked into a meet way underestimating the crowd and felt totally out of place?

2 comments

2 Comments

mitchell.nancy14d ago

Yeah, totally been there with the "bone-stock Civic" situation. First big meet I hit up had a dude with a custom widebody Supra and I was parked next to him in my rusty Corolla. Here's the thing nobody tells you: just walk around, talk to people about their builds, and don't try to fake like you know everything. Most guys at these meets love explaining their cars to someone who actually listens. Plus, honestly, a clean stock car gets respect if you're not pretending it's something it's not.

fox.skyler13d ago

Damn @mitchell.nancy, you parked a rusty Corolla next to a widebody Supra? That's some serious confidence right there, I would've circled the lot three times looking for a spot behind a dumpster. But honestly you're dead on about just being real with people. I've seen dudes show up in beaters with mismatched panels and get more love than the guy with the $80k build who acts like he's too cool to talk to anyone. The whole "clean stock car" thing is legit too, like if your cars paid off and you take care of it, that's already more than half the people out there can say. I'd take a humble daily driver with a honest owner over some garage queen with a jerk behind the wheel any day of the week.