Any random comments you've gotten about your car's ecomods?
 

I'm not sure if it's the Kammback or the front wheel skirt, but a lot more people have been craning their necks or stopping in their tracks (pedestrians) to get a glimpse of the weird black car since those two mods. I've seen more than a couple big smiles and outright laughter from passengers in passing cars .

More comments from people than there used to be too, so I decided to start a list of things people have said.

Previous comments, noted in this thread:

• "Making a batmobile?"

• "Hey, looks like a CRX."

• "Is that [Kammback] to expand your trunk space?"

• "At first glance i thought it was some sort of new hybred [sic]." from this thread

Comments today:

• "What kind of car is that? Is it French? Is it one of those Citroens?"

• "Is that wheel cover for aerodynamics? Are you a professional engineer?" (Me: No. Definitely an amateur!)

And because I often charge the 12v battery(/batteries) with a solar panel when not using the alternator...

• "Is that an electric car?"

Not many people said anything about my Celebrity for a long time except a few coworkers who knew I had been working on it. But the day I added the wheel covers, it was like I turned on a switch saying "look at me". Half the people at work, people at gas stations, parking lots, everyone seemed to notice. I tell them it all adds up for fuel savings.

Whenever people ride in my car, I _always_ get questions about the scangauge. Some people try to touch it and figure it out, others just ask what it is.

I tell them it's the car geek equivalent of an iPhone. It's the OBD-II device to end all OBD-II devices, just like the iPhone is the phone to end all phones.

I had complete strangers comment "Is that the car that had the skirts?" A YEAR AFTER I TOOK THE SKIRTS OFF!

Comments received about the Blackfly
 

Found this on the windshield this morning. Funny, but not overly original (had a passerby call it the Batmobile already). Hmm... maybe it was the same person...

http://ecomodder.com/forum/attachmen...4&d=1239397950

Note placement under a wiperless arm. :)

I get most of my comments due to the "57 MPG" sticker on the back and the airtabs. I thought of removing the airtabs, but not yet sure. When I had it plugged in at work, a few people asked about the "Electric car" out back.

I wish I had you guys carefree attitude. I hate being laughed at. ( which happens almost every day in my case.)

I love that "batmobile Junior" comment :thumbup:

Cd, when I see people smiling while seeing my car, I interpret it as their consent they ignore what it's about :p
Even in Citroen's country, aerodynamic is a secret... and prius & insight looks aren't appreciated.
I'm thinking about drawing a big "4 L/100" on the skirts.

Denis.

I was mocking up a wingtail today, and my wife said: "I'm not riding in that thing, its embarrassing!"

sigh

Batmobile Junior, I like that!

A couple friends saw my scangauge and they are like what's it do?

me: "it gives instantanious mpg".

they: "oh you mean like on new cars?"

me: "yea, except it's not a new car that's why it's on here."

they: "oh ok"

I got "is it electric?" again today.

"No, actually it isn't, but that blue car is."

But they aren't interested in the blue car. People just seem to like solar panels. (I'm convinced if you put a solar panel in the windshield of a Hummer people will ask if it's electric.)

Time to split off a new thread...

http://ecomodder.com/forum/showthrea...arms-7897.html

Yesterday in Ottawa, a young couple (early 20's) in a Ford Focus sedan kept speeding up & slowing down to look at the car. The woman yelled something across to me (at me?) while we were driving, but I couldn't make it out over the wind & traffic noise.

I'm guessing she thought it was funny judging by their expressions.

Twice they sped away to the next red light, only to have me roll up alongside them again as the light changed back to green. :)

Today someone said: "Looks like one of those French cars... is that a Peugeot?"

I've always failed to understand how one can misidentify a car, when the model is _written_ on the side and/or back of it? Your car says "Pontiac Firefly" on the back, right? How do people get "Peugeot" from "Pontiac?"

I've had 4 different people ask me if my Mercedes is a Porsche. What gave it away, the 3-pointed star?

To be fair, the Peugeot guy only saw it from the side. And the Pontiac logos on the wheel covers are hidden by the wheel skirts. :)

I think it's easy to forget how little the average person cares/thinks/knows about cars.

Are non-car fans incapable of reading, too? jeez...

I remember when I was like 7 years old, I just burst out laughing when I recognized Mustang wheels on a Ford Ranger. I had read the brochures for both vehicles (my parents brought me to local dealers, where I walked off with a copy of every brochure). So, I recognized that the Ranger driver probably thought he had a fast car, since he had Mustang wheels, but he's actually a complete tool.

If a 7 year old can recognize poor taste in car modifications, an adult should be able to read "Pontiac Firefly." I'm wierd, though.

This weekend I was in Big Rapids (college town) and there was this bunch of guys in an Explorer that went by me in the left lane. One of them leaned out the window and hollered something, not sure what since my window was closed.

About car names, there was time at work when someone sent around an email saying "there's a white Plymouth wagon outside with its lights on". It was my white 90 PONTIAC wagon that had written Pontiac logos front and back. I remembered turning off my lights, but turned out my headlight relay had stuck on so I had to pull the fuse.

People yelling out windows always make me laugh. A few weeks ago, we had "Unofficial St. Patrick's day" weekend here at University of Illinois. So, instead of half the campus being drunk every night (as per usual), 90% of campus was drunk for four days straight.

As I was pulling out of a one-way alley, a last-gen Altima packed with at least 8 frat guys tried to turn into the alley, going the wrong way. It was nice out, so I had my windwos down and so did they. In unison, they all yelled "ASSHOLE" and honked the horn at me and gave the finger. Seems a little hypocritical, right? lol...

cardboard Metro comment
 

http://ecomodder.com/forum/attachmen...1&d=1528809339
(Although I didn't have the kayak in the back at the time...)

Stopped in a construction zone yesterday, a few worker guys are having a chuckle at the Metro. One yells over:

"That cardboard increases your fuel mileage?"

Me: "Yup! Want some for your truck?"

Zombie thread.

http://ecomodder.com/forum/member-fr...5-100-1036.jpg

I've never driven a car that makes people as happy as the Superbeetle, whether they want to stop and chat or not. Mods are limited to the front tire size and the adjustable struts. it's down about 6" in front and 2" in back.

It takes a special kind with the Dasher. When I went to the Arcimoto open house last Saturday, I rolled past a group of eight or ten at the entrance as I was parking. One guy ran up to me, wanting me to know he is a European (?) and my car was developed from the NSU Ro-80. We talked about the Audi80/Passat B2/Dasher lineage, and when he said he thought the green tinted glass (I'll confess I hadn't really noticed myself) was a Europe-only option, I knew I had a nerd on my hands.

http://ecomodder.com/forum/member-fr...8-100-1154.jpg

freebeard- You're probably responsible for more people getting hit in the arm than anyone else on the forum.

A mechanic told me I was going to overheat my engine when he noticed the pipe insulation grill block. I replied that I have an engine coolant gauge and have an alarm set to tell me well in advance of high temps.

And a cooling fan, presumably. :)

If you consider the car itself an ecomod, I have gotten plenty of guff for first the Echo, then most classic car enthusiasts' least fav car, the Civic. Rice burner, wuss car, etc. It's actually kind of funny.

Responsible? Responsible?!?

Don't use me as an excuse for your violence. I'm not going to sell off my 1958 Beetle just so little kids have no excuse to bully each other.

I was at the fastener store (I upgraded my whole-house fan today (coincidentally)) and there was a guy driving a Honda Civic Hybrid. I asked him what mileage he got. He said in the 30s, and it's a car he inherited when his wife got a better one. My comment that it looked like a not-Prius was probably lost on him.

In 2012 someone on campus left a note on the Civic that read, "Your car looks stupid!" I'm amused that whoever it was went to the trouble, but they could have been more creative.

http://ecomodder.com/forum/member-vm...810-182215.jpg

I see at one time we had another University of Illinois person on the forum....

That's probably some Civic hate. That's very easy to draw our. Nearly any other car with identical mods would likely not have drawn any attention whatsoever.

It would seem a car pulling a trailer some how changes masculinity of pickup driving duche bags.

I will probably put something on the back of my trailer saying "yes this trailer can carry more weight than your half ton".

This has not come up in a while, but for some reason I do not like pizza pans. I just want to be different? I bought pizza [I]separators[I] and attached them in a way that did not last very long. Someone asked me something to the extent of "What's the go with the car, mate?"

I did not want to get into it, at least until I did everything properly. I just told him I borrowed it from a weirdo.

When I made my rolled plastic air dam and grill block someone shouted "Racecar."

"Rice car?" :)

Dzus Fasteners. On TIG welded pedestals accurate to 1/64th inch.

Yeah the pizza pans look great on old lake racers, lead sleds, etc., but out of place on a modern car. I'm not really one to critique aesthetics, though, when it is deliberately done with a useful purpose in mind. Vents fall into the same category where I despise fake ones, but give a full pass even to ridiculous-looking ones when they are functional.

Pizza pans are fake Moon disks, and they look fake. The lip turns the wrong way and they have no crown.

When I did my Metro air dam I had a neighbour shout: "You're doing NASCAR now?!"


http://ecomodder.com/forum/attachmen...1&d=1511733967

Wheel discs:


http://ecomodder.com/forum/attachmen...1&d=1505497330

I had a conversation with another driver at a red light with about the Miata's discs, along the lines of "where did you get those?" A: "I made them". I think he thought they might be carbon fiber, thus the interest?



Or was he just messing with me?

When I was driving Ron Burgundy with its shaved doors, sunroof, tiny side mirrors, custom paint, leather seats, custom grill block, solar panel and mirrored moon discs it drew a lot of comments. Never got a negative one unless you count "hey is that a space car?"

I had a lot of people ask about my g1 Insight: "Is that an electric car?"

Yesterday a coworker of mine asked me to look over his car for it's potential in being modded. He gets low 20s out of an '00 Oldsmobile Alero.

He didn't like it when I told him that 80% of my FE benefit was from adjusting my driving style.

He sought the idea of ecomods that could replace smart driving.

Cheater alert. :p

The allure of the magic bullet.


Too bad ecomodding is more like magic buckshot.

Ouch! That stings. :)

I had a thought, and no better place to put it.

*Schrodinger's Cat paradox = ran when parked*

comments
 

*Some have asked if Spirit was a Tornado Intercept Vehicle (TIV) ala 'Storm Chasers')
I'd tell them no,but that it was about driving in hurricanes (air velocities above 72-mph).
*Some have asked about its mpg.
*Some have asked about its aerodynamics.
*So far,everyone has been civil.
:)