Have you ever participated in a 'Cruise Night' in your city?
 

It was a really warm day today: about room temperature outside. So by nightfall, every young kid got into their 'suped' up car and drove down Albert Street in my city. I was surprised that this tradition has started so early in the year.

Anyways, I drove past to where the entusiasts usually hang out (mall parking lots) and spotted a totally tricked out '96 Suzuki Swift. This thing had blue underglow, 15" rims, window tint, and all the fixings. However the Swift wasn't lowered. I spoke with the owner and he said he knew a guy that had lowering springs for his '95 Geo & later took them off because he was trying to sell the car. Incidentally, I actually graduated with the guy in highschool, so maybe I should give him a random call and ask how much $$$ he wants for his springs :D, if he still has them.

I cruised some more down Albert and even did some "brisk acceleration" with other cars (of course I was always left in the dust). The cool part is that even though my max rpm reading for the evening was ~4750 or so, I still ended up with 53+ mpg for the night.

The most intense "cruise night" I've experienced in was in Winnipeg Manitoba on Sunday nights. It's so extreme that there was vehicular congestion when I approached the infamous Portage/Main intersection and pedestrians had lawnchairs to sit on the sidewalks to watch the 'show'. Even though my Fiero at the time couldn't keep up to anything it was still very fun.

What are 'Cruise Nights' like in your areas?

my area? my corn/bean/cow area? yea losts of either older people with cars or middle aged people. theres a few younger (my age) custom car groups around but ive never seen a cruise with them or anything. But ive been in a few cruise nights with my chevette. my dad brings his VW Ghia too so its kind of a family thing. drive up park pop the hood confuse a few people cuz suprisingly alot have never seen a carbed 4banger. or they start up a chat about how a chevette was thier first new car they ever bought. i usually stay for about 1-2 hours just walkin around lookin at some cars, chattin with the "usualls"

That's sad. On a positive note, there are some recycling centers that will pay good money for those cans, if you clean them. I once made about $8 over a 2 hour period picking up cans on the side of the road and bringing them to a recycling center. Filled up a tall kitchen trashbag with crushed cans(uncrushed cans were crushed with my foot), and about 2 grocery bags.

Would be nice for my EV to be finished by then, so a friend and I can roll around doing activities of questionable legality without anyone or anything else to share the road with, while only spending a few cents for electricity and battery costs.

Rolling around, listening to Dre, passing a J, and looking for play. Good times.

Anything straight pipe should be required by law to exit it in the driver's face. If they want that magnificent rumble, they can have all of it. :mad:

Peakster -

Way back in the day, maybe mid 1980's, Westwood was the car cruise capital of the West Side. I did this to my (Dad's) Karmann Ghia :

Attachment 291

The great thing about it is that it was 100% removeable. Take off the bar and you're back to stock. The eye-covers are soft Tandy Co. leather. Later on I used chrome VW eyelets turned to look "mean".

I would turn so many heads with that car bra on. The Ghia nose is a "natural" shark nose, IMO.

CarloSW2

That's one can every 7.2 seconds. Then there's cleaning and crushing, taking even more time. Definately not a moneymaking proposition, unless you don't have much work available. I've probably put $30-40 into my EV conversion thanks to recycled cans people have thrown on the side of the road over the summers of the past 2 years. Hey, when it's summer, you're still looking for a job, and your university job ran out of available work, any money is better than nothing. Free money gotten just by walking around with friends looking for abandoned lots to blow stuff up or smoke/drink. I'll take what I can get.

Now if you have no problem ripping off taxpayers of other states and live near these states, you could drive over with a huge bag of cans and turn them in for a $.05 refund on each can in CA, VT, ME, MA, NY, OR, and $.10 refund per can in MI. If I left out any states, sorry, but this is from memory. Personally, I wouldn't do this if I lived close enough to one of these states for this to be viable.

Motorcycles and extremely low sports cars usually need to make a lot of noise so they can be heard on the highway. Many times they are usually not seen, *especially* by large trucks and SUVs. If they are heard, at least the drivers of these vehicles know that they should take caution when changing lanes, unless they want to kill someone.

Reminds me of that Alligator car in Deathrace 2000.

https://www.scifilm.org/images2/deathrace2000-1.jpg

Sterling kit car on a VW chassis.

That Ghia is one sweet ride. Would make an excellent EV conversion due to low weight, low aero drag, and decent battery room. Ghias can get 100 Wh/mile from the battery pack at 60 mph with aero mods, LRR tires, synthetic lube, and other efficiency modifications. John Bryan of the EV list has achieved consumption this low. Got 60 miles range or so on 16 Optima Yellowtops, at least when the pack was new(Now he's getting much less given the pack is almost a decade old). On 25 of them, I calculated he would get about 120 miles, from the lower amp draws and its relation to Peukert's effect.

Another electrical engineering student I know is thinking of converting his Ghia into an EV. Such a great platform.

I totaly agree, you don't need to be loud in a small car or on a motorcycle to be safe, you need to pay attention, and use your horn when others aren't paying attention, I've alwas had small motorcycles, and small cars, my civic vx is the largest car I've had yet.

First Thursday night every month kids gather at the legendary Varsity drive-in restaurant in downtown Atlanta. I took the Beat last month and instantly had a crowd of interest gathered around the tiny car.

I'm with the crowd here. The only way for a loud exhaust to be effective is if the rider is going slower than everyone, which I have never seen. Rider height is the same as a car, and as long as they're wearing bright colors, there's no reason for a driver to miss them. :thumbup:

theclencher, I think I should do the same. Might as well get a reputation as a letter writing extremist started early on. ;) But yeah, really obnoxious... Especially on a bicycle, since they'll filter past you occasionally. :thumbdown:

Hello -

I don't mind noise for the most part. We have Harley's go up and down the street alot. When I really need quiet, I use earplugs.

What I do like is the idea of "inverse proportion" horns. I see no reason not to put a HUMUNGOUS horn on a little car so that it can be heard when it needs to be heard. I remember upgrading my motorcycle horn back in the day for that reason. I keep toying with the the idea of an air horn, but I can never tell how loud they will really be, so I never get one.

PS - I almost NEVER use my horn. Only in extreme "you're about to hit me!!!" circumstances.

CarloSW2

lol dont come near me then. my trucks got 4 airhorns and my chevette 2. i put them on not so much as i can be heard easier but more of the scare factor... when people hear a louder not so normal car horn noise they tend to pay attention quicker and usualyl do somehting inetelgent... i use them all the time for every little thing too. like if they pull out in front of me and cant figure out how to accelerate when in heavy traffic. with noone in front of them i might add.

i have a question: Saturday i was in walmart parking lot and a few parkign spots ahead of me i saw a kid run accross to go to gamestop (videogame store) that was right next door. i could have sworn i saw another kid runnign behind him a little ways but wasnt sure so i slowly preceded watching everywhere cautiously. he then runs out about a parking space in front of my truck so i was a tad suprised and hit the brakes and hit the horn(4 airhorns) (kind of a natual rection nowadays)for about 2 seconds. he then started crying and ran back to his mom about 2 rows back where he came from and she gave him a nice smack on the butt. lol i thought it was funny but should i have honked? i say i should have because what if i hadent seen him or what if another driver was going faster and distracted? I bet now he will watch both ways before crossing the street tho so i belive i did good...

lol stupid motorcycles dont need straight pipes... if thats the case why dont bycycle riders and small car owners get to have straight pipes or a constant alarm type of thing...

and most sports cars that are extremely low are mid or rear engine and you dont hear any noise untill thier past you...(much like a stealth bomber)

Same response here theclencher.

I did a lane change the other day and even though I had my signal light on for an eternity and was doing 10km/h past the speed limit to get into the lane, a truck in the lane accelerated towards my rear and honked at me not once, but another time later as if I totally ruined his day. I gave him a little 'brake check' (but not a savage one because the Geo has been pretty good to me) before making a left turn.

One time another truck was tailgating me real bad when I had my red stationwagon. I gave him a moderate 'brake check' just as he was signalling to get into the other lane. He must've been paying attention elsewhere because the next thing I see, the truck swerves to the side, tires squealing and all and makes the lane change just inches from hitting my rear corner.

Tailgating is probably one of the stupidest things a driver can do, ever. It pees off the front driver big time, and one touch of the brake can mean a nice insurance payoff for the one being rear-ended. I always leave large amounts of space in front of me while driving. Even while 'drafting' semis, I'm a good 3 seconds behind them.

I do cruise night around here occassionally in my secret gas guzzler (no, not in the garage) but it consists of driving down to "Main Street" and parking with all the other Hot Rods. No cruising and I won't run it hard (street racing) as I have traction problems which makes it too dangerous street or track.

There are plenty of hicks here too. I may be one of them but I don't drink or smoke and I can read. I am one of those freakish hicks - a one off.

well i usually dont do it when i only have to engine brake or let off the throttle a bit but im talking extreme cases like pulling out ahead of me when theres only about 2-3 semi lengths between me going 55-60 and you going 15... thats just being idiotic on the person in front of me... especially when i have no cars behind me...:mad:

I think its something with chevettes that make people pull out in front of you on the highway. I'm not sure if they just don't see me because its a small car or if they think I'm going slow/far away because its tiny. Times like those make me wish i had a horn.

I put a nice air horn on my car, sounds just like a freight train. Makes it fun at broken railroad crossings when the lights are stuck on :)

https://metroxfi.com/airhorn.jpg

Air bottle is an old fire extinguisher, pump is from harbor freight and the horn I got off ebay for 65 bucks or so. I think it is a useful addition to help me get better mileage out of my metro.... Well maybe not but it is fun either way :D :D

VetteOwner -

You remind me of one instance where I do honk the horn very deliberately. If a squirrel or cat crosses the road in front of me and I can slow down (not being followed), I'll give the animal some good blasts to scare the daylights out of them.

So, we see kids and squirrels in the same light, :D .

Everything is context. In the long run, honking the kid is probably for his own good. In a different context, maybe someone nearby could dump their groceries all over the place, pull their back out, or the parent might not be amused.

YC(ontext)MV,

CarloSW2

Coyote X -

That's what I call a self-made air horn. I think it's good for MPG because it increases your safety so you can keep the car on the road longer. I wonder if you can get an insurance discount by calling it an "Acoustic safety device"?

CarloSW2

Ya, you did right. Better a good honking today than head trauma tomorrow. And his Mom did right, too. Too many mommies of today would have just been mad at you for daring to honk at their little prince.

But they can't be crushed so more space is needed for the same number of cans. The bar codes are scanned to determine if the cans are eligible for the refund. Containers purchased in NH (no deposit) are rejected for refund in MA.
That's why I've mounted my car's horn to the rear bumper. I've started a petition to have all the ambulances and fire trucks mount their sirens to the rear as well. The rear facing sound is apparently much more effective at projecting the sound in the direction of travel as evidenced by the large number of "loud pipes save lives" crowd.
Try blowing a hand-held mini air horn in their ear and then say "I just saved your life, Dolt!"

haha good someone agrees with me on whappin kids when they deserve it... i bet you your parents did it to you and are you cryigng yourself to sleep about it? lol i highly doubt it...:D

got a pics of my trucks. loud in the front but even louder from the sides for those idiots who think they can merge into my car...

https://www.fuelly.com/attachments/fo...86f0b26559.jpg

haha truck was a mess that day cuz i was rewiring the headlights:p