Why Do People Always Touch Cars ?

Touch can connect you to an object in a very personal way to make it seem more real:

[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-rDqwLN99Xg[/ame]

However, I agree that it is a faux pas to do so without the permission of the owner. If they're not around to ask, the answer is presumed to be a no.

All the best,
Andrew.

 

Why Do People Always Touch Cars? - Because they know it will annoy the owner!

 

Some of the younger generation have never learned respect for other people's property.

Marcel Massini

 

Marcel has a point and I guess you can tell by the size of the handprints how old the "toucher" was.

I remember as a small child writing my name in the dust on someones car. Not a Ferrari or anything else special I must stress! Just an ordinary car in an ordinary, dusty, carpark. I learned to respect other people's property that day from the telling off my parents gave me. I never did anything like it again.

At events like the Goodwood FoS where cars have just come from Le Mans and have yet to be washed, you will see all kinds of stuff written in the grime. Not good.

On my last visit to Maranello, in the Galleria Ferrari, there was a Japanese family looking round and their children were running around out of control. At one point the father was photographing one of the children sitting on the nose of an F1 car!

Perhaps a few sticky handprints, while annoying, are better than the alternative. Just be pleased there are not any footprints!

Robert

 

You could also take it as a compliment: people like to touch a thing of beauty.

 

Really? A fingerprint complaint? And bird droppings?

As long as it's not a scratch from some rednecks belt... It'll wash off. BTW GET OFF MY LAWN!

 

Really annoying on a black one.
I keep a "diaper cloth" in the car to deal with the fingerprints on the door every time I left it parked at work.
I once joked I should park it in the lobby, for the attention it got.

But where some people are "visually oriented", others focus more on touch.

I once got roped into going shopping with a girlfriend. We were in the mall to get her watch band adjusted, but she had to stroll through all the clothes stores --- touching every item that interested her.

She was equally surprised that I *didn't* "look" at clothes by touching them.

Sometimes it can yield unexpected benefits.
I once went out of my way to find "low maintenance" summer shirts. Turned out to be 90% synthetic ... but it felt like silk.
That got me fondled by more women than any other item I ever owned.
(I always thought the pure cotton shirts looked better -- but some women like to feel. )

 

Ignorance and/or a lack of respect.

I get that some people are touch oriented, but that doesn't excuse putting prints on someone's expensive automobile. That's where the ignorance/lack of respect comes into play.

 

They should have their hands cut off to teach them a lesson, how else will they learn!

 

It IS all about ignorance and a lack of respect.

There used to be a guy at UK events who was blind. Despite this he was still able to have a real appreciation of the beauty of Ferraris. I watched him once feeling his way around a Testarossa with a special body (87193) and it was a joy for me to see the enjoyment he received (and to hear the knowledge he had) from being able to touch something so different from a usual Testarossa, which he clearly knew by touch too. However, he always wore soft white gloves so there was never a fingerprint left behind.

I am ashamed to say that I do not remember his name: I only found out what it was when I read his obituary in the UK FOC magazine. He was, however, full of respect for the cars he "saw" and for their owners, and not in the least bit ignorant.

 

they know not what they do. If I were to lay hands on their car they wouldn't care a bit, it's only a car to them. Yes, it seems they have not been taught to respect other's property so they just don't get it.
I've seen guys at shows get all bent out of shape when people get too close or touch and wonder why, KNOWING some people will do this do they bother to show the car at all.

I have also noticed an interesting, inverse correlation between a car's value and an owner's willingness to let(I ask) me touch, sit in, etc. Guys with some jacked up Camaro are more protective than a fellow who drove me around the show field in his Duesenberg or another who invited my wife to have a seat behind the wheel of the "most gorgeous car she'd ever laid eyes on", his L29 Cord.

 

At a car show. A woman was picking at the edge of my clear bra. I resisted a politically incorrect sexist comment.

 

The "touchers" are to be expected. What you need to watch out for are the folks who lean in to take a close look and their purse or camera swings into the car like a wrecking ball. Oftentimes they won't even seem to notice what just happened. I wonder what it must be like to be that oblivious.

I've learned to stay away from car shows that are free to the public. The exception to that is "Cars & Coffee" crowds are generally very respectful.

 

It gets worse.
At a Concours d'Elégance, where regular visitors have paid between 10 $ and 650 $ for a ticket (Quail, Pebble, Villa d'Este, etc.). They now think they are entitled to sit on fender, open doors, sit in the car, eat in the car and on and on.
The world is crazy. Absolutely zero respect for others.

Marcel Massini

 

Marques DeElegance near Toronto. I had my car there. There were various marques etc. This original shelby cobra 427 with 47 miles and was never painted was sitting there. It belonged in a museum. I looked over,under it drew me in..I almost put a hand on it. The owner laughed and admonished. Yes I knew better. We chatted. He said it happens all the time. Good guy. Yes knowing better but it just drew me in.
GTS Bruce

 

I agree with this - and sometimes, its not even being intentionally disrespectful of others' property... sometimes it's involuntary.

Heck, I even go as far as to put my hands in my pockets, like the other day when I saw a Ford GT parked at a restaurant I was going into... hell yeah I wanted to go check it out! I've only seen a couple of those in the wild. And although I would never touch anyone's car intentionally, I stuck my hands in my pockets as I walked around it, just as a reminder not to be tempted.

 

You mean something like "stupid *****?" I probably wouldn't have resisted.

 

An appropriate response might have been to considerably shorten her lifespan.

All the best,
Andrew.

 

It's for this reason I'm apprehensive to take the 360 to car shows this summer. I was at a show with my Z06 last year, my dad was parked next to me in his XKR. The windows were open, some kid came along and lifted himself up by the door, his clothes, jeans buttons, etc. rubbing up against the paint. The dad did absolutely nothing. I wanted to go off right then and there. My dad just closed his windows.

 

The proper way is to stand back from the car and hold your hands behind your back.

 

Every child should learn like this....all comes down to Respect


Sent from my 16M

 

I think I get why they do it-and in a lot of the cases they've prob never seen the car in the tin before. I won't touch the paint on cars and it's probably b/c I've actually painted them-and most people just don't have a clue how much wet sanding/work it is to do the right way

That said, I don't mind people touching my gt4-but the paint is terrible and I've been 'going to paint it' for almost a decade. Our house is across the street from the beach so in the summer you get tons of folks walking by. I see folks stopping all the time touching the 'Dino 308 gt4' badge on the back. They don't know what the hell the car is-I'm cool with that. I didn't know what they were either when I saw one in a parking garage as a kid

 

Moths are attracted to light, humans to bright shiney objects. Seriously why do you take your car to a car show, its to show them to other people, expect the worst.

Leave a really nice car in a parking lot, even parked at the far end and sooner or later some dolt will park as close as possible so they can open their door into yours. Its a way of their saying you're no better than me, or a form of resentment. Whether we like it or not cars are highly symbolic and exotics send a particularily strong message. What percentage of the general populace, or even people at a car show really appreciate the machine?

When it comes to mechanical objects most poeple are philistines, even many who own them themselvs(cant shift, wont warmup, dont service etc) , along with tire shops service techs etc.

If you want to keep your car really nice and well running, be careful of who works on it, where you drive it and where you leave it. If you go to a car show with your car, expect every sort of philistine possible. For most people a car show is just a days outing, could have been disney last week. As others have said as long as no scratches or damage get over it or dont take your car to a show.

I dont really get car shows, is it a form of self gratifiaction for the owner,a social thing? To me the cars are for driving, let them get a bit drity so youre happy to use it next time and every few drives clean and polish yourself. Put them away for the next drive.

 

You might as well ask why men like to touch women.