cruise-in

I'm getting ready for the first cruise-in of the season tonight. It will be at Southpark near Dillard's and will kick off at 6:00 p.m. These events used to be called cruises, but since there were no organized cruises during the event they changed it to cruise-in. Makes sense in a way, but if you're a car person you already knew what it meant.
Cruise-ins, like car shows, are a place for people with really big egos to show off their multi-thousand dollar billetmobiles. It used to a gathering of car guys who talked shop; who bought what, sold what, put in a new cam. Now the egotist who pay someone to put the car together, pay someone else to paint, and someone else to upholster it talk about how much money they got it their work of rolling art. They can't give much technical information because they don't know the first thing about working on their own cars. This leaves us real hot rodders off in a corner talking about who bought what, well, you get my drift. The funny thing is, the real car guys don't mind the billetmobiles getting all the attention, if fact we think them a bit crazy. We know it's not about showing off your $3,000 set of billet wheels and fancy tires, it's about putting your ride together and driving it. So remember, keep the shiny side and enjoy the ride. And if you see and old vehicle with faded paint, loud pipes, and a driver smiling ear to ear with his, or her, greying hair in the wind give them a wave.