Topic: Pros, Experts & Rookies - what do you specialise in?

[woodinsight]

Perhaps it's a bit presumptuous of me (I'm still relatively new here) to ask AutoPuzzles members what they are specialists in.

Our ages and interests vary widely, that's obvious, however it would be interesting to hear from members where their interests lie.
 
I have noted with interest over the past year that many members appear to have a specific area that they are experts in - whether it be modern cars, design concepts, motor sport, vintage cars, mini/micro cars, cars from a certain country or region, etc. We even have specialists in commercial vehicles and motor cycles.

I have always considered the Auto in AutoPuzzles as meaning Automotive rather than Automobile.

We are a community here that stretches around the globe and the knowledge members impart is truly outstanding.
The knowledge we can glean from the Internet and published material is vast and I believe that AutoPuzzles is the catalyst in gathering this information in one place. (I have to state that I have no direct contact with the founders of this site and that I'm merely stating my own thoughts).

There are many specialist websites out there and some are extremely good but many of them are too focussed on a particular aspect of the automotive world.

I believe that AutoPuzzle members are true automotive historians, not a bunch of 'anoraks' as some would label us.

Anyway, rant over, my own speciality is in sports racing cars, coachbuilders, one-offs, etceterini and many other subjects that appear on the site.  

What about you, what do you specialise in, what interests you?

Happy New Year to you all and I hope that 2011 will be good for you

[ImpishGrin]

I'm a bit of everything guy when it comes to automotive. It will be easier to name the areas that I don't have much knowledge of: racing cars, homebuilt cars and pre-1930 cars. I guess I have a bit more than average knowledge of Eastern Bloc cars, British cars and coachbuilders, but I wouldn't call myself an expert in any area.

I must say that every time I browse through the AP forum I feel humbled by the amount and quality of knowledge many of our members possess. Compared to some of you guys I'm more like a wannabe than a real historian. It feels great to be in such a company

[microcars]

Vintage Microcars/Kleinwagens
anything sub 700cc and made post WWII to 1964-ish and intended for road use.

lots of hunting and digging involved to get anything close to the truth.

[Aaron65]

I started working on cars in 1988, at age 11.  It was my family heirloom '65 Mustang.  I realized at a young age that while it's tough to be an expert at anything when you have a broad variety of interests, I could be good/acceptable at many things.  Nowadays I do most of the work on my stable of vehicles, but farm out final paint and body (sometimes--once again, I'm good, but not an expert), and machine work on all my cars.  Same goes for automotive history.  I've found I'm good/acceptable with many things, but a lot of these AutoPuzzles stump me...I'm terrible at one-offs, kit cars, weak and rusty on prewar (especially European), nearly useless on many coachbuilders and many obscure racecars, and awful with South American vehicles (I never knew there were so many!).  But I'm having a good time brushing up on my skills, even if AutoPuzzles is keeping me out of the garage more than I'd like!

[woodinsight]

Thanks for your replies guys. Interesting to read.

Although I have an interest in specific aspects of the automotive scene, I have to add that I have become more interested in certain vehicles that I would have dismissed before as being of little relevance.
One great thing that this site does, apart from the amount of time spent on it, is to increase one's knowledge of the automotive scene.

If I may add another thought regarding the points system - for a newcomer to the site (rookie) to reach 20 points (expert) can be relatively easy but then it's a daunting task to reach the 200 point (professional) rank.
I'm just wondering if another level - 100 points - could be introduced to give encouragement to those apparently throwing in the towel thinking that professional status is an impossible task.

Forgive me if this has already been discussed in another topic but I wanted to put pen to paper before I forget about it again  

[microcars]

so you are having trouble getting from 199 to 200?

[woodinsight]

Exactly

[Vincent Vell Vet]

I guess the "oddest" autos I know pretty good are American coachbuilt funeral cars and ambulances pre-'70s.
I know the usual production cars and trucks (pre-'73 of course!), but know my place on this site as a Rookie and am exited to learn much, much more.

I have a small body shop I've run for 25+ years - rust repair is my thang.

My current cars are;
'71 Imperial Coupe
2 '68 Plymouth Furys
'56 Plymouth Savoy
'62 Dodge Polara
'85 Jag XJS-C V-12. One of 300 in US
'85 Chev plow truck
Nothing newer EVER!!!

[barrett]

I'll have to echo ImpishGrin's sentiments here, I really can't claim to be a specialist in any area, in fact I'd say my knowledge of cars is very limited compared to most of the guys here. I'd hazard a guess that I'm probably the youngest member, so no doubt in time I'll have something approaching the knowledge that you all possess.

In terms of my interests, they have varied wildly over the years and so I have accumilated a little knowledge on microcars, US muscle cars, the Reliant company and glassfibre special bodies amongst others. Really I'd say that, like I imagine most of you could, I'm fascinated by anything obscure, unknown, forgotten or unloved. Postwar coachbuilt bodies on production cars are a big draw for me, but mostly these days the cars I find most interesting are Japanese production cars from the 1960s and 70s, mainly because most examples sold in the UK had vanished by the time I was old enough to take note of them. I'll happily walk past a 250GTO (of which, surely, more 'survive' than were originally built) to drool over a big Datsun or Toyota saloon.

[pnegyesi]

This is a rather difficult question for me as ever since I was very little I've been intrigued by automotive history. I'm also very much interested in current automobiles, Chinese cars etc.
I am also researching the history of Hungarian motoring for 18 years now, so you'd say I'm a specialist in that.
I'm not focusing on hot-rods and racing specials (save the Central and East European ones), but as I have a few books on those as well, I'm learning slowly.

You'd say I'm an omnivore

Let me wish all my fellow AutoPuzzlers a very Happy and prosperous New Year!
Boldog és Sikerekben Gazdag Új Évet kívánok!

[Otto Puzzell]

A mixed bag. skewing toward the unusual or seldom-seen. I enjoy studying and learning about cars that are constructed with a strong mission or purpose in mind, such as:

1. Ease of manufacturing (usually coupled with low cost).

2. Ultimate speed or other performance measure(s).

3. Visual appeal (which is subjective, I know). Some cars meet two of those criteria, and very few, all three.

I have a strong dislike for cars that are vanilla, and am developing an aversion to kit cars that are clones of other kit cars (Kobra's, Flim-Flamborghini's, etc.), and, cars that are vanilla to the point of disappearing, and, the general rush toward bulking up vehicles with AWD and other "must have" features that 99% of car buyers were able to live without until relatively recent times. 

My favorite puzzles to post, and to solve, are Hot Rods, Kustoms, coachbuilt specials, LSR cars, and home-built oddities that employ unique technology (real or imagined) or uncommonly pleasing aesthetic properties. I also enjoy the drawings and clay models of cars that were not yet finalized, or would never be finalized, by their creators. 

[knightfan26917]

*sighs*

I feel way out of place here now ... as I don't specialize in anything....



Cort | 37.m.IL.pigValve.pacemaker | 5 Monte Carlos + 1 Caprice Classic |
MCs.CC + CHD.models.HO.legos.RadioShows + RoadTrips.us66 = http://www.chevyasylum.com/cort
"I'm burning up this blacktop" ... Mark Collie ... 'Even The Man In The Moon Is Crying'

[Allan L]

When I was a member of the Veteran Car Club's Dating Committee (later Dating panel) I seemed to specialise in pre-1919 cars. Now that we have been disbanded I realise how little I actually know and how much of what I knew most about depended on the team environment (and library) we worked in.
My first car was a 1930 MG (all I could afford) so for the 54 years since I have had a general interest in the better cars of the 1920s and '30s (the MG was not one of those) and since 1959, when I bought a Lea-Francis, I have maintained an interest in that marque as regular autopuzzlers will have noticed.
A couple of the masters at the school I was at were rally drivers/co-drivers which taught me that cars could be used for sport as well as transport: I have done that more or less ever since leaving that school, albeit at the lower levels! At Technical College we played with anything we had, and a few near-contemporaries went on to great things.
I have watched some Grands Prix (including the only one ever won by a Porsche!), the Le Mans 24-hour race and countless British club races, many of which I have been the handicappper for.
Being an engineer (aeronautical, not automotive) I like to know how things work and I am dismayed that neither the magazines nor even the manufacturers' brochures tell us anything technical these days, when the technicalities are actually so much more complex than they were.
Much of what I remember of the cars and car people of the past half-century, like other memories, turns out to be incorrect when documentary evidence is found. Some threads here illustrate that all too well!

Sign-off line applies!

[Otto Puzzell]

*sighs*

I feel way out of place here now ... as I don't specialize in anything....

Many of your other posts, as well as your chosen moniker, suggest otherwise.

[woodinsight]

*sighs*

I feel way out of place here now ... as I don't specialize in anything....



Cort | 37.m.IL.pigValve.pacemaker | 5 Monte Carlos + 1 Caprice Classic |
MCs.CC + CHD.models.HO.legos.RadioShows + RoadTrips.us66 = http://www.chevyasylum.com/cort
"I'm burning up this blacktop" ... Mark Collie ... 'Even The Man In The Moon Is Crying'

I disagree with you Knightfan, your travels alone with your wonderful photos are very enlightening - especially to us outside the US of A.
The site is not just about individual cars, there are so many other aspects to the automotive scene.

[DynaMike]

I concur with Pnegyesi and call myself rather an omnivore than a specialist. My interests lay in bread-and-butter cars from the 30s till the 60s, especially French ones and especially Panhard and Citroën as being the most abnormal normal cars; but I find interesting almost anything that has four wheels and an engine. I have no interest in speed though, so racecars, hotrods and the like are for me unidentifyable driving objects from outer space...

[Ultra]

knightfan is our specialist on "the road."

[Carnut]

What I like most of all is the whole world of the Italian Carrozzieri - specially the 1960's; plus all Italian cars.
Having said that, I love anything that is exceptionally rare from the 1940's onwards - especially the weird home-built specials.
Having been a boy in the 1950's and early 1960's American cars of that era also hold a special interest, more so than British ones as they seemed so dull and old-fashioned to me at the time; now that they're "classics" I still fail to see how anyone can worked up about a Morris Minor...!
Also any sports car from any country whether it's from the fifties, sixties, seventies, eighties etc etc!

[gilescooperuk]

Personally the British Kit Car scene is my main area of interest - along with some racing cars and 70s / 80s 'normal cars'. - and of course obscure reuses of lights....

Mind you a couple of others on here also share that interest but there is a lot I don't know and will take a stab in the dark on a few options and occasionally hit the mark....

[Allemano]

As I came here 2 years ago I believed I was specialized on Italian cars, but I had to learn I'm not! Esp. compared to the guy who filled up the Italian coachbuilder topic..

Though I have to admit I did collect a lot of points I'm still feeling like a Rookie every day and that's no understatement. Usually I open this site in the morning and checking the "Recent Unread Posts" first. There are hardly 2-5% of cars that I've seen before. (some I wish I would had never seen, but that's a different story..)

My main interest are well made cars with a special, distinctive look, mainly of the 50s, 60s early 70s. Hard to explain what fascinates me on them. Probably it's that era of 'anything goes' back then. I much prefer B/W period pics compared with those high-gloss pictures shot on recent events like Pebble Beach, Villa D'Este etc.

Though some of them are nicely done I still have a huge displeasure on kit-cars in particular Lamborghini Countach kits or Daytonas or the 1001st Super 7.

I don't like either:
Chinese copies
most of Pre-War cars (as I'm not to be able to distinguish most of them)
limos
neo-classics
...
...

I like:
most of European coachwork cars
US-fibreglass coachwork- and sportscars of the 50s 60s
racing sports cars (Formula cars rather not)
classical microcars -1970 (I made a 180° turn on that subject)
...
...

[DeAutogids]

I never wanted to specialise in anything. I thought I new a thing or two about cars, but find that although that still holds true, the world of strange, wonderfull, exotic, but even mondain production cars is so big, that I feel more and more drowning. Though at the moment I still like to try and swim.

By the way, my fascination for cars is from the time I was a kid, not so long ago, but not wanting to let go that particularly nice feeling to have a new toy car. I collect these, even though I don't even try too much to get the older ones and it growes almost every week.

[Wendax]

It started all with an eight- or nine-year-old boy (me) discovering an old album, in which his father had collected cigarette cards and some newspaper clip-outs in 1950, showing cars. Since then interested in cars, I bought my first car history book at the age of 14. Nowadays I own many books, newspapers and more than 5000 self-shot car photographs, a collection of car quartets and much more.

I am very interested in German and French cars, especially microcars, mainly after WWII. But almost every strange or rare car is able to fascinate me. So there is some knowledge about quite a variety of cars, and some horrifying ( ) knowledge holes on others.

[knightfan26917]

*sighs*

I feel way out of place here now ... as I don't specialize in anything....

Many of your other posts, as well as your chosen moniker, suggest otherwise.

(and)

I disagree with you Knightfan, your travels alone with your wonderful photos are very enlightening - especially to us outside the US of A.
The site is not just about individual cars, there are so many other aspects to the automotive scene.

(and)

knightfan is our specialist on "the road."

...came very unexpectedly.

Why?

Because, in some ways, it is very intimidating to come here ... and see how many people make solving puzzles look ssssooo easy.  And, yet, I have RARELY been able to solve a puzzle.  In some cases, I've been close to an answer, but not quite close enough.  Other times, I've been WAY off on my thinking.  In other cases, I've arrived back here too late to solve a puzzle I knew from the moment I saw the picture.

Add to that ... I'm not in the slightest bit mechanically inclined.  That's right; I don't work on my own cars ... well, except for cleaning and driving them.  I leave the mechanical stuff to the "professionals".

*shrugs*

But, something you noted, woodinsight, caught my attention ... the fact that the automotive scene has many different aspects to it.  It is too bad that more people don't seem to GET that.

So, thank you, all ... I appreciate your comments.



Cort | 37.m.IL.pigValve.pacemaker | 5 Monte Carlos + 1 Caprice Classic | * 05.21.2011_FrnkGrvILmeet
MCs.CC + CHD.models.HO.legos.RadioShows + RoadTrips.us66 = http://www.chevyasylum.com/cort
"I'm just out to find the better part of me" __ 5 For Fighting __ 'Superman'

[Carnut]

I'm just about 100% with Allemano on his 'specialities' and go along with knightfan too; I'm no mechanical genius either but I just love reading about cars and washing and polishing them!!

[Raul1983]

I try to specialize in pre-1930 American cars/trucks and all Chinese made cars. Weird combination, I know. Actually I'm interested about all kind of cars minus kitcars and replicas. I have to admit I don't know racing cars and super cars very well.