Greg, as often happens I'm pretty much on the same wave length as Mike, and Dave for that matter(on car issues anyway ). When it comes to the car I'm pretty close to Don. That car you pictured looks to be a coupe or sport coupe cut down to look like a roadster which was not uncommon "back in the day", at least where the weather or personal insanity motivated. A lot of traditional style guys don't like the rat term because it's not intended to be complimentary, at least in it's origins. Ratty is...............well, ratty! This car is pretty tidy in a traditional theme. I think this represents what a majority of the folks that consider their car a traditional style are doing. They're building something that catches the flavor of the '50's or even '60's, but have incorporated a few "convenience" items such as alternators, and maybe even tilt columns.

Don, you must be a very kind man. Personally I think you're cutting some of these guys way too much slack. This forum is a virtual social environment. People with reasonable social behavior fit in, those without prove to be a problem...........not really much different than if this were a brick and mortar club house. I'll give some abreviated examples to support why I think you can't lump all the ratters together as "misunderstood" guys. If you look at the posts of detroit casket, hotroddaddy, and yourself (after your one misunderstanding about access) you each are willing to participate in give and take without getting snotty about it. In your own case you posted some mild anger about a misperception you had. Myself and a couple others engaged in "conversation" with you and you settled down and have been a good contributor (an important factor) since. The other boys had similar experience.

The other side of the coin is the type that comes on like an acre of garlic from the get-go, and seems to relish that method. No amount of concilitory discussion seems to satisfy them. I usually give them one, maybe two chances to settle down, then, if they don't, I hit the ignore feature. Life's too short to put up with the antics of these malcontents, and one of life's sad lessons has been that if they're that persistent at working to piss people off, you're not going to change them. I watched with some humor yesterday as Dave, Mike, you, and others tried to reason with one of them. Since I've got the guy on ignore I don't waste any time reading his blather, but could tell by the responses that the anti-social approach he took in his first half dozen posts hasn't changed. During the past week there were a couple others whose first posts were full of hate. You believe their feelings are hurt, I believe they like getting attention by causing trouble. It's probably how they've lived most of their life. It's about choices, you can get attention by helping and working with others, or you can get attention by pissing them off. I'll take the former over the latter any day.