It's with a heavy heart that I declare a lack of love and commeraderie among Crossfire owners in the Dayton, Ohio area. What a sad commuting experience! This past Tuesday, the rains had stopped, and it seems several fellow Crossfire owners took their babies to work.

Up ahead of me I saw the unmistakable outline of an Aero Blue Crossfire Coupe. Rolling proudly in my Sapphire Silver Blue Roadster I sidled up parallel to the coupe driver, looked over and gave a short toot on the horn. My smiling nod was greeted with a coldblooded glare of disdain. You're kidding me, right! I had to check the mirror to ensure that I didn't have something hanging from my nose.

So that afternoon, the sun was out...it was just warm enough to go topless....to my delight, the oncoming lane had an Aero Blue Roadster....top up, driver window down, nice looking blonde driving, talking on her cell. Toot toot, wave wave...nothing. Could be that she resented me for not punching holes in my front bumper to mount a license plate...on the other hand, they could all be XFI members and denying me the love for refusing to join....what say you FP? Can you give me absolution on that??

Anyway, come on folks. Let's not give the wags anything to comment. Show the love folks....at least show it to me in my Crossfire.....don't like my Dakota...no prob...but my Roadster....bring it on.

 

Well, I get the same here in IN...but, when on the Harley its different...I guess the xf crowd just hasn't gotten it yet....Doc

 

Haven't seen you around B-creek, but I always wave and smile at fellow "most awesome car in the world" drivers!

I can usually be seen in B-creek and Downtown.

There are a lot of us around here!

 

Do a search: "The Crossfire wave." Lots to read on this subject.

 

It amazes me that Peggy and I will spot a Crossfire and get excited only to receive the cold shoulder. We look for them ( there still aren't too many in our general area) but yet to some other owners we seem to be just another car. But I will tell you this our little hometown has what our GPS calls a "roundabout" and even after 2 yrs of driving around here we still get the "nice car" comments and the thumbs up on a regular basis as we are Cruisin around it.
I guess that is why we enjoy meeting up with other owners who seem to appreciate there XF's

 

Now that I finally got the Crossfire out of storage and it's the first time I've really been out on the streets with it I'm having some interesting experiences. Let me share one with you.

My wife and I were going down the road in Toledo with the top down and I glanced in the mirror and saw a grey Crossfire coupe coming up on us in the next lane. They passed us and were waiting at the next light. I thought that's pretty cool because when I belonged to the Corvette Club, any Corvette that you saw on the road was a friend that you havn't met yet. We would flash our lights, wave, etc. With that in mind I pulled up even with the coupe and was prepared to wave, give a thumbs up, or honk, but the 30 something couple stared straight ahead like Crash Test Dummies.

I thought well, maybe they didn't see me so I beat them from the light to get ahead and at the next light they pulled up alongside and still didn't look over. So I got out of my car and twisted their passenger wiper into a pretzle shape, wrapped my knuckles on their windshield and said "HEY DOYA SEE ME NOW, I'M A MEMBER OF THE CROSSFIRE FORUM AND WE HAVE A REMEDY FOR YOUR FILTHY FRONT WHEELS!" ( on the inside).

(on the outside) In reality, I sat their looking like a moron with a stupid grin on my face, ( some say that's my all the time look).

What I need to know, as a member of this forum, do you think if I would have carried out my above fantasy, would that have been too harsh of a Forum recruiting technique?

 

A little extreme maybe, but I know what you mean Chuck.
I just can't figure out how anybody can own or drive one of these cars and not think they're something special.
I realize not everybody is a car-nut, but give me a break. Don't tell me they actually don't see ya sitting right next to them in the same vehicle, Waving.

 

You made me smile with that one, Chuck!

I've yet to see another Crossfire on the road when I was driving my own, with the exception of the -N-E-X- Newport Cruise. Maybe I don't get out much, but I've already logged over 2000 miles on it since I bought it in late February.

Sooner or later it will happen. I'll probably just say, "Nice car!", if I do. If they seem friendly I may ask them if they know about the forums. If they are heading in the opposite direction, I'll wave to see if they wave back using all their fingers. I'm hoping that just maybe I'll meet a few at area car shows. Time will tell.

Bob

 

This unfortunately is a 'sign of the times' I think...folks are just not friendly or nice - that generation gap snuck up quickly for me maybe, or maybe no one is nice, or whatever...

It's certainly a shame in general - I see folks in their BMW Roadsters and understandably they don't look over - haven't yet had that happen w/another XFire owner but I'm certain it will -

Everyones about "Me" - IPods, IPhones - ME - ME - ME - ME - ME

what about a WEPod or a WEPhone...what happened to us? Don't folks realize that (at least to me) the joy of living is making and having good relationships with folks and what we'll be 'measured' on is the quality of those...my opinion

Good day all!

 

QFT!!! there is always the old cliche that says, "it's not what you know, it's who you know" relationships with colleagues, friends, enemies, etc. are the most important part to build a persons own character which in turn influences the people they surround themselves with.... comraderie is key to success in across any subject or industry...

if it wasnt for camraderie there would be no forum.

 

It's interesting to read this particular thread. Whenever I see another Crossfire, I do the same thing, try to get the attention of the driver. There has been many an occasion when, I have seen a coupe or roadster, gotten thier attention, stopped and spoken about the cars and about XFI and NEX, given the address of the forum, given my cell# and all of that. Invited them to come to one of the cruises. All to no avail, I have had 6 that I spoke to, not respond. Maybe I have some notion that everyone will want to know more about the car, the experience, the comraderie. It's sad, maybe they think I'm a serial Crossfire Killer, lure them to a spot where I say they will meet others, only to meet an untimely death, take the car and store it somewhere so when they become a classic in a few years I'll make a lot of money? Naw, they just don't share the love. That has to be it.
Rick

 

Could be considered a bit harsh... but hey they started it... right? Probably had dirty exhaust tips too

 

I "knew" there was a serial Crossfire Killer on here somewhere. Now we all know who it is

 

I gave up on trying to be friendly here on Long Island as well. Never had that problem when I had my C-5 but Xfire people seem not to care. It's a pity.

 

I've been pretty lucky I guess, I always receive positive responses from people in my Crossfire.
I even got a complement on my front licence plate. .
Even the occasional poser who want's to race me eases up when I tell them that my car's too pretty to race and it might get dirty. They agree... and check it out. IMO Street racing's for kids who got dropped on their heads too many times and need to prove that blatent disregard for the law and safety makes them something special. O.K I'm off the soap box... Share the love.

 

Rick, ...You shouldn't tell them about the monogram leather thong you wear to the -N-E-X- cruises until they come along for the first time and see the regular members wear tighty-whities.

Bob

 

Many peeps out there don't know that a fellow Xfire rider would say hi to them with a wave or some other way of acknowledging. A car is a car to them believe it or not. You would just get a look from them not realizing that you are driving the same car. But is is true about Corvette owners since I did get acknowledged all the time when I owned them. Even riding my motorcycles I got all the love from fellow motorcyclists. Oh well..... I'll keep waving to them no matter what and at times I do get an occassional wave here and there.

 

I think it's a combination of things that cause this...thirty or so years ago, there were a greater variety of cars, especially sports cars. Fellow drivers of MGs, Triumphs, Fiats, motorcycles, etc. all acknowledged my waves. I think now most people don't identify with the cars they own like we did back then - it's just a means of transportation. For many crossfire owners, it's their first sports car; the're not used to the camaraderie that owners of a low-volume car develop.

Also, don't be too hard on someone that doesn't acknowledge your wave - some mornings on the way to work I am so zoned out I wouldn't notice if the Pope was waving to me from his Popemobile....

Of course other times, I think some of the other Crossfire drivers are a little unnerved by this guy in Columbus, OH frantically waving and blowing his horn at them ("honey, why is that guy waving at us ?....I don't know dear, just ignore him and maybe he'll leave us alone...I told you this car was going to get us in trouble...we should have just bought another Camry!")

 

Markr6754.
I certainly hope that was not me that you are refering to in the original post, I have a Aero Blue coupe in Dayton. Last Tues. was my only day off (I work in a Garden Center, 'tis the Spring season, doncha know)
So if I just stared at you with a blank stare, it was just fatigue not disdain. What part of Dayton were you in ?

I'm constantly on the look out for other Crossfires, so that I can try try the friendly wave, be it a cool 1 finger salute or a full hand howdy. I have yet to be able to do it.


BTW - I'm a woman, normally with a Sheltie in the car, but then again I'm not sure where I was on Tuesday !

 

I haven't seen but two or three Crossfires since I got mine. One was on the PA Turnpike. We were traveling more or less together though not "dicing" or "caravaning" - just traveling roughly the same speed - sometimes he was ahead, sometimes I was ahead. It was interesting to watch the vehicle dynamics in motion - something we don't get to see from inside our cars.

I've seen a couple in the city, both filthy and slightly ratty looking. Same dirty wheels as lots of cars. No acknowlegement. I think it's just that some people are "car" people and others are "transport" people. Nothing personal at all.

Driving a variety of interesting cars over the years, I would say the most quickly acknowledging owners of like-vehicles on the road are Jeep owners (CJ and Wrangler). My wife laughs at me all the time for waving back but what the heck? The world is impersonal enough already, why not?

Driving the E-Type Jag was a whole different thing. It made one feel like a celebrity superstar. Whenever we pulled up in that car, the world came to a halt and everyone stared. I seldom got away from the car without being approached and chatted up. I am sure it was not my looks... It got to be that if we wanted privacy, we could not take the Jag. The Crossfire is a little like that but really doesn't come close.