MyStarCollectorCar has upped our game over the past 15 years because we also want to find car guys outside of their natural car show habitat.
The new world for car guys is the various social media platforms that offer a direct path for like-minded gearheads to reach out to the world and connect with each other.
Jim Sutherland
The old school approach used to be a local car club, followed by an internet car club forum dedicated to the car hobby, and lately by social media platforms such as the ones that rhyme with “MaceCrook” and “Bitter”–or “X Bitter”.
The net result is popular social media host sites link the car hobby to the world, sometimes in a general manner–but most often in a specific manner–as in a vehicle brand or model. Consequently, we at MyStarCollectorCar have joined popular social media host sites because they have a big impact on vintage vehicle hobby enthusiasts in 2024.
There is little downside to these car guy social media pages-other than a few brain-dead misfits who seem to thrive on stupid comments while demonstrating an appalling absence of social skills in the bargain. These morons lack knowledge and also courage because they lurk in the shadows behind their keyboards, a strong symptom of chronic cowardice.
A point to consider is whether these clowns would walk up to the owner of the vintage ride they ridiculed and tell the guy right to his face about why the vehicle in question is a piece of junk. We bet heavily on “No” in the real-life scenario.
Which brings us to a recent comment made by an anonymous bozo on a social media site. An owner provided a photo of his 60s barebones two-door post (roof support in the middle of a car) sedan that was undoubtedly sold as a “stripper” back in the day.
A stripper was a car that had very few extra features and was sold to cost-conscious customers who did not want to spend any more dough on a new vehicle than was absolutely necessary. The cars in question had a sparse amount of bling on the outside and were usually radio-free zones with no extra creature comforts on the inside.
The domestic car builders would sell you a stripper–but they wanted you to wear the scarlet letter of a plain Jane car owner in the bargain. The auto manufacturers wanted everybody in your world to know you were either a cheapskate or a pauper–including your kids.
The stripper humiliation featured dog dish hubcaps and only two doors, because two extra car doors cost more money. The stripper’s engine was likely the smallest, weakest and inexpensive mill built by the manufacturer and was probably connected to a 3-on-the-tree manual transmission in most cases.
But not every stripper–because a few car guys would hide a factory big block engine under the stripper’s hood, along with a 4-speed manual transmission on the floor, so they could ambush every other street racer who believed the stripper had a lowly six-banger under its hood.
The strippers became the stuff of legends and became known as “sleepers” in the car hobby because of their clever disguise as 98 lb. weakling cars.
None of the stripper/sleeper history was lost on the owner of the car in question on the social media page. Unfortunately, the entire history of strippers and sleepers was lost on a clueless poster who thought the stripper looked ugly with its dog dish hubcaps and was an unworthy addition to the page.
The wide tires on the car were a dead giveaway that it was a no-nonsense vehicle and was well beyond the comprehension of the mouthy chipmunk with access to the social media page. The idjit’s comments were a dead giveaway that he does not own a classic stripper or even has enough brain cells to even understand the concept.
Two-door post stripper sedans may not have gotten a lot of love when they were new, but today’s knowledgeable car guys have total respect for them.
Stripper cars have found their cool mojo over the years, despite idiotic comments from the peanut gallery.
Jim Sutherland
BY: Jim Sutherland
Jim Sutherland is a veteran automotive writer whose work has been published by many major print and online publications. The list includes Calgary Herald, The Truth About Cars, Red Deer Advocate, RPM Magazine, Edmonton Journal, Montreal Gazette, Windsor Star, Vancouver Province, and Post Media Wheels Section.
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