According To You: Signs You Are Taking The Hobby Too Seriously

Last week we asked the Hagerty Community about the signs that might suggest someone is getting too wrapped in the car and truck hobby. It’s fine to be dedicated to a pursuit, but perhaps there’s a limit to all that seriousness?

So that was the question posed to you, and your answers might raise a few eyebrows. Perhaps you didn’t consider these reasons, and maybe you even disagree with a few. We are all good with that, and we absolutely encourage you to share your thoughts in the comments section. Let’s get right into it:

Trophy Collectors

David C: For me it’s when you care more about winning car show trophies than getting out in your car(s) and driving something you enjoy.

The Devil’s In The Details

David A: For me, it’s excessive cleaning/detailing. Of course, “excessive” is up for interpretation.

I like to drive my cars and try and keep them reasonably clean and presentable, but I don’t obsess about it. Spending hours detailing cars does not peg my fun meter. I’d rather spend time driving them and treat the cleaning part as a necessary evil, a “cost” to pay for enjoying them on the road or the track.

I have a good car guy friend who also loves driving his very nice collection of 8 or 9 cars, but he’ll spend hours at his garage each weekend detailing them. Naturally, all of his cars look pristine all the time. I give him a hard time about it and call it OCD, he calls it his “therapy.” I guess if that’s what pegs his fun meter who am I to argue?

hyperv6: Note when I got into cars where I owned and detailed I was 235 pounds. I lost weight and got down to where I should be weight wise. To me it benefited my health. I call it “Autoarobics.”

Sure, I could have gone to the gym but I would rather work out working on my car.

Being Judgmental

DUB6: A sign that I think I see in others (not myself, I hope!) is the tendency to judge other’s tastes and opinions and attempt to tell them what they should do with their vehicles. Some people just take a holier-than-thou approach because, I presume, one is not doing things the way these lecturers would prefer. This hobby is very close to being art in lots of ways, and art is an expression of the artist’s taste and preferences. Like a piece of art or don’t, but when you tell the artist how they did it wrong, you’re over a line and taking your views too seriously. Likewise when you criticize someone’s choice of vehicle and what they do with it, based on your own tastes and experiences.

hyperv6: When it comes to the car hobby we all need to be open-minded but also we are still entitled to opinions.

The key to all this is not to take other opinions to heart. Accept the compliments and ignore the criticism. One of the cars I own is one that has taken a beating for more than 25 years of its existence. I bought my Fiero when it was new and I was a celebrity. 6 years later I was the village idiot for 20 years. Today the opinions and compliments are back.

I was never in this for public opinion. If you are into cars in general you need to have a thick skin as you are going to get good or bad no matter what you own or do with it. Especially in the field of public opinion like the web.

Tim: Many of the opinions come from others who are jealous of what we have.

Not Driving Your Cars

TG: I would tend to say not driving them is a sign, but I also get that showing cars is as much of a hobby as driving cars…even if it’s not my hobby.

What I would say is if you aren’t showing your car and you are not driving it, you might be taking the hobby too seriously. My neighbor is a perfect example of this: over-restoring a car to the point he was afraid to drive it. He ended up selling it at a significant loss and without a lot of drive time.

Jay: TG,

Thank you for saying something nice about the people who own and maintain cars for show. I’ll never understand why there is so much hate for the people who pursue that hobby. Hey, some people like to race their cars, some like to take them on long drives, some like to attend car club events, others just enjoy working on them, and some like to prepare and enter them in concours. Why is one considered as “too serious” while the others are OK?

I can’t imagine why anyone would want to play golf, but if that’s someone’s thing, I respect their right to do it. Why can’t the owners of show cars get the same treatment?

TG: I think most of the gripe with show cars is it essentially takes that car out of circulation for those of us who want cool old cars as drivers, and I think a lot of us drivers get frustrated seeing the best examples, and in some cases almost all examples, of old cars getting drawn into the vortex of the show world never to be seen on the streets again. Not saying it’s not a valid hobby, but that’s the gripe.

Rain, Rain, Go Away

Frank S: Not taking a car out because there is a chance of rain. Someone in our club commented that they wouldn’t be going to a show because there was a 40% chance of rain (it got cloudy and sprinkled on us for about five minutes, not much more than a heavy mist!). I jokingly told him he shouldn’t have used water-based paint. He said the car hadn’t been rained on in 20 years. Do you wash it? Then it gets wet. Just a dirty look after that…

Sajeev Mehta: I once heard a friend at a local car show say, “Cars don’t melt in the rain.” He is right, and I saw him at our usual Sunday gathering spot, when we were part of a handful of dedicated participants. I took the video to check out my freshly waxed paint job, and right as rain, the car did not melt!

Losing Balance

norm1200: For me, it would be when one puts the hobby ahead of more substantial things such as family, your health, your job, etc. The car scene can be as addictive and controlling as any immoral habit. To help avoid this, I need the quality of balance in my life. Having said that, I’ve made a living by working in the automotive world and owe a great deal to it.

And I’m still thoroughly entrenched in this hobby. Life, more than other’s opinions, will tell whether I’ve gone too far…or not far enough? I’d like to think I’m objective and open enough to listen to others or at least until they start telling me how to live. Well I’ve certainly gotten too serious when all of this should be, um, for fun!

AACA in the USA: While it seems clear that a “hobby” should not take the preeminent place in one’s life, some seem to fall prey to doing just that. Enjoying cars whether building, restoring, maintaining, racing, or showing is fine as long as we just remember they are just cars. It’s fine to strive for a goal but it should be tempered with reason. Most all the folks I’ve met through car-related activities have been worthwhile in one way or another. That has been the benefit for me. The friendships are the real prize in all this. Enjoy the “hobby” while keeping it just that, a hobby.

Wyatt: I think just having the thought “am I taking this too seriously?” is probably enough to indicate that one is taking it too seriously. I suffer from this far too often, often leading me to wonder what would help me enjoy the hobby more, or sometimes, enjoy the hobby again at all.

There are a lot of aspects and factors involved in trying to participate in and enjoy the car hobby. And I know I’ve already taken some of those so seriously as to have strayed (transgressed?) deeply from hobby to lifestyle, or perhaps to philosophy and tenet, where ritual and knowledge and personal experience and deep desire fuel the true believer. Are all others dilettantes and posers? Or maybe they’re just the ones that actually get that it’s a hobby and don’t take it so seriously? Or maybe holding the hobby to a “true believer” degree of scrutiny and embodiment of one’s values just enhances hobby for some of us.

This response alone is probably an indicator I’m taking it too seriously, and I just might be okay with that.

Tinkerah: I think it can be judged very simply: only if it jeopardizes one’s, or one’s family’s health or finances is it too serious. Up to that point, live it up!

Nothing

Paul: After reading today’s headlines there is nothing that can be taken too seriously. Especially cars. Have fun and take a nice drive today.

Bruce: I am happy just to admire others’ passions. Mine is building a diverse and inclusive driving collection: Sixties 2CV Fourgonnette and RAF Land Rover Lightweight, Jag XKR, ‘49 Lincoln convert, Nieman Marcus Blackwood, etc. You get to see just about everything at Cars & Caffeine.