this post was submitted on 21 Jun 2025

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Have you ever been present for the moment that a "trailer queen" type of show car got driven for real? (lemmy.world)

submitted 3 days ago by Usernameblankface@lemmy.world to c/asklemmy@lemmy.world

15 comments fedilink hide all child comments

First of all, I wonder if this even happens. Have you ever personally witnessed the moment when a car that has only ever idled from show booth to trailer finally got unleashed and driven in earnest? Does it lead to immediate disaster? Is it a glorious symphony of roaring engine and melting tires?

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[–] AnAustralianPhotographer@lemmy.world 12 points 3 days ago* (last edited 3 days ago) (3 children)

Might not be what your after, but the cars I'll point you to run well ... Until they don't.

We have an annual car show over here, have a search for "Summernats" for videos. They have a burn out pad where you can melt some tyres.

Some people restore cars and take them there for show. Some have excellent paint jobs , but a typical Summernats one has more horsepower than the original. This usually leads to a few redlining on the pad and exceeding a limit so that they catch fire or can't be driven home.

Or at least, so I've heard...

[–] vinceman@lemmy.blahaj.zone 6 points 3 days ago

Never heard of Summernats before, googled, I've definitely seen footage from there, that shit is nuts.

[–] jimmux@programming.dev 5 points 3 days ago

Ah, Summernats. I used to work at a servo in Canberra. That time of year was nuts.

Usually I was the only staff on site, but we'd have four staff on for nats. One would basically be handling the car wash exclusively. Two would be constantly restocking food and drinks. We'd get a shipping container of extra stock dropped off to keep up.

The bus home would have to go through a cloud of tyre smoke, and half the passengers would get off at the north side brothels and strip joints.

I never actually went to the festival itself, but I feel like I got most of the experience.

[–] Usernameblankface@lemmy.world 4 points 3 days ago (1 children)

That sounds amazing! At least, until they catch fire. A symphony of roaring engines followed by immediate disaster, haha how cool!

[–] AnAustralianPhotographer@lemmy.world 2 points 3 days ago

Some owners were tamer. Burnouts weren't required. They sometimes had a parade through the city, blocking off streets and cops as part of it. I did notice at the end of it was a truck with a tilt tray so a break down of a car just doing 40-50kmph along a city road was planned for.

[–] Rhynoplaz@lemmy.world 8 points 3 days ago

At first, I didn't understand the term trailer queen, and thought it had something to do with trailer parks.

[–] PorradaVFR@lemmy.world 4 points 3 days ago (1 children)

Check out Hagerty media and the videos of Jason Camisa driving some legendary cars - always ends with him flogging the crap out of them on a twisty road and/or track.

[–] Usernameblankface@lemmy.world 4 points 3 days ago (1 children)

I've seen those, I'm amazed that they let anyone drive such nice examples of those cars at all, let alone turning them loose on a track etc

[–] vinceman@lemmy.blahaj.zone 1 points 3 days ago

They know Hagertys good for it at least

[–] myrrh@ttrpg.network 1 points 3 days ago* (last edited 2 days ago) (1 children)

...i used to lead a monthly hundred-mile canyon-run which would turn out a broad spectrum of sportcars and exotics, some of which were trailer queens...

...it was always interesting to see how show car owners respond to the opportunity to drive their car the way it was meant to be driven, some of whom embraced the opportunity and others who delicately babied their way around the loop or bailed-out early...

[–] Usernameblankface@lemmy.world 1 points 2 days ago (1 children)

Very interesting! This is the kind of thing I'm looking for. Any specific stories? I'm most curious about the ones who embraced the opportunity

[–] myrrh@ttrpg.network 2 points 2 days ago* (last edited 2 days ago)

...i don't know if i have very interesting stories about the folks who dug in; mostly that ferraris have a reputation for not keeping up with the group on account of breakdowns when driven hard...more entertaining were the rally-star trailer queens which slowed down to crawl over every cattleguard or fresh roadwork for fear of marring their pristine clearcoats while the exotic road cars flew right through, welcoming the well-earned miles...

...a lot of us drive open-topped in light rain - as long as you keep moving the cabin stays fairly dry - but we've been caught in torrential downpours a couple of times and come through soaked to the bone before managing to pull off and raise our various tops and targas...next sunny day, you open everything up, let it dry out completely, and follow-up with a detail if it still bothers you...

...when a group of twenty or thirty high-profile cars pull into a small town fuel station, it can draw a lot of attention, positive and negative, but not so much when we pull into a remote roadhouse since those tend to be more common destinations...

...for folks really into the scene, the real rock stars were cars driven in open road races, not the trailer queens: it's a modest culture which respects real-world capability and experience more than flashy showmanship...use it or lose it, as they say...

[–] bluGill@fedia.io 1 points 3 days ago (2 children)

A modern car is likely better if you want power. a 1962 corvette came with 250-360 horsepower. A 2024 honda accord comes with 190, not far behind for a basic ecconomy car. The modern car will have much better handeling because we have better suspention.

which is to say it does happen (see other replies), but most don't because they are not that great. Besides if you race it something might break and you have to fix it.

[–] MNByChoice@midwest.social 2 points 3 days ago

With the 1972 change in how horsepower is measured (gross versus net), the modern car is even closer to the muscle car's horsepower.

[–] Usernameblankface@lemmy.world 3 points 3 days ago

Power or not, I'm asking for stories about extremely pretty cars getting properly driven after years of idling on and off of trailers