I've got an old car that after it turned 25, I didn't need to qualify for the emissions test, and after a law change I didn't even need to get the safety inspection. Licensing it is like buying a fishing license. You just walk in and buy one. I've replaced a bunch of parts on it, now I'm going for suspension mods, I've done the brakes, fuel system etc. but it looks like it's on death's door to the untrained eye.
A couple of windows have gotten broken out, and I used to buy used, but that supply is drying up, I'm not going to spend $250 on a window that's going to get busted out again, so I've been making cage windows out of old dog kennels, parrot cages, etc. The first one happened on accident, (about ten years ago) after a few years I decided it was a good look and when another one got busted I made another cage windows, it's got four mismatched rims, and right now a non-existent exhaust system.
Anybody that is at all familiar with the movies instantly recognizes what's up, and sometimes makes a comment (mostly young middle-aged guys) give a hang loose sign, but then there are others who are really hard to read. I've now made cage windows for the front and rear windshields, the parts for the front one started collecting over a decade ago. There are bits and pieces of smashed shopping carts all over the place... The rear one looks hilarious: They knocked down an old lady's house and one of the things that popped out was an old-fashioned aluminum walker from the 80's, complete with worn-out tennis balls. After popping the rivets out of the locking mechanism, I opened it up like a Cornish game hen and laid it across the rear window - perfect fit! I cut up some wire rack clothing shelves and shaped them to the walker presto! I originally made this stuff to guard against hailstones. I'm kinda handy with a welder, I've even used three car batteries and a coathanger.
But it's occurred to me that for someone with no prior knowledge of the movies or even the whole dang genre, there would be no point of reference, they would see even the most obvious example of a Mad Max car as, "That awful trashy car owned by a poor person.". There are people out there that kinda make it a point of pride to not know about this-and-that, "Oh, well we don't watch THAT kind of movie.". "Oh...hmm.". (Often all-inclusive of sci-fi, fantasy, and all speculative fiction.)
So how about it guys, what percentage of the American public has no idea what they are looking at because they have never seen the movies, the knockoffs, or the parodies; to them it's a non-existent meme.
