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Driving a hi-dollar car to a gig

#21
Brad Johnson said:
My 2000 BMW Z3 Coupe is pretty rare. I drive it to whatever gigs I choose to. The odd bar gig with a higher risk of mischief I usually avoid. Any kind of highway or distance driving will usually find me in the Coupe. I've driven my 99 Miata to tons of gigs too, it's good for bar gigs. Even driven my 1977 Fiat 124 Spider convertible to a few gigs. Way back when I gigged in a 1967 Porsche.

I have gear that won't tear up my vehicles. Pretty easy to do. Nice gigbags, nice amp or rack bag, cabs that don't have a propensity to rip stuff up.

If you're going to be worried about your car for whatever reason you probably shouldn't drive. I couldn't couldn't care
less what negative things some people think about what I'm driving and have had lots of conversations at gigs about my cars. It's not typical bassplayer transportation from what I gather.

Plus I'm rarely late.
;)
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Finally, a fellow car nut! I can tell just by the cars you listed. Not your everyday stuff, for sure (Always wanted to drive the Z3 M Coupe. Really rare stuff). Oh, I don't really worry about my car parked down the street from the club, it just wouldn't make sense to. After all, I have well over ten grand in gear onstage (some of it irreplaceable), around a bunch of raging lunatics on alcohol, and God knows what else. To be honest, I worry far more about my basses. I was just curious about people's "game plan" when driving such a vehicle to a gig. It's just that I have just as much passion for a car that performs well as I do bass guitars. Going to a gig? I can't lose!
 
#22
When I started reading this thread I immediately thought about Patrick Swayze's old beater (with extra spare tires) that he always drove to the Double Deuce in "Roadhouse".

Not that you're playing venues like that, but if I were you I'd probably drive the Explorer to gigs.
 
#23
Jeff K said:
When I started reading this thread I immediately thought about Patrick Swayze's old beater (with extra spare tires) that he always drove to the Double Deuce in "Roadhouse".

Not that you're playing venues like that, but if I were you I'd probably drive the Explorer to gigs.
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Dude, I'm from West Virginia, where else would I play? Dives like that are the norm for bands around here. Hell, if we didn't play 'em, we wouldn't stay booked! :p I may be exaggerating just a bit, but, a dive is actually pretty fun to play. One can stay thoroughly entertained while perusing a room full of drunk hicks.:p

You must have me confused with another TB'er, as I don't do Explorers, much less Fords. I'd rather ride a moped to a gig, thank you. ;). Generally, people are pretty cool, as far as behaving out in the parking lots at the local bars. Over the years, police presence has grown pretty heavy at the clubs/bars around here. To be honest, a car would probably more likely to get dinged at a restaurant, or the mall.
 
#26
If you can afford that car, why not get a beater for 500 bucks? Or something a little nicer as a daily driver/beater/gig car?

My concern would not just be about getting it vandalized, but rather stolen. If you play out with the same band, it won't be long before the connection is made between your attention grabbing car and the band playing inside. It would be easy to case it and establish times to pull of a potential theft and to plan to steal it. Your car is going to get noticed and that includes unsavory thieves.
 
#34
Strange... In Belgium and the Netherlands BMW's are common, but still considered pretty classy. In Germany there's LOTS of BMW's and Mercedes' on autobahn :p.

I guess cars that are considered really "wow" over here would be Ferrari, Mazerati, Porsche, upper models Mercedes and BMW (especially the BMW X6 and comparable models). Older mustangs are considered collector's items here :D.

There are some around here who would consider French cars more banal (Peugeot, Citroen), since these tend to have thinner metal plates, aren't expensive and are very common. I drive Peugeot myself, though :).
 
#35
Honestly, there's nothing rare or exotic about an M5. Without the look-at-me parts, it's unlikely that anyone would have noticed your 3-10 year old car sitting in the parking lot. Take the same precautions that any normal driver would take with their car and you'll be fine.

1. Don't park right outside the door. If a fight starts, that's probably where it will start.
2. Park in a well lit area
3. Reconsider your choice of carbon fiber appearance parts. Around here, those will draw more attention from potential thieves than the car itself.....and most don't offer significant enough weight savings to justify their installation.
4. Lock your doors, and remove any desirable items from the inside. Again, those items are more likely to attract attention from thieves than the car itself.

Just to add: I'm a big fan of performance cars. I've owned a couple of modified Miatas, an S2000, a Volvo S60 T5 a M3 and I'm currently driving a ......slightly........ modified Subaru WRX ;)
 
#36
I'd drive whatever I drive, which for the most part has been an old Nissan pickup, then a Toyota Avalon sedan. My main worry if I were to suddenly have an upscale car is that 1) people might think I'm actually making a lot of money at this and 2) clubowners might think they don't have to pay because I'm already making enough. Vandalism would be the least of my concerns. Any vandal ought to know that getting caught messing with ANYONE'S vehicle is a dangerous game.
 
#40
I personally would never drive a high-dollar vehicle to a gig.

#1 we play some real dives and I wouldn't want it sitting in the parking lot unsupervised for 4+ hours.

#2 as Edward G. said, if a club owner/client sees me pulling gear out of a nice car he/she will figure I've got enough money so why does he/she need to pay me.

Oh yeah and #3... I don't have one. But that's OK, my 2007 Mitsubishi Outlander hauls all my gear quite nicely with all the creature comforts, 4WD for the winter gigs and 27 mpg. And it's paid for. :D

I guess if I ever got into a Bob's Country Bunker situation where I had to beat a hasty retreat from a PO'd bar owner or customer or some gal's drunk jealous boyfriend then I'd want something with more giddyup... but I'm pretty good at avoiding those situations so what I've got has been working well for me.

That reminds me... came out on break at one of our dive bar gigs a couple years ago and discovered that someone had very obviously relieved themselves on my car. I was a little annoyed but if that's the worst that ever happens to my car on a gig I'll take that.
 

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