Valet-able cars

LP

Your Brown Banana for Scale
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I had this idea while I was driving through a shit part of downtown Baltimore to a nice part (Mount Vernon). The roads in the shit part of downtown were replete with potholes and the main attractions on that street were a liquor store and a strip club. The previous block there was a hotel and outside of it was a car that I had no mind in thinking was a valet-able car, but there it was being valeted.

It was a Q60 in blue

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So I thought we could play the game of "would you consider this car valetable", or even "would you be proud enough to have X car valeted if you owned it" and under what circumstance or in what city would it be acceptable?
 
There are other reasons to get a car parked for you.
 
What do you mean by "valet-able"? I know from American movies what valet parking is, but I don't understand that adjectivization.
 
VW Arteon I think.

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This is something I'd be proud of seeing roll up and go "yeah, that's mine."
 
Are we talking cars that you'd be proud enough to hand over to a 16 year old valet but wouldn't be sentimental about if the valet smeared it down a concrete pillar?

Obvious choice is a battered old V8 Land Rover with no power steering, you can walk away knowing that the valet will either be cursing you and will just leave it there, will earn his money or will respect you. Everyone else gives you dirty look while you give them a shit-eating grin. It would work anywhere and the cherry on top is you don't have to work up a sweat trying to manhandle the beast into a parking space.

Maybe this exact type of Land Rover with this type of grin. I still think I know where this one is, I've touched it.
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There are other reasons to get a car parked for you.

Yes but I'm solely focusing on what car would you be proud of getting valeted and in what condition or place?

What do you mean by "valet-able"? I know from American movies what valet parking is, but I don't understand that adjectivization.

The adjectivization doesn't exist so I'm making it up here for this purpose. It's basically what car would you picture or would you be proud of getting valeted at a hotel or restaurant or some other venue if you owned it. Like in those hollywood movies where someone pitches up in a roller or a bentley continental or something and has someone take it for them while they step into a fancy gala in their fancy shmancy outfit. But it doesn't have to be that extravagant, you can ascribe this to whatever car you feel given the right circumstances.

For instance I would be happy to have an Infiniti Q60 valeted in a lower-end location but if I pitched up outside the Monte Carlo casino in Monaco I'd be laughed at.

Are we talking cars that you'd be proud enough to hand over to a 16 year old valet but wouldn't be sentimental about if the valet smeared it down a concrete pillar?

Obvious choice is a battered old V8 Land Rover with no power steering, you can walk away knowing that the valet will either be cursing you and will just leave it there, will earn his money or will respect you. Everyone else gives you dirty look while you give them a shit-eating grin. It would work anywhere and the cherry on top is you don't have to work up a sweat trying to manhandle the beast into a parking space.

Maybe this exact type of Land Rover with this type of grin. I still think I know where this one is, I've touched it.
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Matt gets it
 
This is perfect for what I was thinking of, although how lofty of an establishment would you be able to get away with it?

*shrug* It's a car I've seen a lot of when I've been to VW dealers in the past couple of years and I really like it, but can't bring myself to buy it.
 
I hope I got the gist of this...


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Okay, many of you know that I live in a fairly redneck area of the middle of the country. There's only one place here that I know of that has a valet service. That place is a casino. I think if you rolled up in the above Chevrolet pickup, you'd get a front row spot to show off this mean machine.
 
Yeah, only know this from movies. What's the point of it?
 
I'd rock up in anything.

Jerk to a halt outside the building in my Triumph Acclaim with it's clouds of steam from the burst radiator, or the Volvo with it's wailing fuel pump and Artex paint finsh. Put the fear of God into them because they don't know if I'm a tramp or old money.

Yeah, only know this from movies. What's the point of it?

You get out at the front door, so don't have to sully yourself with the indignity of walking from the car park. Also I think for some older buildings the car park used to end up being a grubby basement or a block or two away, where you'd not want customers being.
 
I get that it makes sense at a red carped event or at a black tie dinner with paparazzis waiting, but other than that? Don't want a frustrated low wage worker going through the content of my glovebox in search of cash, or going straight for a Ferris-Bueller-Ferrari jump. :LOL:
 
I get that it makes sense at a red carped event or at a black tie dinner with paparazzis waiting, but other than that? Don't want a frustrated low wage worker going through the content of my glovebox in search of cash, or going straight for a Ferris-Bueller-Ferrari jump. :LOL:
In that case your Audi needs an auto-locking glovebox and a key that only allows it to run on 4 cylinders up to 20mph. :p

I put my Model 3 in valet mode when I left it to be ceramic coated, it let them drive it with just the card and not my PIN, also limited the power/speed and disabled the glovebox button. Never used it otherwise, we don't have valet parking around here.
 
I know back in t'day cars used to come with a valet key that'd only operate the doors and ignition, not the boot/glovebox.

I think one of my Volvos had one...
But the boot would otherwise be opened by the same key as the ignition and doors? I'd be interested to know how the key is cut differently and how easy it is to get around that with a lock pick or by adding solder to the key.

It amuses me that with a replacement rear door and steering column, the bobtail now has three keys like the old Series III had instead of just one. The old rear door and ignition barrels were pretty shagged. We three keys of old banger are...
 
Also you have to assume this will happen if you give your car to a valet:
 
Anything a valet is willing to drive is valet-able.

Coming from me, this should say something.
 
It amuses me that with a replacement rear door and steering column, the bobtail now has three keys like the old Series III had instead of just one. The old rear door and ignition barrels were pretty shagged. We three keys of old banger are...
The Acclaim should be a one key car. It has separate keys for the door, ignition, fuel cap* and boot.

*fuel cap key is a stubby flat bladed screwdriver that lives in the glovebox.
 
But the boot would otherwise be opened by the same key as the ignition and doors? I'd be interested to know how the key is cut differently and how easy it is to get around that with a lock pick or by adding solder to the key.
I'd expect the inoperable locks to have a few more wafers that are matched to the proper key but untouched by the valet key.
 
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