I drove up to the community “mail center” tonight to drop a Netflix DVD in the mail. There were some teens riding scooters around the parking lot, and as I was getting out of the GTO (I was the only car in the lot) several of them called out “Nice car!”

I thanked them and figured that would be it, but they kept going on about the goat. “Is that the 6.0 liter GTO?” “The one with 400 horsepower?” “Those are sweet!” “If I had the money I’d totally get one of those!” It was pretty cool. I’ve never had anybody talk to me about my car like this; the only adults who have ever struck up conversations about it usually tell me how much they think the car “doesn’t live up to the name” or some crap like that.

These kids were really cool, though. Not only did they know the product, but they were in awe of it. They were even aware of the Vauxhall Monaro variant in Europe, but didn’t know that the car is originally an Australian design. “Please tell me you burn some rubber once in a while?” one of the guys said. “I have a friend with a new STi, and I swear the dude just drives 45 all day. It’s such a waste.”

I had several moments like this in my Trans Am WS6, but this was a first for the goat. As one of the moderators at the GTO forum said when I told this story, “I can almost read the shit-eating grin on your face.”

Speaking of the goat-induced SEG, I’m loving this cool weather we’re having here — and so is the GTO. The LS2 engine just loves sucking on cold, crisp air. Whenever I get on it, I’m constantly chirping second and third gears — with the traction control on — which was practically impossible in the sweltering heat of the summer. Never realized what a difference all that heat soak made. I’m loving this!

Eons ago, I had a poll on here asking people what message they thought I should put on the personalized license plate I was going to order for my new GTO. I’d had a plate on my Trans Am that read BJ’S WS6 for many years but wanted something a little “smarter” this time around. Admittedly, in the end, I eschewed the various poll choices entirely because I found the perfect solution — a play on the name of the actual manufacturer of the new GTO, Holden Australia.

After a nine-week wait, I finally got the plate today — and to illustrate, here’s a shot of the garage the goat currently shares with my dad’s WS6.

Holden on, indeed.

Attempting to honor my “I’ve gotta get out more” remarks of a few weeks ago, today I got together with Mike, a fellow 2006 GTO owner and member of the LS1GTO message boards who came across me quite by accident. He was looking at the pictures of my cars that I’ve got online when he realized that my garage looked familiar. Turns out he lives in a development right down the road, built by the same builder that constructed our community, and in the same model house, to boot.

My car was still dirty from the rain I’ve been driving in, so last night — with still more storms threatening — I washed it and applied tire dressing foam, then this morning I vacuumed and dusted the interior. With a fresh coat of Zaino Z2 still giving off its characteristic mirror shine, I headed out into the Florida sun and met Mike for lunch at Beef O’Brady’s. We spent a good amount of time just checking out each other’s cars and shooting the breeze. Mike’s car is the virtual doppelganger to mine, with two exceptions — a black interior, and aside from the silver grilles, no Sport Appearance Package. He also has an entirely custom exhaust system that sounds awesome while still retaining the stock round exhaust tips.

I had a great time. We mostly talked cars, but also miscellaneous stuff. What I found refreshing about Mike was that he wasn’t living every minute of his life with his car. A lot of car buffs are so hardcore, unless you’re into it headfirst as your major (or only) hobby, you can’t compete on their level, even in conversation. By contrast, Mike seems to take the same approach as me — and he also is kept pretty busy with work most of the time — so the fact that I didn’t have twenty coats of Zaino and $6,000 worth of mods on my car didn’t make me look like a poser.

Being a complete oaf, I took a camera but forgot to use it, so I have no pictures to display. We only hung around for a couple hours, but next time we get together I’ll remember to take some pictures of the two goats together. (Oh — and I also finally have someone to share horror stories with about the Pontiac dealer downtown…what a freakin’ disaster area.) On the way home I got caught under a cloudburst for a few minutes, but by the time I had raced back to my garage, the car was almost completely dry. Gotta love fresh polish. I couldn’t even put a towel on the hood because it kept sliding off.

Today’s outing was great, and I’m glad I had the opportunity to have some fun with the car. And we’re both definitely up for a repeat performance.