April is right about the different interests.
I follow this board, a mail-list for first-generation Firebirds (67-69), and used to frequent VWVortex (for our Golf and, to a lesser extent, my Beetle).
The differences between people and what they want/expect from a car is pretty amazing. The Firebird folks talk all the time about NOS, but it rarely has anything to do with laughing gas. They like restoration primarily, and talk about things that no new car owner should have to (rust removal and carburator adjustment, for example).
The New Beetle folks are far more interested in ICE and chipping, and they rarely talk much about racing (though there are some...)
I don't think that the "bigotry" is entirely limited to cross-generational stuff, though. How many of the people who are really into ICE are also really into autox? I'm sure there are some, but there are some categories of MINI ownership that are a bit contradictory. We noticed it at a local MINI gathering. When we admitted we weren't really into putting our car on a track, a bunch of folks pretty much ignored us. Yeah it was a bit rude, but our interests didn't match... Fortunately we found some other people at the gathering who were a lot friendlier.
There are a lot more things we have in common as MINI owners than we do with Mini owners, but that doesn't really excuse meanness.
-Eric |