For me it was a female coworker complimenting my Q50 Redsport. Interned at a 3 letter fed agency last summer and one of the other interns who I became friendly with was a mid 20’s former sorority girl - someone you’d never expect to be a car enthusiast. Gave her a ride after work one day since her car was in the shop and immediately after walking up to my car in the garage, started complimenting it. Talked about the VR30TT engine and asked me if the turbos were giving me any trouble, then talked a little shit about how it’s still slower than her car. I asked her what she drove and she had an M2 lol
I drove a Gen 5 Prelude (cheap!) which was in nice condition. It is a very pretty car… fantastic cornering…a joy to drive… but not fast.
This was in an affluent Toronto neighbourhood where it was common to extremely fast cars everywhere… even exotic supercars were a common sight. Lambos were not unusual. I even saw Bugatti’s twice in the wild [the VW headquarters was nearby].
In this context, random guys would compliment me on my old Prelude. Toronto is a pretty friendly city but this was weekly. At the corner store, a guy pulls up in a top-end crazy-fast Genesis and gushes about how nice my car was. Another guy in a Civic R-type rolled down his window in a traffic jam and offered to buy it. The old guy at the hot dog stand told me it was the car he always wanted. My older neighbour said the same. This happened all the time. Almost always guys… only got a complement from a cute girl once. :-(
Eventually I give the car to my son. Now he’s the cool young guy driving a car as old he his is getting the random complements from people he doesn’t know.