Hot Rods So...at what age did you have to give up building hot rods?

50? You're too old. Better slow down. 62 years here, 3 projects going, the Chris Craft needs a new bottom and my wife is complaining that her '51 Pontiac wagon needs some rust blisters fixed on the rear quarters. I'm not worried about how old I am, I'm worried about not having enough to do...

 

LOL I am not worried about not having enough to do, just the opposite. I always have a couple builds going at once and over a dozen waiting in the wings. I am cranking out a build every year to year and a half depending on how much time I get to work on it, next one coming up should take under a year. Time to put up another building, need more space!

 

This is a great thread. No reason to quit as long as you can still do the job. When you slow down you are beginning the stopping process. Look at Mick Jagger, still at it along with Tony Bennett and a few more. Chris K. still running a rail last I heard. I did learn, Work smart not hard. Listen to Luke Bryans' song "Fast", it says it all. You can sleep when you're dead.

 

Well, all I know is, when that day comes, I want to be laying in a soft bed, clutching my photo album and trying grab the nurses ass.

 

LOL, think how disappointed you'll be if I'm your nurse... ;-)

 

You too. We find a way to keep moving. Lesser men would be sitting dying by inches watching game shows on TV all day every day. Think of someone you can pass the race car onto. I told my kids a long time ago that my Ford goes to my brother if anything happens to me and I had a close call 5 months ago with the heart attack.

 

My dads nearing 81 and still plays with cars. I do the heavy stuff and he's slowed down alot but the desire is still there for him. Says it beats sitting in front of the TV. Still lifts stuff he shouldn't with 2 heart surgerys and a bad back but I gave up worrying he's going to tip over he is doing what he loves to do.

 

But do you enjoy the time you spend working with him? I hope so. My father and I were so far apart. I never took the opportunity to learn from him the things that he thought important and he never bothered to try to understand the things that were important to me. We never talked after I was 17. A friend's mother taught me how to change a tire when I was 13 because my father thought that was something that I should automatically know. It took several different people showing me how to do things over several years time.

 

I'll be 75 next month and have slowed down a bit but still building cars. Just finished up a 37 Woody for a friend and have a 40 cpe coming from paint in about 2 weeks for total build-keeps me going!! Three years ago I said I wasn't gonna build any more--built two 40's and worked on a few others since.

 

My Dad started building this 27 T roadster pu when he was 80 , finished it in 3 years , drove it one summer and passed that winter at 84.
40 front end , 40 rear end , T frame . Flathead v8 60 hp .
All work done by him !!!
Driveline rebuilding, metal fab , body , paint , upholstery , top lowered 2 inches.
He was a remarkable man .

 

I would say The day BEFORE you die !!

 

I will soon be 70 and have not even considered not building hot rods. I got rid of a few cars because I realize that now it takes me years to do what used to take me months.
I believe that working on an old car is probably one of the best things you can do as you get older. But you need to utilize hoists, jacks and other muscle saving tools because you get weak as you get older.
Most of us will probably still have projects underway when the coroner comes to get us.
My neighbor is 85 and he just finished a 65 Falcon convertible a couple of years ago. He doesn't have another project yet but says he would like one if he had a bigger garage. I think his lack of a project is his new girlfriend...
It takes longer now but what the heck, we have the rest of our lives to finish em'.

 

2X flatheadtommy. Am 73, work part time in a repair shop, so took out my apprenticeship last July. No car project in my own shop this winter, so bought an old bike and a motor kit. Plan is to build it into a Wizzer type bike. Can't slow down too much or I will get OLD!!!

 

When I was younger I wanted to live to 95 and be shot dead by a jealous husband. But now the reality is they will find me on the floor of my shop with a 9/16" wrench in my hand.

 

Jim, Now that's living dangerously, but things do change as you get older!

 

I said the DAY BEFORE because the day you die you have to have a good long lovingly look at all the things you loved in your life including a nice big bowl of Rigitoni with meatballs and your grandmothers tomato gravy with Mario Lanza singing Non Ti Scordar Di Me { do not forget me} and my 32 coupe !

 

IDK, I'm only 74

 

I'm one of the lucky ones at 71. Good genetics and an active life, and some luck here and there've given me minimal problems to deal with, mostly just annoyances and the usual geezer needs. I feel for my friends, and others, that life's dealt tougher situations.

Also, I'm a planner. Some years ago I was observant enough to slow down to only two car projects at a time, one of'em my daily driver (don't want to leave several poor cars unfinished when the reaper does catch up to me). I sell off one before I start another, but likely am (re)building my last scratch build now.

I make up for the loss of manic building with another hobby of building Rose Parade floats every year, but'll likely drop out of that in a couple as well.

I've cached a ridiculous amount of Sn3 model train paraphernalia for my final hobby, when I get old, and have the layout up & running & waiting for that day. It's scratched, of course.

I honestly think that having goals to look toward, no matter how large or small, is what keeps the spark alive.

 

21 degrees out and just got back in with the Ford. Not many creature comforts in that thing, but the heat is decent. My back is sore and tomorrow will be fun. AND Saturday I'll be playing with plumbing in the house, but got a helper lined up.

Managed to wrench on the Ford for another year and did a lot of work on it, heavy duty stuff. More cervical injections over the past 9 months, nothing is working long term. Now they want to see if my bum shoulder is part of it.

Anyway, eyeballing my big block in the corner which is going to be a 427 with a few parts changed. Now I need a car to load it into. Still doing 3 days in the gym, had a bad past few months with things like a bad sinus infections, allergy attacks, pink-eye, a bad cold after Xmas, a bad reaction from another pain medication (gabapentin) which put me in the ER with boils of all things.

I also have a nice new girlfriend, a little older but just great for me. We're on the same page with just about everything.

 

LOL based on the responses here I figure there will be no end. so I picked up at least 3 more projects since my original post! 1938 Buick to be converted to a UTE, 1948 chevy 2dr fastback, and a 1967 F100. I have to get heat in the shop, the older I get the more I hate cold weather.

 

Not car related, but my parents helped be build a retaining wall behind my garage this past summer. Due to a number of factors, materials had to be dropped in the driveway, and carried (hand and wheelbarrow) approximately 30 feet, and then carried down a steep grade (approx 8 foot drop over 4 feet of run) by hand. We moved about 30,000 pounds of materials, mostly all by hand. My dad is 71 and my mom is 62. They easily did 50% of the work.

Age and health are so damn subjective. I know guys in their 60's that can't walk 50 feet without being winded, I know guys in their 90's still working in the garage.

 

I am only about 63 or so. My health has been bad as long as I have been on the HAMB. I move slower than I did when I was 40 but I still work on my own and everyone else's. Some of the heavy stuff lays me up for a day or so, but I am not ready to quit.

I have an edge, I got dope. Like they say, "Better living through Chemistry."

 

After reading all of this, I'd say that stopping is a matter of circumstance and desire. For me, a heart attack made me sit up and take notice, 62 now, irregular heartbeat limits strenuous stuff so no heavy lifting. More importantly, I started building cars cause a rod shop grossly overcharged me for shoddy work, I got really pissed and told him I could do work that bad myself without paying him. So, I set about learning, kept at it till I got pretty good, wanted to learn more, so took on more challenges and learned even more.
Now, I'm to the point where I've satisfied my need to learn, I teach as much as I can, and the desire to pop off a car every winter is leaving too. I have two cars, a 36 ford pickup, and a 27 ford roadster pickup, never dreamed I'd own a car never mind two, I still remember picking up rod magazines and wishing someday to be like the guys I read about, and a few decades later here I am. I don't think I'll build another car, but help my buddies with theirs, concentrate on driving mine.

 

I think that sometimes we get lucky and can find someone younger that is willing to help either to learn or they just like us. I have known a lot of older gentlemen who just realized that a little help is not a disgrace.

You do what you can when you can, its not a race right? That's how I get by any more anyway.

 

I'll be 77 in March and would love to start a new build but having been in the scene since the '50's when raw material and parts were cheap and plentiful, I just can't get around the huge expense, hard to find parts, and DMV hassles. I think part of the fun of building a neat car is not having to mortgage the farm to buy a rusted out hulk to start with.

 

None of my builds are big dollar builds, swap meets and parts cars are still the way to go for me, and the internet makes it easier to find those parts that just do not exist in your area. Catalog shopping is fun for a few small items but the bulk of my stuff is found at swap meets or online classified ads. Plus like any gear head I keep a stash of parts around from previous parts cars.

 

when you take a brand new bolt and a brand new nut, both with correct threads, and when you go to thread nut on bolt you strip both of them - wait, that can't be right - I have been doing that for years.

 

I chuckle as I read all the postings here....But then I'm 84 and still goin strong..with one exception,,but that is handled with a little blue pill...LOL

 

TMI but at least we know your heart is good.

 

my friend and mentor will be 85 in april. does not do as much as he would like to, but still in the shop for several hours every day. started a new build about 3 years ago...going pretty slow on that, but still doin it