Hot Rods I look at our hobby differently, as I get older

Over the years, I look at our hobby differently. For 99.9%, it is a hobby

We talk about our hobby declining, as our kids grow up. As great old cars with period correct body lines disappear. We, including myself are guilty . By our adulteration of classic lines, we boost the entire cost in to our hobby. only because there will be fewer available.

By no means do I judge, any one who makes there dream come true. I just wonder what will be left, in 30 or so years . Fewer and fewer classics survive. It's a catch 22, damned if we do, and misunderstood if we don't. Of course they need to be safe with good upgrades, always with safety in mind.

With the advance of bolt on aftermarket parts, we my self included, need to understand why our kids like tuner's. I take the responsibility, for not passing my trade on to my two boys. I was always to busy, to slow down to teach and mentor.
Taking the time, to talk to my boys, now at 58 , They still want to learn everything I know. I just hope, there is time, to due so.

Mentor, as much as possible. Time lost, that will never be regained.


I love you Bob jr and Phil

Dad
__________________

 

The Ol' Man always said he would break my arm if I became a mechanic. Never the less I spent Saturdays at the shop with him or in the pits somewhere.

I grew up and built engines, cars, and motorcycles that he didn't like. He didn't dislike the way I built them just mostly the brands. He bitched at me about it right up until he died in '03. The last thing he said to me before he breathed his last was to keep doing things the way I do them.

The truth is that he bitched because he could not because he didn't like my brand choice. He showed me the way to do things because he could then let me do my own thing.

You have got to let the kids, whoever they are do what they want, they are going to do what they want anyway. Show them what you think is right and let them gleen from it what they will.

By the way the Ol' Man was 80. You still got lots of time to mentor.

 

I was lucky enough to help dad from about 9 or so to learn basic auto mechanics and maintience, however, my childhood friend Aaron taught me the love of Hot Rods contrary to my fathers oppinion that "cars are basic transportation, point A to point B, anything more is bragging and I hate braggards!" But, my father and I sharred a shop and I learned more about basic auto repair from him and now can't say thanks enough! Thank you dad! Herman Hawkins RIP 1925-2002

 

The torch gets passed along, just not always in a direct line. My Dad loved old cars like I do, but we had very different ideas about what was cool. He was a resto-mod kind of guy and I'm a cut-and-chop fella. But it was my uncle who was the real gear head and none of his kids are into cars at all. In many ways I'm more his protege than Dad's.

As for tuners, I started out drooling over muscle cars and didn't really dive into the 1950s until I was 30. Our tastes change as we grow up and some kid revving the snot out of a beat-up Honda Civic today might be driving a really sweet '40 Ford coupe in 20 or 30 years.

 

I read through this thread and thought I'd add in this link: http://www.montereyautomuseum.com/index.php
It refers to an ambitious project to add more than merely a museum to the automotive hobby. In the description of their plans a key component in the plan is to teach various aspects of building and restoring automobiles. I'm hopeful they can get the idea off the ground, it would be great to have this kind of thing right in my backyard.

 

In the greater scheme of things they are just cars nothing more, but it is the relationships with our family's and friends that are the rewards.

My kids grew up in the backseat of a 40 Ford sedan and saw a lot of this country and enjoyed all the experiences of traveling in a hot rod on the highways and back roads of America.

I shared with them as children and young adults,,they have gone their respective ways and say they had a great childhood but they are not interested in the old cars anymore.

We occasionally take our grandchildren to Cruise-In's but the pace is too slow for them so most times they pass unless it's some cool place to eat.

I'm convinced Hot Rodding will survive,,there will always be a guy or gal that wants to drive something different and unique. HRP

 

I'm with ya here.
My dear old Dad was afraid to even look at the dipstick. His idea of "big mechanican" was a bottle of 7-up on the battery every other saturday. I freaked him out when I had the motor half out as he was pulling up the drive. 64 Plymouth btw.
I got the bug from the day and a neighbor. SoCal in the 60's

 

I started both my sons and two of my girls with cars My 34 and 23 year old girls know more about there cars then there guys do. my son Chris has a 65 ford and Justin plays with fab work. he runs a tuff truck a 88 ranger with a 2300 using a VW FI unit complete with home made Bungs and home fabed rail topped off with a T-3 turbo and A entercooler, runs like a raped ass Ape with its ass on fire.
Not what I do but there still young and Marcus and he likes to help at the shop

 

Threads like this make me want to have kids,........ kinda,........ well not really...........

My Dad cant grasp why I do what I do, nor can he figure out how I make a living at it.

Maybe I will have kids, I have alot to show and tell. I think I would like that.

Im talking to myself again.

 

My older son has an o/t '78 Chevy C-10 that he loves. It's a 350/350 long bed with few options. It's his pride and joy. I happen to like that style of GM truck, too. Be that as it may, he appreciates my love of older cars. The very first time I let him drive my '66 Coronet, he was beaming ear-to-ear! He did not even ask to drive it, we were going somewhere and I told him "Here, you drive this time!"

My younger son is looking for a car now, and he DOES want a pre-'70 ride. Plus, he is more mechanically inclined, so he'd be able to appreciate and maintain an older vehicle better.

I've been a motorhead ever since I was three or four. Kinda disappoiinted that my kids are not nearly the fan of cars that I am, but they are eager to learn, in any case. My wife and sons had a BALL at Bonneville this year (our first time!) and they want to go back again, which makes me very happy!

On the other side of that coin, my friend grew up in New York City, where his folks never owned a car - they took a cab ride or a bus everywhere they went. His first drive behind the wheel was after he turned nineteen, but that hooked him! After growing up in a non-car household, he now has a pretty impressive little collection of vehicles and displays a great amount of skill in maintaining and hotrodding. Go figure!

 

He's right guy's. My dad did all he could to help me along and look how I turned out. Okay, bad example but, he's still right.

 

Of course its dying. The current generation is growing up on Jap imports knowing nothing about (and caring less) Ts, As, and Bs or the whole hot rod scene. And look around you. As the kids of today age and look back at this time in their life are they going to get an irresistable urge to hot rod a front wheel drive, transverse four? Throw in the ever increasing govt. regulations and I can see hot rodding being dead in the foreseeable future.

 

well if you think about it tuners are alot like the early hot rods, cheap running cars that were bought and made to go faster and handle better

now we build cars from piles of parts, we pay more, they go slower than a stock mazada, handle worse than a stock honda, we have become the weezers of old, searching for that old crusty part to build some under engineered car.... when you look at the big pictures it's funny how much things change, how much they really stay the same

 

My mentor and hero, Morgan Wright, passed all the skills he could on to me with a level of patience I cant even comprehend. I in turn try to treat my kids the same when it comes to the garage/car lifestyle. Morgan never beats me up when I have a different opinion of what is cool than he does. It is men like Morgan that keep this sickness spreading.

On a similar topic I look at women different as I get older. I used to have standards and pick them apart. Now I just really dig em all!

 

Im 35 now and my son is 4. Every day we are in the garage doing somthing car or motorcycle related. I feel im on the right track. He loves it and always wants to do it. I just have to remember to let him make his own decisions. Im thinkin he will stick with it if I dont push,anyway I look at it, it is time well spent with my son. Pass the torch.........If they want to hold it.

 

I paid plenty of attention to my old man"s craft even to the extent of getting in his way,he ran his own shop,which taught me the easy fixes and the hard stuff too,hey,dude you are just 58 you make it sounnd like you ain"t going to make it to 60,Teach them all you can,hell my son"s got one of those damn ying-yang Hondas with the wing on it and I taught him the older stuff and he has really schooled me on the newer stuff,Enjoy the time together no matter what you are working on.

 

Keep in mind pushing your kids into the hobby a bit too much can have the opposite affect. I have some friends who really pushed their son's into the hobby. Dragged them to car shows while their friends were at the pool picking up girls. The result? The kids have zero interest in the hobby when they went out on their own and want nothing to do with old cars.

You have to walk that fine line.

 

Well , I read all of the thread and I am not sure which way I fell ,my dad was my best friend up until his death 7 yrs ago ...he loved cars , bone stock or rods he liked them all, but we agreed when something rolled in our doors if it was to complete and cherry we left it alone to preserve it. If it came as a mess well thats when we broke tradition and broke out the saws. My 2 boys seen it and lived it they both love cars ,although I may not agree with their choices ...I respect their right to be them selves... and even as crazy as some of their ideas were ,they still both love to see a true piece of history. Example would be my 48 ford ...we laugh because I call it my time machine. It took a while but now their both mid 20's they get it. I will catch one of them every once in a while just sitting in it behind the wheel with a far away look in their eyes. I believe if you show them where it all came from, they will in their own way embrace it and will pass it on ....

 

According to Google, the average life expectancy of an American male is 74.1 years.

Do you really have 16.1 years worth of knowledge to share?


I'm 28 now and my Dad passed the car "sickness" on to me. The problem I run into (amongst others) is money. Good parts are getting more and more difficult to find, and when one does, they are often prohibitively expensive (especially reproduction parts). This is a double edged sword. It forces people like me to be more creative and make use of all sorts of parts. It also causes kids to customize cars that are more readily available and therefore, cheaper. In addition it has spurred this "rat rod" movement that everyone around here seems to really dislike.

Meh... my $0.02

mR

 

I think there is more "stock" cars now than ever. Look at muscle cars, the vast majority have been returned to stock as well as the numerous 55-57 Chevies. I remember back in the 70's you rarely saw a stock muscle car nor a 55-57 Chevy out on the streets. in the late 70's we had 70 members in our local 55-57 club and maybe a handful of restored cars-and most of those were 4 doors

As for earlier cars (pre '49) I don't think the really good ones will ever be hot rodded. There is just way to many out there to make a significant difference. Plus, The hobby is going to decline in a few years no matter what we do because the old guy's who make up the bulk of the hobby are going to start dying off in droves(sounds gruesome I know but let's face facts) or retire and there is not enough young kids who like these cars to pick up the slack.

I just spoke to a 68 year old street rodder friend today and he is going to start selling off his 7 car collection and just keep 2 cars-the 2 he actually built. He wants to spend more time with his kids and travel and he said he is getting to old to go to car shows and sit out in the hot sun

These cars will start flooding the market soon so there will be no need to cut up original cars.

 

My mentor and me. He had just set a record at maxton. THANKS FOR LEARNIN ME REAL GOOD POP!

 

I would guess my mentor was my step dad. He worked on all his vehicles to the best of his ability. The single thing that I learned was that regardless of who made it, IT can be worked on by the owner. Our maintenance was out of necessity, who said growing up poor is a poor teacher. Granted he despised most of the things I did with my vehicles, he was always proud of the fact that "I" did those things to my cars. Hell my first car was a 72 Plymouth Fury that was a complete POS that costs $125. Dad said, once you get it running and safe, I'll get it registered and insured for you. And so I was bit by the hot rod bug, after all if I could make it run, why not make it run bigger, better, faster?
He passed away in 01' and even though he was my step dad, he was my only dad and I was half the country away when his health started to go bad. My saddest part was I was not there to spend more time with him. He had all kinds of stories of his younger days that would make my jaw drop. He always got a chuckle out of the stupid shit I did as young Marine as well. I miss him a lot.

I try to encourage my 13 year old daughter every chance I get to at least see how things work, and be curious. She does fix most of the problems with her computers now!

The old saying that "Its never too late" can be very wrong. Don't pass up the chance to spend time with your mentor, or the one you are mentoring. No one knows when the time is up, so take advantage of it.

 

Being an orphan, no one mentored me. But I made sure I mentored my two sons. While I might not always personally like what they build, I always compliment them on the planning and quality of their buld.

Twenty years later we still work on projects in our garage at the same time, helping each other in time of question or need for help. Remember, the family that plays together, stays together !! I am 63 and still mentoring. Keep the faith !

Dolittle

 

My Dad Died when I was 24,Im 47 now,He didn't give a shit about old or new cars.He didn't care or understand when I began modifying model cars and chopping up schwinn stingrays at age 12,He didn't understand my obsession with a 67 Big Block camaro I built when I was 16.He never grasped my interest in and Old 48Anglia that I bought at 17,took me awhile but by the time I was 21 it ran 11.79 in the 1/4 and was street driven,on pump gas.So I guess you don't really need a Dad as mentor,If you have the true passion it will prevail over all other things.My Dad told me he had a 80 inch Flathead Harley,but seldom could get it started,he also drove a 1950 Hudson 2 door up till about 1964.

 

As far as passing the torch all seams well under our roof. My 13 year old son named his dragster...

 

I hear you! Took our then 3 year old son to the Pileup last year, he wanted to leave, but take him to the dragstrip and it's a totally different tune!

 

My father bought me a 1952 Chevy pickup when I was 14, not because he knew what to do with it but because he knew I loved old cars and it was a way for us to get together and bond.
He was a "rigger". Didn't always do things the "correct" way, but he always got it done. He just wanted to spend time with me. I learned a lot from him, from the wrong way to do things to the right way to do things. Both important apsects.

I now have a 3 year old son who spends as much time in the garage with me as possible. He has overtaken my AV8 and calls it his own.
There is no better feeling than when he tells me out of the blue "Daddy, I love Hot rods".
I vow to teach him everything I know, right or wrong, and let him grow into his own. Just like my Dad did with me.

This thing we have with old cars is special. You either get it or don't. You can't force it on anyone. We can just live it and hope that others catch on to that special feeling.

Thanks for the post.

Thanks Dad for feeding my passion even though it wasn't your own.

 

I have found that peoples attitude to the younger generation's trend towards tuner style cars can also be traced to being a little rebelious towards their parents (after all it's not so cool to be seen crusing with your old man to your local cruise night , how often did any off us want to do that wwen we got our driving freedom).When these kids want to express there own style they tend to find it hard to get help from older folk to do what they want not what was always done.It is also noteable that thc cars that we grew up with (that were cheep at the time and also in much better condition) are now beyond the price range for most kids. Another point is to take a trip to your local pick-a-part and see what they have to work with,all of a sudden they are filled with tuner fodder not so much rodder fodder.One exampile i personaly know off came about at my club's car show(Eliminators Hot Rod and American Car Club)a couple of years back,a young guy showed up with a 80's toyota pickup it was channeled,bagged,flat black with painted steelies with white walls not the nicest car (not my personal choice)but it was a well thought out build (a little ruff around the edges)and well engineered but every rodder that walked past it (and thats what 90 % did without giving a second look or thought)had negative comments about this kids pride and joy.When i got a chance to talk to this kid (the joys of being the host club no rest for the wicked)and ask him about it he was quite upset at the reaction his car was getting.He told me that he was hoping to get some positive feedback from some off the older guys about his workmanship and ideas from this car for his next project possibly a early holden then a hotrod later.He also said that he didnt want to start cutting up something valuable and finding out that his ability was not as good as his imagination and in the process ruin a good car to get some bad experience.After the responce he was getting he could understand why all his friends were building tuner cars and not old skool cars (no body wants to listen to their ideas).
So for what it is worth next time one of us see some kid show up in a modified o/t car then maybe we should be the ones to make the first move and ask them about their cars you never know that kid maybe a closet hotrodder looking for a way to express him/herself,so be the bigger man

 

My dad was a green peacer and wanted everyone to take mass transit. I have not really had any mentors didnt learn to use a torch till 5 years ago as I dont own one. Have done all my own car work because I cant afford to pay anyone else. Started to collect old hot rod magazines when I was 16 so the pages of the little were my mentors. I need to drive any car I own on a regular basis. Back in the day an $500.00 beater could be a cool old cruiser but with the prices of any vintage tin I dont drive and cant see me ever driving a HAMB friendly car for a long time to come. So I guess your right I hang around here but am not really able to truly participate as my car is 3 years to new to be respected here.

 

Money was always tight when I grew up. My Dad taught me how to do basic maintenance on the family cars when I was about 12. After that, fixing Mom & Dad's vehicles became one of my chores. Thank God for Chilton manuals!

My best memory of that time was the sly grin on my Dad's face as he laid twin black streaks down the street, turned to me & said, "don't tell your Mom". We had a great laff.

My Dad wasn't really into cars, but he wanted to build a hot rod together. Unfortunately, I was tearing into a Boss 302 at the time. Well before I got the bug for old tin, he passed away. Sometimes the seed needs time to germinate.