I say that sometimes, and give you the credit for it. Yeah, 65 this year. I take my time, do it as if I never want to visit it again except to maintain. "I'll catch that later..." means never. I just did Duramax head gaskets last summer. I can easily summarize that job in one word. Starts with mother...
At 77yo I am an old beat-up paratrooper(101st Airborne) and can relate to all our health and mental problems that come with old age. I don't drive my coupe(avatar)as much as I use to but still enjoy it. Getting thumbs up and seeing smiling faces when out and about in it is worth all the old age problems..................
I retired at 60 and as my retirement gift I bought myself my Austin sedan to build a gasser I'd wanted forever. 6 months later I was driving it after spending 8-10 hrs. a day, 7 days a week building it. Seemed like there was no end to my energy, and often my wife had to drag me in the house for dinner, and delivered lunches to the shop. About 5 years later a neighbor drug home a decent '63 Falcon Futura, and I went to look at it. A few days later it was in my driveway, and 6 months later it became another gasser with a BBC, 4 speed, and straight axle. Never finished it complete with paint, as I enjoyed it as it was in it's patina. Then in 2019 I stumbled across my '39 Chev coupe that I'd wanted since high school. It was in sad shape with lots of rust and rot. Took me 6 months just welding in new metal before I could even consider any suspension or drivetrain work. My days were often 4-6 hrs., and rarely more than maybe 4-5 days a week. Sometimes I worked a few hours and quit. Just didn't seem to have the same energy level a decade later that I had before. Took me a couple years to finish it, but I eventually did get it all done the way I wanted it. Now I still do a few things here or there, but it takes more to get started, and longer to finish. Seems I can always find an excuse to not start, or to stop for the day.
Well, at 89 been there done that, so I just gave my roadster to my son to enjoy---After 300,000 happy miles!!
You are in good company. The difference is that my brain knows that its gonna hurt and I do it anyway.
Another DP was talking, I was joking about making sure I have all the tools I might need when I crawl under car, get there and damn there the ratchet or socket set is WAYYYY over on other side of car. He gave me a great idea. Said he bought one of those deals with the claw on the end. People use to pick up trash. always puts it under car with him. They cheap I'll try that to see if it helps any.
BA . I received this last year in the hospital recovering from cancer in my spine . It was very helpful reaching anything that might be out of reach or on the floor . It’s also very handy reaching to turn out the light switch at night . When you are incapacitated,,,,,,an extra 2 feet reach can be a life saver . I don’t need it anymore,,,but I kept it to remember just exactly what I went through . Tommy
I bought one of those for my 3 1/2year old granddaughter to aggravate her daddy, my son. Should have bought one for myself.
I overheard my guardian angel saying to somebody... "We were gonna take him, but he's right in the middle of a roadster project now." Heeheehee... And then I heard a deep rumbling reply... "Well he better hurry his ass up."
every damn one of them EXCEPT 1, I had Knee operated on in 1976.Its ok unless the weather changes!!!!lol
When I was young, there was one part of me that was constantly stiff. Now it's the only part that never is.
I'm 50 and my body is shutting down. I have gone from a yard full of projects to one I'd like to complete . I'm hoping to be able to do this when I retire, but my body says I've had all the fun I'm allowed.
If you can think of the having to try really hard to get anything done as part of the fun... getting old is LOTS of fun. LOL But my dad said at one point... "There's a difference between difficult and impossible."
This thread is making me nervous. I'm 69 and am planning on retiring soon. I bought a project for my retirement because I figure I have a few good years left and it's what I enjoy doing (and it will keep me from driving my wife crazy). It's a win-win. Now I just need to keep from crashing and burning before it's done. I have found that laying under a car does not have the appeal it once did.
I keep hearing the same thing!!! It's faint,,,but can hear it in the back ground!!! I swear it's my conscience!!! But I'm almost sure I never purchased one of those!!!!
I'm 78, and try to drive my Model A at least once a week, rain or shine, or snow !! And it has yet to see the inside of my garage !!
Whenever I get a little creakey, I think about a friend of mine that turned 100 last fall and still goes to his shop every day for awhile. It seems to cure the creakyness a bit.
After my thumbnail finally came off, I tacked it on the wall above my lathe to remind me not to do stupid stuff, but it probably won't work unless I do it to the same thumb...
When I was young, I worked a 60 hour a week job, then went home and worked another 20-30 hours a week. I had a hot street car, a dirt track car, a wife & 2 kids. I was a busy man on the move. Then one morning in my early 30s, I couldn't sit up in bed. I couldn't lift my arms, or feel my feet! We thought I had messed up me back. A Chiropractor came to my house and gave me a treatment on my front room floor at 8 am. At 5, when I wasn't any better, he called the ambulance and had me taken to the hospital. There I discovered I had a disease that I probably had from birth, my body doesn't retain potassium and I can become temporarily paralyzed. That change in my potassium level changes constantly, and the possible level of paralyses changed with the change in the potassium level. My whole life changed. Diet and medication have taken the highs and lows off the potassium level swings, but the disease is still there. It required a different carrier path, and also required a different approach to playing with cars. I've adapted pretty well, but it brings to me an entire different thought process of not being able to get up off the floor then you guys have. I've made it to retirement. Built a lot of hot rods before and after retirement (which was at 62, I'm 65 now). I too have slowed down the last couple of years. I'm blaming it on Old Age, but it my be a result of that and my disease catching up with me. Aches and pains are a result of the abuse and neglect we did to ourselves over our lifetime. I pretty much can't lay that blame on anyone except myself, so I try hard not to whine about it much. I do miss the lack of ambition some, but I'm learning to get over that as well. My wife does ask me "Isn't there something I should be doing in the garage?" sometimes. I take it as her way of telling me to get out of the house for a while. I go to the garage and putter around. Its relaxing, gets me out of her hair, and occasionally I actually get something done. I have an old car and an old truck I get to play with that are both drivers. I have a couple of younger friends that would help me out with anything major, and they have a hoist. Retirement is great!
When driving out to look at a junkyard, hoarder site or any place full of scrap I usually have to stop on the way so I can limp around for a while until the back doesn't bark and my leg gets some feeling back. After I get to my destination the adrenaline kicks in and there is no limp. I'm crawling under and over cars and tree limbs just like a teenager. For some reason a 4-speed weighs ounces and I can fold under a dashboard to remove a gauge cluster like I was 16. Heck yeah, I'll drag that rear end out. On the way home with all the new treasures in the truck and trailer I'm on my third extra strength Tylenol/Aleve/whatever I've got 10 miles in on the return. I can tell my back is twisted and there is a stabbing pain in my hip and I can't feel my toes. I also know the truck and trailer won't unload themselves. Can't wait to go to the next place and do it again!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I'll put up with whatever ails me to continue to go on the hunt.
The Jalopy Journal
