O/t sick of not being taken seriously because of my age

I dont know if anyone in here has ever been in the same boat as me, but it seems like becuase i am only 17 people question the legibility of my knowledge of traditional hotrods and customs and what i own or have owned . i happen to be a member of a somewhat respected car club and know a great deal of historical value on the subject and have been working on my own cars for almost half a decade including top chops, nosing, decking, lowering, painting. I dont call myself an expert at any of these things by any means but i am fascinated by it and am always looking for new challenges. im just getting sick of being seen as some kid who wants a "rat rod" or something.

 

I think a lot of us have been in that boat. Who built that for you?.......you know what Im saying

 

It happens. It's a shame people equate years with knowledge.

 

that you duke? dont give them a reason too. get your shit done, make it look good, and take pride in driving it. its that easy

 

dont worry about enjoy being young one day you will wake up and be an old fart sooner than you think..

 

don't worry about it dude. probably happens to everyone, happened to me. you just keep the old guys on their toes by building cool $hit!! works for me, and just when you thought you knew it all, some old guy will knock you on your a$$ by teaching you something else you didn't know!
-eric

 

<TABLE id=HB_Mail_Container height="100&#37;" cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0 width="100%" border=0 UNSELECTABLE="on"><TBODY><TR height="100%" UNSELECTABLE="on" width="100%"><TD id=HB_Focus_Element vAlign=top width="100%" background="" height=250 UNSELECTABLE="off">You will probably find that most of it is Jelousy! Keep on doin' what you know and love, and just walk away from the "Know it all Jerks"! I myself am very glad to here of 17 year olds buildin' Hot Rods and not Rice Rockets!!
Keep it up, and Good Luck!!
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Have someone older with experience watch you do some work, and then when someone see's your work, and you tell that person you did it yourself have the older person there with you that watched you do your work verify that you indeed do the work yourself, they'll take you more seriously.

 

Just tell people you give all the credit to your older brother, who is currently doing hard time because he took the credit for the asshole you strangled to death for doubting your car knowledge.

It may not get you any respect, but it WILL get you some funny looks.....

 

Much as I hate to break the news to you, but most people are guilty of putting people in cute little boxes based on age, race, sex, and a host of other things. For the ones that are outside of what is percieved as "normal" for a group based on the cute little boxes, the battle is tough. You have two choices, accept the facts of the perceptions and politely prove you are who you are, or get angry and miss a chance to educate the uninformed. Like it or not, at your age, getting angry and exploding will only farther instill the image of the disrespectfull teenager. I know, I was there myself at your age. It is unfortunate that your actions and attitude will dictate a perception faster then any abilities you poses. Walk softly and carry a big stick. In your case the big stick should be documented proof of what you have done. Talk is cheap, back up your talk with provable facts. Then, after all that, if they still won't listen, move on, they are not worthy of your time.

The biggest challenge you have before you is that in 20 or 30 years when some kid comes up to you and tells you all the things he has done, you have to remember what you went though in your past (which is right now). Time has a way of repeating itself. Gene

 

I've delt with it for year's, and at time's still do at 33. I think many of us do, or have and have done it ourselves at times even if we don't want to admit it.
For me the negative feeling i got from not being taken seriously at a younger age just made me work harder at what i loved to do, build car's....I had bought my first car at 14 with lawn mowing money..a 57 chevy..so it started early for me..
It made me want to learn as much as i could, be as hands on as i could and better myself with every project..
Basically, i just fed of the people who did exactly what your describing.
I bet they didn't expect that..hell, i should thank 'em..

Don't give them any more thought and let them think whatever they want. Just do what your doing, learn and enjoy...pretty soon they will see who was bullshitting who..
Trust me, it WILL happen..

50dodge4x4 gave some good advice too..alway's remember the shit feeling you have when those fella's treat you like that..the encouragement you give a young kid in the future may be something they never forget.

Tony

 

I admire anyone of your age that is trying to learn and develop skills. Your work will speak for you and I suggest that you let it roll off your back and not let others get under your skin. Most of us old guys have been through everything you speak of.
I would also like to compliment you on your use of the language and spelling, because you obviously taken time to learn correct usage. Having said that, you can always learn more, liking using legitimacy and not legibility, because they mean different things. If you get mad at me for this correction, then you need to think about it.

 

What he said! Nil carburundum iligitimi! (Don't let the bastards grind you down)

Flatman

 

happened to me as well....


All my friends were getting hammered for fun in H.S.

All I wanted to do was work on my race car...got the race car going...turned it strip only and started my 50 chevy...

But when at the track with my race car (Blown BBF...pro-street, in primer though... saved up for it and scrounged it me own self as well as did 99&#37; of the work....hey pop helped on stuff I was stumped with) The majority of the guys called it daddy's car...I only hung out with a small group of guys that knew "daddy" had his own car and didnt buy me shit....

Same thing with the 50... I got it going and caught shit from the rodders....till Tony and terry from mild to wild (a fab shop) set em straight (I will admit they did the sub-frame on the 50 as I didnt feel comfy welding frames at that point in my car hobby at the tender age of 16, still paid for it myself...)

The majority of those chuckleheads that were givin me shit didnt even have cars at the show....

 

I always got that. Im 29 now, so not that young, but now get a bunch of 49-51 Merc questions from the local old dudes. Thats kinda neat.

 

The documentation idea that 50dodge4x4 mentioned seems to be a good idea, heres some pictures of some work i have done.

Welded up a log manifold for 216/235 chevy (still needs flanges)




Beginning of a chop and hardtop conversion on a shoebox sedan.



C-notch on my old 57 chevy pickup (cant take all the credit my dad helped)



Converted a 57f-100 smallback window into a Big back window

 

Enjoy it while you can,,,someday if you are very lucky and don't piss off some damn ol' graybeard like me,,,,

you'll just be sick and tired of being sick and tired! HRP

 

Might as well get used to it. I'm 32 and building a traditional Model A. Every time I go look at a part somewhere, if an older guy's trying to sell it to me, he mentions at least 8 times that it would be great for a 'rat rod', I'm sure because of my age. I stopped bothering to try to set em straight. Be happy you're 17, I would be...

 

Who cares what other people think. Are you into building cars because you like to do it and it makes you happy? Or becuase you want other people to know and getting attention makes you happy?

If you do it cause you like it then nothing anyone else says can ever change that.

In other words, F*ck 'em!

 

We were all young once I wish I still was... FUCK-EM!... I'm 38 and still get the back in my day speech!

 

Ive seen that shoebox before. Didnt you post that like a yr ago? Ur from Washington state or something?

 

Yeah, i ended up trading it for a 23 roadster, alot of guys on here helped me out for getting some lights in my shop, it was really cool of them to do that!

 

im almost 17 i have lots of support from older hotrods. there have been jerks but the thing i no is that i have more time left to get more knowledge then them

 

Hell try running a Hot Rod shop, I'm 28 and I feel like I have to prove myself to every customer, I've been working on cars every day for 13 years now and I have done probably 17-18 full ground up builds and probably hundreds of paint jobs and yet about 90&#37; of the time people still looked surprised when they see me and have to ask how old are? what experience do you have? and all this because they saw some work I had done to another persons car and they had to give me a call. I have even been turned down from a few jobs after people gave me a call and the moment they see me you would think they were looking at there infant child or something.

 

Trade you. I'll be 17 again and you can have the respect of being older.

 

I thought it worked for you because you have REALLY nice tits.

 

Leave my "Man Cans" out of this!!

 

I can't help it! I'm all about equality.

 

hey i'm 66 and nobody still takes me seriously.
just take it with a grain of salt.

 

I went through the same thing when I became a Fleet manager at trucking company when I was 22 yrs old.I always looked older than i was so I did'nt have many problems. But whenever any of the Owner operators found out how old I was they would'nt believe anything I told them.I just told them to take it somewhere else and when it's fixed wrong or it cost you twice as much just come on back to me and we'll get it done right.Every single one of them came back and actually went out of their way to spread the news that I knew what the hell I was doing.Growing up in my dad's mechanical business you can't help but get good at this stuff at a young age. But it did always piss me off that when I applied for a new job they always tried to low ball the pay just because I was young. But don't sweat it. Your work will always speak for yourself. As for me I'm always glad to help the young guys and am really glad they take an interest. I just wish my own boy would.