Love what you do! Skills passed down to children.

Consider yourself lucky. I did not grow up with a dad that did anything automotive, save change a water pump. I acquired my knowledge by trial and error that started with the love of .. gulp.. a 1989 5.0 If you had mentors or dad, uncles, brothers that taught you thing, than be very thankful. I would kill to learn how to use an English wheel, shrinker stretcher, power hammer ETC: That art simply blows me away. But sadly the older gentlemen "folk" that know how to do this art form are either dying off, or won’t take the time to show you. I guess they have lost their patience with the younger generation. I was thinking this morning of how I want to make sure my kids have the opportunity to acquire the skills I have now. I consider myself a novice, but I am very adept at frames, patch panel ETC. So be glad today and take it in, because it truly goes by faster than we would like.

 

I was the luckiest SOB in the world. My Dad was born with the ability to work with his hands, and the smarts to figure out mechanical problems. He was a self taught machinist and mechanic. He taught me all he knew. I worked along side him for 42 years. He passed in 2000 and I miss him every day. I have 2 daughters and 4 grand daughters. When I'm finally with Dad in the big shop in the sky, all he taught me will be lost. At least I took what he taught me and made a good living and had a hell of a lot of good times with hot rods and race cars.

 

Yes! Spot on. The only thing I learned from my dad was how to properly cuss a Allis Chalmers WD 45. I don't blame it on him though it was more my grandpa. Grandpa did possess mechincal ability but didn't have enough patience to teach my dad. Most of the time they had new cars anyways so not much to fix. My other grandpa taught me everything I know about carpentry though.. guess it evens out. I've pretty much taught myself anything mechnical and I've already started teaching the boy. He's only 2 1/2 but can already turn a wrench and loves every minute of it!

 

I'm 63 and recently retired. I have spent most of life (almost 50 years) as a do everything body repairman. I started at 14 learning from an old timer then. I do body repair/lead work/paint/frame straightening/pick and file/bumping/fabrication/wiring, etc. I have 4 sons and one daughter. I always told my children never do this for a living. All my kids do something else for a living, thankfully. My youngest (28) not so young, works in the IT Dept of a national corp and wants to learn how to make stuff! He is the most mechanically inclined of the bunch. We are currently looking for a project car. I guess I'll get a chance to pass on some knowledge that is quickly turning into a dying art. I just hope I'm around long enough for him to become proficient at it...

 

No reason you can't teach your daughters/grand daughters.....

I spent my daughter's sophomore college year summer with her rebuilding an old VW for her to use at college . It took us all summer and we did all the mechanicals, including rebuilding the motor, brakes, restuffing and recovering the seats and so on. Once it was done we took a 4000 mile trip in it back to her school - it was the trip of a lifetime!

Later that schoolyear the sunroof broke in the open position. I bought her a manual, the cables and gearbox and sent them to her. It took her all weekend but she fixed it - by herself! She was never so proud of doing something on her own!

Girls mostly don't seem to care about mechanical stuff, but I wonder if that's just because no one bothers to teach them how it works?

I'm 62 now and I'd love nothing better than to spend my days in the shop teaching the grandkids how to work on stuff - but they live all the way across the country and I still have to work, so that dream may die with me as they get older and start their own lives...

 

The Ol' Man started teaching me at a very early age and always advised me that if he caught me doing it he would break my arm. He didn't ever break my arm thank heavens.

I don't consider myself lucky for various reasons that I won't go into.

I didn't teach my kid, she has natural talent and when she was around me she just expanded on that talent.

I have a grandaughter that started playing cars with me when she was about 4. I didn't teach her either, if she wanted to play cars or motor cycles with me she could. She is now 17 about 2 or 3 times a week we work on something together. What she doesn't know she picks up very quickly.

Its not so much teaching but allowing them to spend time with you they will either pick it up or they won't. At least that's my approach it seems to work real well.

 

When I was about 8 or 9 years old, My Grandpa suggested we build my mother a Desk drawer divider for Mothers day, we got the plans out of a Popular Mechanics magazine,...We went to the lumberyard in his 51' Pontiac. When we got back to his house,... and we started.

He showed me how to lay out the job, marked the wood,... set the blade level on his Shop Smith,.... He Turned it on,... and I stepped back, expecting him to do the cutting,.... He said,.. no, you are going to build this,... I'm just going to show you how.

I stepped up to the machine but was scared,... Grandpa stepped up behind me, put his hands on mine, and we made that first cut together. He watched me closely as I built that desk drawer divider,... He helped me on the first step of each procedure, then watching me after that,.. reminding me of what he had told me to do, and offering suggestions.

When it was finished, I looked at it,... and was a little disappointed because it didn't live up to what I pictured it would look like in my mind,.... Grandpa was a machinist by trade, but loved working with wood,... (he had studied to become a cabinet maker in Germany before coming to America) When he asked "what was wrong",.. I told him it didn't look anywhere near as good as what he could make.

This is when Grandpa gave me the greatest bit of advice I had ever received,... he looked me square in the eyes and said.

"A Master was never born",..... We all enter into this world with the very same skills,... But, as we grow we all find what we have a talent for, and develop those skills,..
A lucky man can find what he loves to do and earn a living from it,.. If your not that lucky,... you keep working at your skills, until you can do them at the best of your abilities."

This little talk with Grandpa' has been in my mind ever sence that day,... And has given me the confidence to try things on my own,.... and not to be afraid,... Most everything I have learned that I enjoy doing, I have taken the first steps on my own,... totally self taught. This leads you into circles where the "Masters" are,...

I was very fortunate to meet some very talented Hot Rodders as I was working on my first cars,... And was helped along greatly by them. It has been my experience, that when a Master sees a younger guy with the passion,...he will try to offer suggestions and tell you how to do things, and share what he knows,... as your abilities grow,... a little part of them lives on in you,..... And that's how it works.

So, when you have a passion to learn something,... gather as much information as you can,... And don't be afraid to make that first cut. And always remember what Grandpa said,....

"A Master was never born"​

 

my dad did minor repairs back in the day tune ups, brakes water pump and i helped. we did some projects and he taught me some tricks i still use today.

when i was 14 i met the author tad burness he wrote a lot of old car books, he took a intrest in me back then and encouraged my participation in car clubs and the like. who would think back then the skinny kid at the car club meetings would be making 300 different patch panels for old cars today.

i encourage my little girls to learn everything about manufacturing and to enjoy car shows and cruises nights. the kids need to be started young so they know this stuff is normal and they can met great folks and have a good time without computors and video games.

i can see now when my girls tell there friends or teachers what they did or learned with there father the friends and teacher have no idea about what they did. which tells me that the general public is clueless to the things we do. but we as car guys/gals can fix anything and learn to get along with new folks, this is more important then anything else.

the folks who can do stuff will be sucessful.

no my big task is to convince them to run a factory when they get older.

out of 3 buildings we have the girls claimed 2 for themselves and are concerned about there choice.

 

My grandfather had a saying " You'll never get rich paying someone to do your work".

That was preached to my father, and my father preached it to me, and many of the necessary skills needed to go thru life were passed on down. Because of it I'm better off both financially as well having the ability to do things myself. I just cringe when I see friends pay big dollars to have the simpliest things done on their cars or homes or what ever.

I've got 2 teenage daughters and they are very aware of "great grampa's" saying. They both got a small toolbox with basic tools from dad on their 5th birthday (mom was pissed !!), and I'm proud to say they still have everything in it and make use of them. I've always encouraged them to try to fix things on their own - either you're successful and its fixed or at least you've learned more about it than you did before.

Rebuilding a 51 Pontiac they might not ever do, but being able to change their tires, or repair a leaking faucet, or re-gluing a loose chair is something they will be able to do !!!

 

My step dad was the coffe-can muffler/ soak it with starter fluid kind of guy. I never seen him really fix anything. My father in law is in the midst of restoring a Fiat but he's on the other side of the country. So everything I learn comes from friends and the internet (Mostly the HAMB). I don't blame the old folks for not wanting to teach us. I'm losing patience with most of the young kids I work with. Save a few that actually have a work ethic . It takes a life time to master the skills some of these old guys have, so if I can't find someone to teach me, then I'll just grab a book, jump in and figure it out. No body taught Edison how to make a light bulb.

 

For what it's worth,....

Any of you young guys,... You are on the greatest place on earth for Traditional Hot Rod skills right now,..... The HAMB is a collective wealth of Hot Rod knowledge like the world has never known. Your mentors and masters are right here on the HAMB.

 

My grandfather owned 2 gas stations when I was young and loved being there all summer long . i did learn a couple things but was young . I did pump gas sometimes and watched the mechanic all the time and never stopped asking what he was doing !
My father was a great Dad but not a mechanic at all ! I learned my mechanic skill the hard way . I took it apart and put it back together . If it didn't work I tore it apart and figured out what I did wrong . When I found out about car repair manuals that was the best thing that I ever found ! So if I didn't know how to do something then I just looked it up in blue book back then . I still have many old blue and green books . I was self taught and did very well doing engine rebuilding for 10+ years . Still do my own engine rebuilding and everything else that deals with a car . I am learning body repair the right way with metal and welding . I have always been that way and hated to have to pay someone to fix my cars !
I have only one daughter and lucky to have her . I will teach her anything she wants to know about a car to keep her car going with out having to depend on a husband or boy friend to fix it for her .

I have passed down many things I know to many younger people on many forms but mostly here . I love to teach anyone that wants to learn anything about car repair . I enjoy doing it and wish there was some kids in my neighborhood that wanted to learn . I would gladly teach them !

If there is anyone on the HAMB that wants to know how to fix something on their car , just send me a PM and ask ! If I know I will tell you , if not I will help you find the answer . This is truly an art that is not used anymore today . Everything is computer so now . I grew up listening to what the engine and car told me was wrong . I know I will piss someone off that is a mechanic on today's cars and yes I can't work on them but I will tear you up on an older car hands down . Things were way different years ago . Now it's almost like a part swapping job . You just plug in the computer and it tells you what's wrong . When we had a bad alt. or starter we rebuilt them ! Now you swap out parts .

It was much more fun building a performance car or race car back then because you had to use your head . Now you get a computer program to do the work for you .
Just my opinion !

Retro Jim

 

EMS, Those girls are blessed to have such a unique experience and you as a mentor. Very cool in this day and age for kids to see how a huge metal stamping press works. It's something the will always remember. Way to go.

 

My dad was a major motor head and antique engine collector. I grew up on a farm surrounded by anything that had pistons! There was antique cars and trucks, antique tractors, old hit and miss farm engines, old motorcycles and antique outboards. We even had a 1929 Matthews motor yacht we kept on the Chesapeake bay! I owe it all to him, and hope to pass it on to my boys! Dad still has a half dozen antique outboards to keep him happy.(He's 83!)

 

Sad to say but my old man wasn't too bothered about teaching me much.

He was an aircraft machinist / tool and die maker - turning wrenches on cars was beneath his dignity.

 

My dad sent me to work for free at a local restoration shop when I was 12 or 13, at the time I thought I was getting screwed but now I realize that the knowledge I got was priceless. My son stays out in the shop with me till he falls asleep at least 4 days a week,he is 6 and loves hotrods

 

im 34 just had my first born in oct of this year i talk to him about cars he smiles and laughs ... my pops has been teaching me and my bro since we were young to learn how to do it your self ! he's a air craft painter of 30-40 years now in quality assurance for his profeshion. he has taught us a life time of working on cars,painting and most of all learning to work with our hands creating things we have built a few cars currently working on his 56 buick thats been in the family for as long as i can remember hopefuly my son will get a chance to turn a wrench on it with me and my dad as i will teach him everything i know and learn every day ... thanks DAD " i have to many car's in the drive way and your place is full to now what do we do?"

 

Grampa was a machinist, Dads a machinist (RET) Uncle Jerry is a welder(RET) with 32 years exp.Mom(RIP) worked a lifetime on the anco assembly line,and Im a eleven year journeymen millwright.I come from a long line of hard workin BLUE COLLAR workers and I am very proud of it.

 

Grew up on the farm where my dad fixed anything and everything that was broken. If it was broke you fixed it because you couldn't afford to pay someone else to do it. He loved having a curious and probably mostly in the road kid following him around and asking questions. Wasn't long before he was expecting me to work along side of him instead of following him. And, thank god he was and is still an old car lover. Now in his upper years and failing health it is me doing the work and him doing the coaching. I guess you could honestly say that he is still teaching me and I still love the fact that he wants to. I dread the day that he no longer can.

 

My dad was a great mechanic ( worked for FORD) he would never actually help me on a project but would give me technical help when needed. He said the only way you learn is doing it yourself. He has been gone 32 years this friday and I still miss him.

 

My Granddad ran a body shop in Detroit until he was crippled by arthritis and moved back to Virginia; my Dad was ALWAYS working on cars, sometimes up in Detroit with his Dad. i went with him hunting Model A parts and, at one time, knew every detail that made each year and body style distinct..... none of the rest of my uncles was by ANY means mechanical, as a matter of fact, one educated uncle was well known as a car killer of some note... my own son is woefully incapable of mechanical work; he can't follow the theories and technoology at all.

i catch myself, now, squatting on the driveway EXACTLY as i remember my Granddad doing, while working on cars.... i CUSS like him as well.

 

Oh man did I learn some cuss words!!

 

My dad is a mechanical engineer who's work situation left him but with no choice but to use his hobby (working on old cars) to support a large family. Fortunately he had bought a house with a large "shop" which inlcuded a center lift. From before I was born until I was about 12, he ran a repair shop at home and specialized in "Imports" because there was no one else in the area that would mess with them. I learned the mertric system from wrenches and sockets, long before I learned it in middle school. I was generally a PITA for him I'm sure, and asked tons of qestions. He never got impatient, always answered my questions and explained stuff to me. I had full unlimited access to power tools, a lift, a tire changer, mechanical tools and plently of broken shit to work on. He didn't have much spare time, so if my stuff broke (bike etc), I had to fix it. With his tools and advice, it was pretty easy and I learned tons.

After age 12 or so, we never really worked on things together. I still call him for advice, but he doesn's enjoy wrenching anymore.

I come from a long line of stubborn Germans who have a knack for mechanical stuff and are too cheap to hire things out. I work to make my kids think and do things for themselves, hopefully it works out.

 

My dad was also a self-taught mechanic and machinist. However, He made me learn on my own. The only thing he told me: Put things back together the way they came apart. I give out that same advice weekly. peace

 

I get to pass on what I know on a daily basis, and it's the most rewarding job I can imagine. My stepson has caught the bug (in his own way) and all I really do with him is try to point out ways he can do things easier or faster. I'm letting him make his own mistakes and then explaining what can be learned from them.

I really feel sorry for an entire generation that has missed out on how rewarding actually creating something with your own hands can be. I firmly believe that all these idiots that light themselves on fire (etc.) to be on Youtube are just missing that experience. They have nothing else to be good at...

 

I have to be one of the luckiest guys I know. I grew up on a farm in Northern Maine where we never paid anyone else to repair our equipment. My dad was an aircraft mechanic in WWII where he worked on P51's and P38's. I still remember looking thru some of his old tech manuals on the V12 Allisons as a kid. I am sure that my passion for mechanics and engineering is the result of some family gene set that I inherited.

Having a farm shop available to work and learn in was great. I think that one of the wisest things dad did was to let us have the freedom to learn and work at our own pace. After learning to weld at around 9 or 10 y.o. I must have burned thru 20 lbs of 6011 and 6013 rods building all kinds of karts and junk.

I was the oldest of a large family (5 boys and 2 girls). It is ironic that all of my brothers have careers that are related to things mechanical. My children and grandchildren have all grown up around a backdrop of racecars, musclecars, and various other projects. I have never forced the mechanical trades on any of them but I have made sure that they all know how to maintain a vehicle, change a flat, or diagnose a no start if needed.

Looking back, I feel that I short changed my daughters by ignoring their desires to be more involved in my racing and automotive endeavors in favor of their brother and for that I am truly sorry. I have no doubt that any of them would have been great drivers or mechanics if only given the chance.

My son and I however, were inseperable. From the time he could walk he was in the shop, working on racecars and projects. Our winters were spent preparing cars for the next season and every summer weekend was spent at at a stock car track.

After graduating from high school he had the choice of going on for an engineering degree or pursuing advanced training in auto mechanics. He chose to become a mechanic and today owns and operates the top independant repair facility in the area (not bragging, just fact).

My passion for passing on my trade resulted in a stint as a vocational automotive and diesel instructor and my current gig as an admissions rep for what I consider to be the top automotive and high performance school in the country.

My message to you all is this, never pass up an opportunity to pass on the knowledge that has taken us years to learn. Given a chance, todays youth will take that knowledge and flourish.

Take a kid to the racetrack, let them hang out in the shop, teach them to weld, cut and fabricate and tear down and rebuild an engine and you have helped to solve one the major problems we see today. The reason many kids get in trouble or get involved with drugs and such is that they are simply bored and haven't had the opportunities that we have had.

 

i'm teaching my 17 yr old girl a few simple things.

check out our build thread on her first car.

http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=507285

 

Wazzaap bro..it was cool to see you at mooneyes
...my whole shop is based on teaching kids that want to learn...do a search on LORDZ of Kustomz here on the hamb...my doors are always open to anyone who has an itch to learn..I have a kid from Finland staying at the shop right now...flew down here just to meet us and learn...that tells you a lot..I'm honored....

 

My dad doesnt know anything about fixing cars so at 26 im just trying to learn a few things from people like the guys on here. My main problem is that im not very confident in myself. I'm always afraid that if i try something then I might make it worse than it already was.