Been taking the daughter to car shows since she was about 4 or 5. From the day the wife and her gave me my Chevy, she's been in love with it. She started hanging out in the garage. "Daddy, give me a job- I want to get dirty." Started her on some mundane stuff- scraping grease from suspension parts, practicing block sanding, etc. A couple of months ago, she gets to meet a lady rodder who is the real deal, and gets a ride in a SWEET car. Back at the shop, she tells me she wants to learn to weld. Drag out the MIG, cut some scraps, load the gear on her, and work with her a bit. And within an hour of practice, she's turning out some darned decent tack welds And, over Thanksgiving weekend, put her to work tacking the new rear footwell in the car! This old car is turning out to be even more fun than I dreamed. My wife loves to hunt parts (internet or in a junkyard) and the daughter likes to be right there jumping in with the actual work. They're not total tomboys. They like the sparkly shoes, and frilly hair bows, too. They're just the perfect mix of girly and tomboy. And I'm a lucky guy!
congrats, great family. My daughter is 4yrs old now and she is interested in what I do in the garage too. She gave me good tips, like " Dad put some wheels and a steeringwheel to the frame and you have a car"
That's a great thing man. I don't have any kids of my own, but, I have 3 nephews, and one of them is "interested" in how cars work. Welding, fabricating, all the good stuff. I also have a bunch of friends with growing kids, and am hoping that a few of them will learn to love this life that has treated us all so well. As much as I love doing this stuff on my own, I have to admit that it's unexplainable the feeling one get's when you see a kid getting interested in something like this. You should be a very proud man. The time spent with her will serve her well throughout her life, and I'm talking about things far more important than welding, and block sanding. Good job man.
I hear you loud and clear. I'm really trying to get the "nothing stops me but me" attitude to take root.
AWESOME! I'm thrilled she's learning to weld. I love welding and creating things. Looks to me like she is left handed. Show her how to support her left hand with her right to steady herself and pull some straight lines. Girls have far better eye hand coordination then boys and in no time she will be welding better then you! lol Please tell her I said hi and hope to see her this summer. I'd like to hear about all the things she's made.
My 35 year old twins were raised around old cars. The 10 minute younger, now a mother of 2, has crawled under cars and helped replace suspension/steering parts on her OT daily driver before and both know how to change oil, check tire pressure, change a flat etc. Younger still talks about getting an old car someday. Older not so much.
The Jalopy Journal
