Hot Rods Do you let your kids drive your hot rod???

My son lives a couple hundred miles away, and every time he comes home, I give him my model A truck to drive. He is 30 now, and was always interested in customs and hot rods, but never to a degree that he wanted to build one or own one. I always knew he had the hot rod gene since he was young, because he could look at a part that I was making and appreciate the form and function of a piece of hot rod iron.
I got this truck on the road a couple years ago, and now that he has tasted the forbidden fruit, he is all stoked up to build one.
We are going to finish up my 27 T roadster next winter, and he is going to buy most of the parts, and believe it or not, he is the one pushing me to get started. He is really stoked up about it.

We all wonder how to get more young people involved in this hobby, and I'm just curious how many people let their kids drive their toys? A lot of my friends tell me I'm crazy for letting anyone touch it, but its made for driving and even if he did damage it somehow, it wouldn't be any more intentional than if I did it myself.

 

My daughter used my coupe to go to her high sch prom (her date drove the coupe) She used it in her wedding as well.
I let my neighbor use the car for his wedding last year...
It's only a car...and if the person can be trusted I have no issues
Pontiac Slim

 

Taught my daughter how to drive in my 52. She will be driving my 36 to prom, Im looking to pick her up something of her own soon

 

My son had drove our t-bucket several times. He is 19 now and in the military when he is home on leave, he can drive any of our cars. I sent him recent pictures of the '58 and he is excited to take it for a spin!

 

I drove my dads all original 27 model t roadster pickup every day to high school. With only 20 hp I couldn't get into trouble or break it.

 

I let my little boy drive my 52......on the dry lake bed!

 

If the valet's DNA matches mine then the answer is "No!" ... but my known kids driving my stuff?, .... again, "No" ... to many things could go wrong and I would rather it would be me behind the wheel should that happen.

My DD ... no problem.

 

Nope! No one drives my cars except me. My brother saw my '32 3 window and said he always wanted a Mustang. I told him, "No you don't, otherwise you'd have one. You make more money than me so that's a bunch of bull!".

 

I let my son drive the 32 all the time. He took it to his high school senior parade and a few cruises. I agree it's only a car have fun with it.

 

Have let my boys take my blown BBC bucket down the dragstrip when they were 17, but wont let my daughter do the same. Shes now 20 and still bleating about it. She says Im sexist so I said when we finish the FED, she can drive that instead.

She did get to drive our 26 T Coupe and my wifes Topolino tho, and we just got a 48 Chev pickup with Jag suspension and a SBC & she (and the boys) will get to drive that around too.

As long as I reckon the kids will be safe in our cars, they are welcome to drive them. Hell, I will falloff my perch one day & they will get them anyway.

And my wife can drive any of the cars if she want to, but she wont touch the bucket.

 

My Daughter ran 11:60 in my 57. Guess she can drive it OK.!

 

I drove my dads 1957 chevy to school I let my son drive my 53 chevy.

 

My Gandson at the wheel of the coupe last year when he visited.........

I let him tool around the neighborhood in it.

 

My 8 year old drove my T the other day....it was a vacant lot but he loved it!!!

 

If my son had lived long enough to drive, oh yeah, id have let him drive my rod. Its just a car after all, albeit a cool one. Kids should learn to drive on older cars, it makes them pay more attention to their surroundings, to the car.

 

My son is 13 and my daughter is 9. We go for a run with a mate and his family most weekends and last weekend while we were cruising my daughter asked if she would inherit the 57. An argument started between the two kids and my wife who stated she would inherit it. F*ck em, who said I was dying first? (LOL). I have offered my wife a drive plenty of times but she is not confident with LHD. My kids love it and will get to drive it when they are legal to.

 

my boys 20 & 24 drive any of mine. they are only cars anyway, cool ones

 

Can I be one of your boys?

 

I was dating a gal about ten years back and was real chummy with her 17 year old son. Prom time came around and he and his date had the plymouth all night! I actually let him borrow it several times when he was dating. As a matter of fact, mu car has always been kind of a "pass around". I used to work a job out of town a large part of the time and it made no sense for the car to sit idle all the time. At one time my girlfriend and two or three friends all had keys and drove it lots.

 

My daugther was offered a chance to drive the Avanti last year but it didn't work out. She reallly wanted to go 200 mph. So she asked if she could buy my '49 Stude truck. He is making plans to fix it up and has started taking it apart. Looking forward to a father daughter project. I'll let her drive the "53 Gasser when it's done. It's only a car and if it's stokes a love for the old stuff that's a good thing.

 

hell no!! Mine asked about that the other day and I had to shut him down with a quickness.

 

Why not?

 

If you knew our kids you wouldn't either. Even my wife has only driven my car once because I was sick and needed to go to the doctor in the middle of the night, she was scared to death.

 

My situation is kinda the opposite. I let my dad drive my A-coupe when he wants and now he has bought an A-truck project and neither of us can wait to get it finished so we get to take some family car show road trips! Mom and Dad and Me and Jess (my wife). I have also let my wife drive it a couple times and we are just getting started on her Model-A now.

 

BadLuck. You reminded me of when I was at Bonneville in 2010. There was a girl about 12 in her dad's car, I think it was a big ol' Galaxie, doing great big donuts out the back on the salt. She was really into it too.

 

My dad didn't let me touch the '57 when I was a kid but I had a bevy of my own cars that I fixed up and drove, a '50 Chevy AD, '50 Desoto, '50 shoebox, '64 Impala, etc. So now that I am the caretaker of the '57 it's the same way. Only one of our sons is interested in cars, the other is the hunting/fishing type so for the one that is into it I got a '52 Chevy AD that we need to start working on. I'm just trying to get him to understand that it takes time and money and that he's going to have to work for it. My wife on the other hand, couldn't possibly care less about cars so that's a non issue.

 

I own a 57 because the kids couldn't come in a duece coupe. We have told our kids since they were old enough to understand we are building a 2 seater as soon as they leave home and going around Australia in it. They are all for that, but reckon they are never leaving home. This passion is as much about family as cars. I am happy my kids now love hotrods/old cars and no doubt will help them build their own rides in the future. Why not encourage them?

 

Ours definitely doesn't need any encouragement, he lives and breathes old cars. They need something SLOW and old that they own to start out with. That way they learn a pride of ownership, they learn to be responsible and to respect their car. If they are allowed to drive their parents cars, they won't respect them and will drive the shit out of them and cause lots of damage while not learning what it's truly about. Tough love is the only love that works in my book. I'm speaking this from experience. I treat EVERY car that I drive with love and respect to this day because when I was a kid driving a flathead six mopar it was expensive to replace those rare parts when I broke my car. Thats very important, not only for the safety of the car, but for theirs as well. It's all about respect. And we all know that respect is something that kids don't just come from the factory with, they have to earn that shit.

 

My first truck was a 64 ford truck with a 292 and 3 on the tree, but i didn't get to drive it until i was behind the wheel of my crappy ranger for a year. Smart idea because it was mine with my own money and after i tore it up the first time i learned to respect what i had because at 16 money wasn't easy to get. I would probably do the same for my kids, let them respect what they have before they get to play. I see it all too often these kids here in Texas get daddy's new 4x4 and break it in the mud and daddy fixes it and after that they have no respect and Money doesn't fix everything especially common sense....

 

My Daughter is 15 and wont be getting her license until the first week of August so, no, I dont let her drive my Comet. She wont be driving it after she gets her license either. She wants a '65 Mustang Fastback for her first car..........I told her "Good luck with that, you'll probably end up with a Chevette or maybe a Volare".