I had a conversation today with one of the younger local guys about cars. He is frustrated by the percieved lack of progress on his projects an was asking me some pretty serious questions. He has a bunch of projects, not a lot of experience,not lot of money, and a family. As he began to roll out his situation it reminded me on someone- me, about 45 years ago. I was this guy and I was in his situation. So, I proceeded to relay to him my story. I had a glass'23 "T". It was a death mobile, unfinished, huge motor, cop bait. I loved cars after having done a lot of 55-57 Chevy stuff. I thought the "T" was the way to go for me. I started attending more and more car events and swap meets.At the Hayward Swap meet I ran into am guy selling a lot of nice parts who was very friendly and knowledgeable. I ended up with a 2 port hilborn set-up from him and we became friends. He was a lot older than us and knew everyone. One day he came and looked at all my stuff and told me I was wasting my time on junk. If I was to have decent cars I needed decent iron to work with. He told me "the better the car at the start the better the car at the end". He convinced me to sell EVERYTHING and start over. I did, and actually made a few bucks profit. Then we proceeded to look for a '34 Ford for me. I found several, he found several, and I decided on a nice 5-W coupe (which I still have to this day). His name was Phil Kendrick, and he owned the Super Prune '32 Ford Sedan and a lot of other beautiful cars. He taught me a lot, what to look for and what to stay away from. For many years we would make trips to see Phil, his wife Nita, and went to the nationals several times with him and his 32 roadster and my 5-W. He was the guy who put me on the right path, he was the guy who was my mentor. Later on through my job I was sent to welding school and became a journeyman mechanic and fabricator. Phil passed away a few years ago but I often remember things he would say to us. I realized that this rodder was in my shoes and hope that I was able to give him a leg up like Phil Kendrick gave me. I made me feel old, but old in a good way. Someone actually thought enough to ask questions and for an opinion.
Ah... if only I could send a single letter to my younger self. Well, okay... it'd be like six pages and include a heads up on an ex or two but... Good on you, man. Pass in on, pay it forward. The world needs more mentors. You're only young once. But, then again, you're only old once too. Gotta get the most bang for your buck, so to speak. Live for today, continue to learn, but teach everything you know. Be generous with it. After all, those youngsters all deserve to have as much fun (and be as broke ) as we have over the years.
In my profession the saying is that the old firemen are supposed to teach the young firemen, so they can become old firemen, guess that's the same in hot rodding.
I had two older hot rod guys that I would pal around with.....along with 5-10 other guys that would stop at either of their shops. Al liked Chevy and George liked Ford and the help and knowledge they’d offer was amazing. I’ve moved away but still run into both at swap meets etc, life friends not just hot rod buddies!
Excellent story, I can relate to the part of being the younger guy, but not ( so far) the older guy. None of the younger people I know care at all about old cars or working on anything. I love my sons and my grandkids ( and nieces and nephews) and am VERY proud of them but they could care less about mechanical things. Maybe someday I can advise a younger person, I look forward to it.
Bink, doesn't make ya feel Good! A lot of the younger guys would ask me for advice and I would do my best to tell the Best way I found to do something. It's not the Only way, but the way that worked Best for Me. Now, if they wanted to do it their way, that's fine as long as the end result was the same. Keep Sharing!
That's great! And So the cycle continues. A lot of what I've learned over the years has been from conversations similar to this with older guys.. whether they knew they were giving advice or I was just learning from their situation or colorful story. I'm still young in the grand scheme of things but I try and give the guys younger than me some of these sort of tips and info to help them along. It's what we need to do to keep this hobby going. -Matt/ITG
The Jalopy Journal
