My son doesn't like cars, but my daughter does?!

I'm so confused My son, who I've always taken to car shows since he was a small tyke, doesn't have an interest in cars....just "needs" one to drive. He recently got his license and his first car. Hasn't checked the vitals and has only washed it onced in six months! I can't understand it. My dream of having a garage buddy has gone away. However, my daughter has shown more interest in actually working on cars than him. She came in the garage the other day and asked "Can I help you with anything Dad? Which is cool, don't get me wrong; but what the heck happened?! His car is just a means of transportation to skateboarding. When I was a teen boy my car was everything. Are any of you parental figures experiencing this?

 

This happens, build your girl a " BAD ASS " hot rod and see the change.

 

Well, I don't have any kids yet but I guess you just have to roll with it. There is no sense in pushing it because we all know that they have a tendency to do the opposite. I would say that if his friends are not really into it much then he will probably lean towards what they are into. He will probably come around later. Instead I would just encourage the skateboarding and sooner or later he might just start coming into that garage and wondering what your doing. As for your daughter, I think thats awesome that she is willing to help out!

 

Everyone's different. I pushed my parents to buy me a car a full 2 years before I could drive. My brother (the oldest) didn't get his license until he was 21. Who knows, maybe he'll come around. I never liked cars, even with a giant '53 Packard sitting right next to my bedroom window. Even my old car friends are different, some of us like muscle cars, some of them like lowriders, and I'm the only hot rod kid..

 

My daughter is 6 and loves cars. Im scared she will grow out of it.

 

Perhaps he got tired of being dragged around to car shows.

I saw about 100 kids who will someday hate hot rods at Shades of the Past last weekend for the exact same reason.

JH

 

I'm a kid myself and I'm amazed myself at the lack of interest most guys my age show in cars.No one seems to get it anymore.
Even Football seems to be loosing out on the younger generation.
Most guys my age I know just waste time hanging about,going all emo and sniffing lighter gas and listening to silly Pacman music.

Oh well.At least they leave all the old tin to guys like me,who can appreciate it.

 

Capitalize on the time with the daughter. You have your build buddy, just now she's your build buddette.

 

my brothers are kinda like that. the younger likes old cars, but is not willing to learn to work on them. i work on his desoto more than he does,i make him watch and help, but he retains nothing. i guess hes just not mechanically inclined. youngest child though so it probably stems from being coddled and having everything handed to him.

 

I gave my buddy's kid a Formula 350, just needed a transmission and some paint, would have been a first car I'd have killed for. He did nothing with it and his mom(buddy's EX wife) had it scrapped without asking if I wanted back. He is 18 and still doesn't have a license. He has a skateboard though. Nothing against skateboards, but 18 and no fucking license?!?!?!?

 

I only have a 5 year old daughter in kindergarten , and she has a smile ear to ear when i take or pick her up from school, yet when my brother was in high school i parked right in front of his school to pick him up in the 54 and he literaly passed it by and did not see me, until i honked.. so dont feel bad , i guess it's up to them in the end

 

Friend of mine never had a license, he's 23 . . .

 

Maybe if she gets the car bug, she'll attract a better class of boys in her future. Most of the younger guys kids I've met who are into old cars are'nt the punks (oops stereotype) that the import tuner kids seem to be.

Did I really just refer to hotrodders as "high class"???

 

Be thankful he isn't taking ballet lessons.

 

My son bought his first car ( Vovlvo wagon ) when he was 24 years old. He has no interest in cars other than to getsome where the bus cant.
My youngest daughter now 20 has taken the hoped up Chev 250 apart and put it back together, helped rebuilt her exboyfreinds Nissian SER, and no she wasn't just haning him wrenches but starter, brakes ect.....

So just be happy with what you get and don't force them to be car people.

jim h

 

Our daughter is the one responsible for getting me back into this game. I took her to a 4 day car show when she was 10. She had the time of her life. When we were leaving the show she asked if we could maybe have a car like the ones in the show. I was heavily involved in circle track racing so it was time to make a choice and her idea won. 29 days later we bought a car. She still has a blast with the cars and likes to ride with me. So when they say take a kid to a car show it can and does pay off. One more thing just keep the son interested in girls!!!! it's a scarey world out there >>>>.

 

I loved being draged to all the runs and car shows as a kid. It was the highlite of life! Your son is strange, dis own him now!!

 

I used to take my son to the Pamona Swap Meet and spend the day when he was 10, 11, 12, then he didn't want to keep getting up at 5 AM. When he was a teenager he didn't have any interest in cars, didn't even start driving until he was 18. Now, at 31, he's getting interested again. Give him some time.

 

You mean there are people out there that don't like cars?!?! That's like hating America, Puppies, and Grandmothers!

Seriously... I guess everyone is different. You certainly can't force it.

From the time I was 4 yrs old, I was drawing pictures of cars, and fascinated with trains, airplanes, etc. Anything with wheels and a engine/motor. For me, it just seems so foriegn when people treat cars like an average appliance. I have a hard time grasping the concept.

 

My brother has no real interest in cars either. He will go to shows with me or come over and check out what I have going on and give input but no fire to one of his own. Kids around my neighborhood dont seem to have much interest either. I have at least 8 motorcycles in my garage, tons that stop by to either just hang out or need some basic repair work, I am constantly building bikes, test riding them, I have my 50 Dodge sitting in the driveway. They seem very busy playing basket ball and sitting on the curb text messeging. When i was a kid I would kill to live on the same block with someone who had stuff going on like this all the time. And the older kids (17-19) are more interested when my buddy pulls up in his 08 BMW than on his rigid, they like the 20" wheels more than the 1950 panhead. Things done changed.

 

My 2 stepsons are driving age and show no interest in cars(other than thinking it would be "pimp" to drive a old(1970) caddy to school) but no interest to KNOW about cars...... my 12 year old stepdaughter and my 6 and 8 yearold daughters are asking to build gokarts, and minibikes themselves................cool

 

I grew up in a wrecking yard, mid 50's gm, literaly our house was in the yard. I was into cars and models all the way up to highschool, had a fast camaro through highschool, but after highschool , I got heavy into music, had a band, and got away from the car thing.
I had moved to austin tx - to become a "rock star", it didn't happen- and one day in barnes and noble I saw andy southards book custom cars of the 50's, and it was like a switch turned now it is just cars all the time for me.

so it might be just a phase for him.
also I suppose now that the culture now is just different You can't really "tinker" with a tuner car- most likely what ALL his friends have- unless you consider installing a computer chip work.
when I was in school there were about 10 of us with muscle cars, but if I had been the only one , it probably wouldn't have been fun.

 

It's sounds like maybe a good beating is in order.

 

Yeah that.

 

That's funny, 'cause I was just commenting to my wife how my two elementary school-aged daughters were enamorated with the last couple of issues of a "Rat/Jalopy" mag I subscribe to.
The slightly older daughter, at one time too was seemingly headed in her dad's footsteps (racing, building cars, etc.), then came school friends, softball, Miley(Cyrus), High School Musical, and anything to do with dance.
My youngest is the garage rat, and can spot a "rodded" car quicker than I can (for now), yet still loves playing "model dress-up" with her big sister.

BUT, neither one of them will give up their tool bags I stocked for them a few years back from extra tools I had. (Hint: I made sure they were "usable", everyday tools, not junky worn out ones), a worthwhile investment in my eyes.

 

My ex-wife put it best...."its a mutant car gene" It is very rare, sometimes it skips generations, sometimes it appears on its own. She did'nt have it.
I hope one of my 3 daughters does.

 

common a car GIRL can bring you home a club of car guys!
seriously I got 2 uncles that raced stock cars my girl cousin could race build a Flathead V8 or a SBC later on Her father ran modifieds and by age 10 she was a regular crew member in the shop!bye the way this grease monkey girl still loves building hot cars when shes home from work and no she is not a full time mechanic last I knew she was a model!

 

My daughter did a ground up resotration on a 68 Firebird when she was 15, what a great time. Have a great scrapbook, a great car. She knew more about cars than any guy in her school! I can't say enough about how much fun t was!

 

Couldn't have said it better myself if I'd tried!

 

I've always loved old cars. I wanted a Model T before I really knew what one was (stories my grandparent's told me). I went to school got and Electrical Engineering degree, knocked around for awhile, finally got settled, and started working on stuff. An unsuccessful run with a 68 Yamaha bike, a 75 Honda Bike that was neglected for work (got donated to a friend looking for a project who now has it running though not driving), and then my Plymouth. I've learned more about troubleshooting cars than I ever thought to be possible.

Then there is my brother. He was sort of the baby of the family, and got nicer cars than I did. Went to school and graduated with a Mechanical Engineering degree. Still, even with the technical background that he has, he calls me when his truck is acting up (I learned to diagnose a cars symptoms due to the crappy ride I had in H.S. I still miss that P.O.S.). I had to explain to him that they make performance parts for his new Hemi truck (he didn't even know they made them). I've tried to convince him to get an old heap to build up. It's something to do and god knows he could stand to stay out of the bars, but it just doesn't interest him.

I've got alot of friends like that too. One guy volunteered to help me strip the parts car to repair the Plymouth. He spent more time whining about the heat, and trying to convince me that the job would be more fun drunk (I never lay wrench to bolt if intoxicated, I need to think about what I'm doing and remember what I did the next day) than he did actually working. I mean, free help is free help, but I probably could have done without it.

I'm the only one in my social circle with a passion for old cars and bikes. I don't get the ricers and I don't get the crotch rockets. I think I'm more of an oddity than my peers. My best friend refers to me as "A sextant in the age of GPS". Maybe that's true, but my car is still cooler than his.

John