My Dad fixed anything and everything he could. He did not do much automotive stuff in his older years, but I know he did when he was younger. I wish I could have talked more with him about hotrodding in the '50s. I have his hot rod mags from the '50s. I sure miss you, Dad. CN
I didn't know what my Dad left me until I needed it. Work ethic and love of tools. I was usually just an observer into his world, but he gave me the builder DNA. (Still cleaning out his basement shop after being gone 4 years.) Self-taught wood-turner and carpenter.
I gotta stop reading and posting in these threads... Lost my dad a year ago and this stuff's just depressing. I only got to see him 2-4 days a month (OTR driver), and he was drunk most of the time he was home, but I still seem to miss him more and more every day...
Love for driving trucks for a living. Hard work ethic. Flying to East Tennessee in two weeks with my "mini me"to spend a little time with him. Haven't seen him in a few years and my son who is 7 has never met him. Gonna be a good trip.
just saw him 2 weeks ago, and very proud of this 78yrs ole man! he teached me to watch my tools, even the rustiest tools are worth a job, "don't throw away, boy, first try what it is good for!!" .. and he told me to have a good eye on things which look worthless on the first look.... and now after a life of work and retired, he's always curious what his boy is working on! he hardly can await to inscribe our name for a local vintage car run with my Pontiac, hope i can make it this year and the car makes the 250 mi trip to him... love him, that's it. Dad said: always watch your points and keep the carb clean and check the oil, then, if it's a solid engine, it'll run forever. simple, but wise, he is. Carsten
My dad passed on the addiction & obsession I have with classic cars, hot rods, & roaring V8s! Thanks, Pops!
wow,this one pulled a few heart strings,like the old saying,"you dont know what miss till its gone",he,s been gone 8 yrs now,i now find myself saying all sorts he used to say to me,he was a design engineer,used to build his own race and race,i only found out what he taught me after he d gone.he taught me values of life,he kept any eye when i was fixing my bike,only spoke when i ruined it,youll only do that once.that has stayed with me,never showed me how to fix cars id just watch,you dont realize how much you learnt till you come to fix something.when i discovered hot rods at 19 and annouced i was going to build one,he laughed his head off.he never made a thing without drawing to scale and prove it would work.well i did do it,out off my head,no training.on the back off that it i got my first real job in the motor trade.so in a way he set me up in life without saying alot,a few years ago i set out on a ground up build on a 32,made everything,one weekend came down for dinner,had wife and young kids by now.wot you doing in the garage,off we go.walks in,not a word.then the best thing he ever said to me "i spent 10 yrs at colledge and uni to learn how to build things,built several cars,you engineer,make parts,never plan a thing,never draw anything up,you do it all out off your head,you build a better engineered car than i could ever build.man that still brings a tear.he taught me everything and i never knew it,cant even say thanks.
dad passed the mechanical ability onto me and the tools ,there not snapon or mac but he made a living with them .dad passed before i got my first hot rod but i know hes right there in the seat next to me. miss you every day .
My dad worked hard to provide for his family and his mother for many years. He instilled a strong work ethic and sense of fair play,,,he taught us to be Honest. As far as materialistic things a few tools that I gave him and a lot in a subdivision,,that I gave to my sister. He was indeed a good man and I miss him to this day.HRP
I am 30 now and my Dad passed when I was 12. (truck driver, was hit head on by another trucker in the middle of the night) My mother and him were divorced when I was about 5, (back when people getting divorced WAS a big deal). But I can say that the reason im in this hobby is totally his fault!! I couldnt be happier about being in a hobby like this. I could be spending time in bars, doing drugs, or causing crime. He taught me to look and do not touch anyones car! When I think back about him and the minimal time we spent, I remember alot more of the good times and fun experiences we shared. He had a lifted four wheel drive chevy pickup. His dream was to have it featured in 4wheel and off road. THe dream came true for him but only after he had passed. I remember hand painting the "chevrolet" in the aluminum valve covers with model car brushes and model paint. He said, "you have smaller hands, and would be alot easier for you to get up there and do it". This thread is great and sad at the same time. THe thing that really gets me is thinking what it would be like to be able to spend time working on my car with him, heading out to car shows, even just calling him up to discuss the next modification im thinking of doing. I know he is with me everyday, but sure would be cool to hear his voice again........ Sorry kind of got off topic there. He was/is very important to me and if it werent for him who knows what i would be doing!!!!
I'm 38 and my dad passed away a little over a year ago. I can remember all the cool old cars that were put together on a shoestring budget when I was a kid. I guess that's what hooked me. My family is originally from the NW corner of the Texas panhandle. I spent my summers there and have always loved the southwest because of our time there. He left me a sense of fair play and ethics that was hard on my backside growing up, but has served me well as an adult. He also left me a 1940 Ford Deluxe Cabriolet.
Love of hotrods and figurin' stuff out. Taught me how to tear down and rebuild a Chevy 283 when I was ten. He had me do all the work and when I was done I knew how engines worked. Also taught me to "say what you mean and mean what you say" and "never write nothing down you don't want the whole world to read."
My first 1931 Dodge, his Chrysler Corporation knowledge and his love for the automobile.......mostly Chrysler products.
My Dad has been gone 41 years. Thankfully I inherited his mechanical ability. And if you can't buy, beg, or borrow it, you need to make it.
Nothing but my last name and the knowledge that beating a kid with four old leather machine belts attached to a stick hurts like hell. I can give him forgiveness for the beatings, he went through hell in WW2 then a year recovering in a hospital. He did the best he could, at least he was better than my mother
My Dad passed in 1972, he was 44 I was 15, he was using a 61 Falcon as his work car, Mom gave me the car, wish I had kept it.
My dad is still going strong (thankfully), though a couple years ago he decided he's actually getting tired of changing engines in cars and the heavy stuff. He's given me a lot my mechanical knowledge, and really my drive to be my own plumber, electrician, etc. He grew up with nothing and learned how to make due with it, and he passed those abilities onto me. That and his youthful looks and charm. Can't ask for much more than that!
Jesus. My story is somewhat better than that. Makes me so determined to be the absolute best parent I can be, every single day. My dad has had health problems recently, is living in my basement suite. I reconciled myself to what happened in my childhood many years ago, and that my dad is what he is, and was able to forgive him and move on. My brother on the other hand, did not.My father getting really sick was the best thing that ever happened to him and my younger brother, through everything that happened, my brother has now also been able to reconcile himself to the past, and forgive my father and find a way to at least have some sort of a relationship with him. The change has been profound for my younger brother, he is in his late forties, and has had some fairly serious, difficult to diagnose health problems for the last ten years. He was firmly convinced that my father was possessed by the Devil. I kept telling him the health issues were physical manifestations of his inability to accept the past and move on, he never really believed me until after all this happened. Most of his health issues have either disappeared completely or improved a great deal since all this has happened with my dad. Its funny, my dad still refers to the time I spend with my daughter as "wasting time", I dont think he will ever really truly get it. But since he has stopped drinking, and moved into my basement, he does see my brother and I in a different light.
A MBC set of tool boxes, leading paddles,porta powers, body files dolly's, and a desire to work the metal when he passed in 1971,his proudest example was a rollover Cougar that he fixed with no filler, he would hammer and file night after night, too bad I went to the Mechanic side Dad....
The Jalopy Journal
