Who has children that help them in the garage?

[Supergas990]

My son is 6 and will join me in the shop anytime. I willed him my old toolchest and at every swap meet he gets a new tool or something that he will have forever.

He definitely has his favorite car (my 67 Malibu), but I encouraged him to wait until he's ridden in the L78 car. If he gets tired of helping he usually asks to sit in his go kart and practice the gas and brake pedals. We even went so far as to paint two walls of his room orange and put a white Yenko Duece stripe on it.

My daughter is 4 and she's not the gearhead my son is. She loves going to the go kart races and is certain that as soon as she's old enough she will drive it.

I have one more coming in May, so I've warned my wife that we'll have to get at least one more car, just to keep the kids even

It's a great way to spend some good time with your kids and have them learn something they can use forever, including a work ethic.

Blair

[bilede]

here is my 5 year old. always with me where ever I go with the cars, or even not with the cars for that matter.

[ORIGLS6]

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My youngest son helps sometimes. Occasionally we let him paint something and hope he doesn't run it to much.

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That boy ain't EVER gonna get you raised!

[Nova Jed]

I remember when I was 6yrs old, I was snooping around my parents bedroom one night, and found a flamed out 55 Chevy model. My dad told me a story of how he had a 55 Chevy and it was stolen one night. That's all it took! I would build models every weekend and do chores around the house just to pay for them. I had to beg my parents to take me to car shows at Maple Grove. I subscribed to Super Chevy Magazine when I was 11 and read everything I could. Bought my first car at 15 (71 Nova) and the next thing I know, I own 8 cars and my dad has built a 30x40 garage to house all of his fishing toys and my projects. I think the best memory I have was when he enrolled me in an autobody shop course at night when I was 17 and he helped me get my Nova ready for prom! My dad wasn't much into doing the car stuff, but he likes to bring all of his friends down to show them what I am doing. Most of them are taken back by the fact that there is a 70 Nova body turned sideways on a scratch built rotisserie in the garage! So watch out if one of your children ask you to pick up some 2"x2" 10' long square tubing in your truck one day!

[firez]

My son was quite sick when he was young so instead of going to school he hung out with me as I was putting together 2-68 Z28s and a 69 z, As he got older he was operated on for 12 hours to fix him up. Today he is 23 owns a 2000 Camaro SS plus a 2005 Z-71 pickup and plays in the garage at home every night with his buddies just like I did when I was his age. He also just passed his Industrial Millwright provincial test. He makes more money than I do as a 21 year Captain on the local fire department. Boy I am proud of him,keep them in a shop playing with cars and sleds and out of the local malls and hangouts.

[427TJ]

On New Year's Day my 7-year-old son and I removed the front bumper from my '55. He was thrilled to help dad. I showed him how to lie on the floor, skootch under the car on his back, look everything over and devise a plan before putting a wrench on anything. Big one: how to hold the light so it shines right on the task and not in dad's face. He got an A+ on light holding. Then I showed him the places where we needed to remove nuts/bolts and explained that you want to loosen them but not remove them so the bumper does not suddenly fall on your head. Keep your face out from under where you're working so all the dirt/grit doesn't fall into your face/eyes. How to hold the ratchet firmly by its head so the force applied goes directly to the fastener. How to loosen tight fasteners carefully, feeling how tight it actually is, so it doesn't suddenly loosen and you punch the frame with your wrench hand and bleed all over the place. Remove all but two bolts and then see how loose the bumper is. Get out from underneath--big one: don't hit your head on the car!--and then loosen the remaining two bolts and pull the bumper off the car. He stood on the driver's side and held the bumper and I was on the pass side and we wiggled the bumper off the car. He was thrilled. The serious look on his face and his 100% attention throughout the job was the best part. I could see the "wow" look on his face when the bumper came off and there we were holding the bumper and I said, "See, no problem." He looked like he had just soloed an airplane for the first time. Then showed him how to attach the un-needed brackets back onto the bumper so you'll have them someday when you either put the bumper back on or sell the car.

There is nothing in the world like seeing your son's (or daughter's) face when you show them how to do something that seems so easy to us but seems impossible to them.

I then showed him how to spray satin black on the exposed areas to make it look good. Later on before dinner I got out some of my old books and magazines and showed him '55 gassers without their front bumpers and explained why racers would remove the bumpers, etc. What a great day.





Oh, and when I lifted the bumper up into the garage attic and put it in the rafters he was fascinated. "Why are you putting it up there?" "Because I don't need it anymore but someday someone will buy the car from me and I'll have the bumper to go with the car." "Are you going to sell the car?" "Not anytime soon but someday it will get sold." "Oh." Then into the house to tell his mother all about it.

[Dog427435]

Love the new look of your '55
Your son will always remember helping you give your car that Gasser look, and hopefully keep the tradition going with his rides!

[92646]

None of my kids got the bug. The only chance I had was with my 9 year old daughter but she prefers her friends now. I knew her interest was going away when I installed a 540 in a 69 Camaro and I wanted to go around the block for the first time. I left the hood off and she was really bothered by that but she still went along . As I was driving I kept hearing a tinny noise as I accelerated. Around the corner before we entered the neighborhood I went to mid throttle and the tinny noise went away because the fan wadded up and made full contact with the radiator then shot coolant across the windshield. The temp gauge shot to the end of the gauge so I shut the motor off and coasted back to house dripping coolant along the way. When I pulled into the drive way and stopped, my Daughter jumps out of the car and runs inside. She finds her Mom and tells her about the horrible things I had just done. She ends the conversation with "what if my friends had seen me".
Mark Sheppard

[agtw31]

my 19 year old nephew just put a new master cylinder and front pads on his mom's new yorker,while i kept an eye out,and helped bleed the brakes.

hnow if he can just find a job,that would be nice.

[427TJ]

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Love the new look of your '55
Your son will always remember helping you give your car that Gasser look, and hopefully keep the tradition going with his rides!

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Got my son this Ertl 1/18 you-build-it kit for Xmas. He and I put it together and I suggested we leave the front bumper off! Looks cool! I then dug through my 40-plus years of model car decals (big shoe box) and came up with the "Fagan's Speed Shop" and the "B/G" (didn't have any other Gas-class decals that would work) and then the speed parts decals for the windows. I even had a 1962-correct NHRA decal for the back window. The "Fagan's" decals are at least 40-45 years old and they almost didn't work but we got them to lay down and then brushed some clear over them. The satan heads on the fenders came from a 1960 Jo-Han decal sheet! Never throw anything away!

I later realized that B/GS means supercharged so I carefully carved the S off and now it just says B/G.