Who has children that help them in the garage?

[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.

[Canuck]

This has been one of the best posts ever on this site. Besides reflecting on what we do with our kids it has given me time to reflect on how our fathers may have influenced our love of cars.
My father passed away on Feb 3 at 80 and I traveled 4000 miles to be home for the services. I put together a photo collage from the 1930's to the late 90's to reflect milestones and the things that were important to him. Having gone through 30 photo albums one thing that was obvious was dad always had his picture taken with one of his cars whenever possible. There were photos of him tinkering on 1930's Chevs as a teen in the 40's, standing proudly in front of his brand new 56 Dodge, and pumped up like a peacock in front of a 1968 Rolls Royce in the fall of 1971. The Rolls was not his,but he was driving it from Halifax to Toronto to sell it on behalf of his company.
Dad didn't do a lot of work on his own cars in the 60's as he was buying a new Plymouth or Dodge every 2-3 years depending on if he liked the styling. The buying decisions were:would he opt for whitewalls,a $5.00 option or the full wheel covers at $8.00.
His tinkering was limited to my moms car,installing a radio and antennae,or if the car was not running right,"must be the needle valve". I saw the inside of a carburetor when I was 10. When cars went to fuel injection in the 80's he blamed the coil.So the car work i did with my father was the minor stuff,take a rad out for repair,install a trailer hitch or install a radio.Since the age of 10 I was washing his cars every Friday night and waxing them once a month. I started doing the minor stuff on my Mom's Valiant in 1968 and bought my First car a 1968 Camaro in the summer of 71.
For Christmas 1971 he gave me a Chiltons Manuel which he wrote "To many repairs ahead". We did not think of the word restoration then.
Its been a great week remembering him and the timing of this thread has made it better. I hope I haven't hijacked it. For those of you who have not had the opportunity to work along side your children-go for it! It may be a short experience but it will be a lasting memory for both of you. And don't forget to take some photos and give copies to everyone.
Paul

[John]

...This just goes to show that this hobby really brings friends and family together for some special memories that we all will cherish.
These post from all of you are great! Keep them coming!

[Speedrx]

Matt enjoyed working on my GT500 with me!

[GiveMeTimeMachinePlz]

Well, I myself am 17 years old and I have the 'American Muscleosis disease'. It probably stems from my father, who always enjoyed working on cars and driving/racing them. When I was 5 or 6, I used to help him work on his 1985 Jaguar XJS that had a chevy 350 transplanted into it. He used to compete in a spectator drag race 3 times a year at the local short track (seekonk speedway).

That car is gone. But it has a sister, a blue 1983 XJS that has the same kind of transplant. The motor is a street/strip 350 making about 475 hp. The car is close to being finished and then we are having it repainted. The only reason we have the chevy in there is because the transmission in the jag was original (as well as the V12, which worked wonderfully) and it lost 1st gear and the rest of it was going. He didnt want to fix it himself, and the cost of repair was going to be 2k, despite the fact that all the tranny was is a chevy automatic ( a 350 i think ), it had the jaguar nameplate....yea...enough said.

My first major project was, ironically, to make more room to work on the car. It is stored in his shop ( he owns a jewelry manufacturing company ). Well, sitting in front of the car, we still had the V12 and tranny. And I tell you, we could NOT sell that freakin motor. We couldn't even give it away to be used for a boat anchor!! And it was much too heavy to just bring to a scrap yard, so we did the logical thing; I disassembled the entire engine myself. Everything from top to bottom. It took a grand total of 2 days and I had no help with it because he wanted me to think and figure it out on my own. It took me a while, but I got it. ( Incidentally I also found out what happens when the mechanic who pulled the motor, which he knew wasn't going to be used anymore, leaves all the oil in it and we have no way to drain it because the motor was sitting on the ground. Yea, I never did wear those jeans again ).

I got my license recently. My first thing that I am planning to do when the weather clears; Scouting for my first project car! I wouldn't mind a 68-69 chevelle or camaro. Or even a 2nd gen. camaro. But when I get it, I'll be doing as much of the wrenching myself as I can.

[YENKO DEUCE REGISTRY]

Seekonk? Not much in Seekonk is there? I bought a rear there a few years ago

[Jeff Murphy]

My guys, 5 and 2.5 yrs, are addicts.

We generally have the garage off limits, so going in there is a treat for them (often they disappear and we find them in there).

My older boy, Max, could name every make of car as we walked down the street by the time he was three (whether here or in the US). He lords the fact that he has gone for COPO rides over his younger brother and managed to convince my uncle to take him for a terror ride in his W-31 when we were in Vancouver a while ago. One of his most memorable experiences was an afternoon visit to the SCW a couple of years ago -- when Joe's Harrell Camaro was later featured in Chevy Rumble he looked at the pictures and correctly identified it as "Joe's car". I took him to Donuts Derelicts when we were in California and he loved it. I swear if he could reach the pedals he would be able to drive.

Jake is similar - he used to use a SCW can cooler on his milk bottle and thinks everything good in the world comes from Goodwood (the estate where the Festival of Speed and vintage car racing events are held). Whenever we go anywhere as a family he makes sure I'm driving because my right foot is a lot heavier than Mom's.

Both boys are totally enamored with WWII fighter planes at the moment, so maybe they would rather I had a P-51 than a ZL-1, but I'm sure they'll come around. I can't wait for them to be old enough to go to Collinsville

[GiveMeTimeMachinePlz]

Oh, there is plenty in seekonk. The only problem is that half the town is owned by one guy ( kind of ironic that said guy owns the car that won the track championship in their highest weekly division by an ungodly amount ).

During the spring and summer, seekonk has car shows there on some weekends and there tends to be a pretty good crowd. The only real problem with seekonk is the track is wayyyy too small. It makes for a good show, but there is not one point in time on that track where you aren't turning the wheels left.

[Bob Adamsky]

I have 3 and they have been a big part of the fun of restoring my 66 Chevelle SS. We got it out this year for the first time since the rebuild started in 2000. The first ride was with my 11 year old who has been sanding or cleaning something for years.

The best part so far was finally driving our car into Daytona this past Thankgiving, not sure who had bigger smiles.