Who has children that help them in the garage?

[Salvatore]

I would not mind cruising throught the Foothills either. You west coast guys kill me!

[Keith Tedford]

When our son was young, he had zero interest in cars. He would go for a twenty mile run with his bicycle. He was in army cadets did biathlon skiing and shooting. Never liked team sports. Once he got into the army the bug bit for some reason. He had an '84 TransAm for a while then got a '69 Chevelle, bucket seats, console, but six cylinder. We rounded up a 454, 12 bolt, and turbo 350, with him doing most of the work we transformed the car. About five years ago I told him about a '65 Acadian Canso (Canadian Chevy II) hardtop. He ended up buying it. The car had 25,684 miles and other than a few blow ins in the paint, the car is all original. Again it is a six cylinder car. Might just get a later model LT1 one of these days. The car still has crayon marks on the firewall and on the underside of the hood as well. It has the thick,clear plastic seat covers that you could have the dealer install. It has one of those kleenex dispensers under the padded dash, radio, and backup lights. Never give up. Some kids just get interested a little later.

[jeff morocco]

my boys are 9 and 10. my 10 year old cant wait to start racing his YENKO themed JR dragster. always with me in the garage helping me and always asks when am i going to get his dragster done. i reply the same every time. as soon as the snow melts.

[turbojet427]

I'm 27 years old and just absolutely love cars. I've invested my money ever since I was 12 years old with the goal of owning a first gen camaro. I now own two first gen camaros and loads of parts that I've bought up. I've been blessed to have a family totally dedicated to cars. My dad has been into cars since the early 60's and currently has his own collection that we've restored. My mom's dad has a collection 19 strong that he started in the 1960's and her brother also has a 1967 camaro. My family has done a car show for our local fire company for the last 24 years. Every family is truly dedicated to the car hobby.

[Allen]

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

[/ QUOTE ]

That was funny right there........

[L72COPO]

My 11 year old Grandson Alex spent some time here last summer (they live in Belgium). Just so happened I was starting the LS-6 project and he asked if he could help. Naturally I had him do all the dirty work underneath and he loved it.Three days later we had the car apart and he had to throw his clothes away and was proud to do it.
Soon after they returned to Belgium and now every time we talk he wants to know where I'm at on the restoration. He also has studied the "internal combustion engine" and totaly understands how it works and can explain it.
He'll be back this summer and wants to take the LS-6 to a car show.
Great bonding experience for us both.

[TXSS]

Wow a lot of you guys make me feel old. I haven't had an 11 year old in 11 years. The first time I ever pulled a body off a Camaro my oldest son, 15 at the time now 26 was right there with me and his help was much needed. He does have the unique distinction of having learn to drive a manual trans in a 61 Corvette. I think I learned to drive a manual is a Valiant.

[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

[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