I got Diabeties at 55..now 61. I was in coma..all the bull****...BS600+ Do the best you can everyday..and it gets better. Minor neuropathy now..now I wear reading gl***es. Work out everyday..still pitch and catch with a couple college ball players.(Doc said it would never happen after I blew out discs in 2007). Been coaching or playing for 40+ years. I work in my shop like ever..I forget my age number (until the next day !).. Ride my cycles two three times a week, Took a 3500 mile ride in 06..looking to go again this year. My 02 bike has 70,000 miles..my 76 cafe gets about 2,500 a year. I get on the strip with the bikes a couple times a year.. Drive the hell out of the Jag several times a week. But..it's Mind over matter.. If you don't mind..it don't matter..
I'm 62,retired about 5 years ago from being a construction electrician. I work as a self employed sparky contractor occasionally for money to piss away on car projects.My heatlh is good right now,I feel like 30 years old most of the time.But a life time of being exposed to nasty **** in the building trades,used to smoke like many of you did........So ya never know what tomorrow will bring. So....I'm building a 50 Chevy truck as we speak,and like some other guy said,**** the fancy details,just get it done and enjoy it.
I'm 60 and drove my roadster to Colorado and back from Ohio in June. I just stop more often and enjoy the ride and the people I meet.
I'm with the over 50's and my age don't mean a thing. 2 back surgeries, a bad knee and they just stole my gall bladder, that slows me down a little. I compensate though, bought a 65 Glide when my kicking knee went bad, still a panhead but at least I can just push a ****on. No more hard seats, that memory foam is neat ****. I still have a barn full of projects so my dreams are more like neccessities.
Truckedup is the guy that got me back into hot rods. I've been workin' on my stock '55 Chebby pickup for ten years but when I bought his '37 from him, there was no turning back an' thatsa good thing.
I want to live forever. So far, it's working. 65 trips around the Sun. Body is weary...spirit still going strong.
At 65 the life I have left is for sure Less than the life I've already lived. Looking at that fact it seems that the only choice I have is to maximize the enjoyment the rest of my days hold. When last I corresponded with our dear departed C9 I mentioned that I still had the same dreams and goals that I did at 16-20. His responce will go with me the rest of the way. "I can relate Frank, hot rods keep us young". He was refering to those of us who derive our pleasure from building and being on or in motorized contraptions of our own sweat and blood. Sure we get projects done and enjoy them but that is soon followed by another dream/project. It's the unfinished deals in our lives that keep us keeping on. When you run out of dreams you run out of life. Frank
Sorry for the loss of you Dane. I'm sure a lot of us know how your feeling, having gone thru it ourselves. Still miss our Lab & its been a year.
The loss of my animal friends over the years is responsible for some of the saddest days of my life. Hang in there, most of us know what your going through...
If those sports doctors can keep a NFLer in the game then they oughta be able to keep me in my shop or behind the wheel. At 65 I'm hopin' for the best medicines available.
Thanks for the kind words guys. This deep freeze we're in right now is depressing enough, but struggling to dig a hole in frozen ground and lowering into that icy earth a dog whose favorite activity lately was lying in front of a cozy warm fire place, is pretty hard to take, even though I've been through it all before. Thanks again.
I'm 22 so right now it's funding. I wanted a hot rod since I was 5. I got the '40 when I was 15 and after 5 years of work my Dad and I got it on the road. I haven't really looked back. I started an A coupe project and now a shoebox ford. I look around at the local guys and the ones who are doing best are those with unending car projects. As Fab32 said, "It's the unfinished deals in our lives that keep us keeping on. When you run out of dreams you run out of life." My dad says I have too many projects. I keep telling him I'll have them done by the time I'm 27-30. What do I have to do after that? I need more projects if I'm going to live to be 90, and they're only going to go up in price...
Hell no, it's the dreams that keep us young. Some friends & I decided to chop this friends car over New Years Eve Day. That's what it's all about.
Just made plans with my buddy, "The Ol' Geezer", to attend the Autorama in Sacto in Feb...I'm 53, and he's pushin' 80, and we decided since we both limp around at the same pace, we'll just go together, take our time, and make a day of it...won't be able to walk for a couple days after, but what the hell? You remember those guys on The Ed Sullivan Show that used to twirl all those plates on the tall sticks? They'd have the music playin' real fast, they'd have 10 plates spinning, and they'd run from one to the other, then go back to the start and get 'em spinning good, then start a new one? That's what I feel like... Cuz I've got so many projects going, Hot Rod and otherwise, that I'm never going to die!! EW Someday I will _________________ (you fill in the blank!)
There may be some merit to this. Im 25 now and dont feel nearly as good about things as i used to. I'm not old yet, but im old enough to feel like im getting old. Women and kids are what destroy your dreams though.
i am 35,i judge that as 1/2 my life,after 70 i think the fun is over?,health,ability,money etc.,,,but i hope i am wrong
There is a line from a movie, what movie I don't remember, and the line is: "Either get busy living or get busy dying"'
Your age doesn't limit your dreams, but your physical condition does. I've seen guys in their 60's that are as youthful as someone in their 30's. I, on the other hand, am only 39, but feel much older due to severe abuse of myself when I was younger. Live with as much youthful vigor as you possibly can without exceeding the reality of your present state.
Sienfeld said " dyin penniless is workin it just about right" some one I told this to once said" that they would shoot me and rob me.. AND GET IT OVER WITH! " I'm trying hard to leave behind great TRUE stories not much in the way of inheritance.. spend and run its what the government has been teachin for many years.. debt is left for the young and capable oh ya have garage sale of yer stuff at your wake/funeral that way your stuff goes to freinds and its all gone when yer done
I like to think NOT !! I am 48, and just starting out on a whole new adventure !! I will be racing the rear engine funny car for a living. Bear in mind, when I drew the first pic of this car, I was 9 yrs old Took forever to get to this point (seems like) but it is really starting to snowball, new sponsors, new tracks, Nitro in the tank (25%) and joined the AHRA !! Here is a pic of me in action
You tell me - I look at & appreciate women under 35, but i wouldn't have one - over 45 only, please I love to oval race but i quit because my kids are grown & gone and i don't like going to the hospital at least twice a year (if you race instead of ride) I used to live on a motorcycle; at least 8-9,000 miles year - now i can't stand to ride anything but a dirt bike - wind bothers me I have money to do things i've always wanted to do now, but don't have the time I can't stand to watch any kind of racing now except for F1 & heads-up drag racing Can't hear good because of all the engine noises over the years Can't see good because of dirt, welding, rubber, metal, dust, benzene fumes, etc. that have ended up in my eyes Can't walk on level ground without tripping over my own feet because of 2 closed head traumas over the years Can't pronounce some (most) words good because of wrecks & substance abuse (years ago - too old & smart for that now) (couldn't take it now anyhow) When i was 20 years old, i could stand flat-footed & p!ss over a dump truck - now i have to climb into the bed & lean over the side to keep from p!ssing on my feet I used to get at least 30 minutes warning on a trip to the john - now i'm lucky to get 30 seconds - better be close to a john or you'll be wearing it I can still eat like a horse & **** regularly
Boy, aren't you a ray of freakin' sunshine. When I was 25 I was like a kid in a candy store, with a wife of two years and one child. You need a daily shot of adrenaline and a little vitamin D and you'll be sittin' on top of the world.
A kid in your sixties, eh? Here's the drill. Don't fly. It's hard on the arms. Buy the roadster of your dreams, with an agreement that you'll pick it up, whenever. Mount a hitch on the back of the family ride and start out in April. Drive it two hundred miles at a time, stop for a piss break at 3 pm, and after that decide if it's time to get a motel or go on for another hour or two. You just might see something worth looking at. At the destination latch onto a uhaul trailer and pick up the roadster. Now, you know the drill, so I'll digress, whilst you take up some productive dreaming about how that stop at the Jalopy Showdown will go with you unloading that roadster for the show, then traveling the longer miles in relative comfort towing it behind..........
At 38 years old I feel like I'm in my prime. Still have strength, good sight, etc. plus now I have the money to play with too.
The Jalopy Journal
