Hot Rods As we get older ~

Hi warbird1.Another friend from the local post was a triple retread.WW2,Korea and Viet Nam.US AirForce vet.If the AD you are referring to is the SkyRaider,he would very much agree with you.He said when he returned from a mission,the standing joke was"Check the gas and fill up the oil".
Speedwrench.Still have ALL of mine.SO FAR.
Good luck.Have fun.Be safe.
Leo

 

As the saying goes"The Golden Years Are Here At Last. The Golden Years Can Kiss My A**.
At 75 that's the way I see it.
Bill

 

Reading all of this, I have decided not to get old.

 

great thread I am 66 and drive a 32 with 3 speed changing to a 5 speed a little less shifting my wife has a 29 with automatic has spine problems and loves her hot rods she is 62 and drives her own rod. building a 34 pickup now for me it has an auto and will probably stay that way i have one hip replacement and one needing it times do change but we never stop driving our rods. but i will always have at least one 3 pedal rod till I die. Cruise safe my Brothers

 

Contrary to what you might expect changing to a 5 speed will not mean less shifting, I would think that it will mean more shifting.

 

ya you are probably right oh well LOL

 

Yup, Skyraider... ours isn't too bad on oil usage; only 3-4 gals. an hour.

I'll have no problem going with an automatic when the time comes, I've always liked good ones. Only one I have now is an early Hydro...

 

Be careful what you ask for kan kustom! Sometimes it gets REAL easy not to get old.

 

Wine, HOT RODs, and Rodders get better with age! When I get old, look for the adult home with the 29 Hi Boy in the parking lot. Come on in, I'll be the old guy building model cars. lol Ron...

 

what is considered old changes as you get older - the 'ol brain thinks one thing & the body says another

 

Sometimes I find myself at the local senior citizen center and I look around and think " Damn, I don't ever want to get that old".

And the adage about growing older but refusing to grow up comes into play. On the inside I'm still twenty, ten feet tall, and bullet-proof.

Then I look in the mirror and wonder who that old SOB looking back at me is.

 

At 77 finished my 3 window deuce with a 5 speed in March of this year. Logged over 13K miles on it this summer. I had my left knee replaced about 12 years back....No problems...Still banging gears and loving it.

 

I'm 65 feel like I'm 80, but I think I'm 19,that is until I try to do something.My Willys has a 12 point roll cage, and it sure is hard to get in and out of, So I don't drive it anymore.My 63 Impala is a 4 speed and I would't change it for anything, when I drive it I really do feel like I'm 19.

 

I suspect if Hot Rods & Customs have been a big part of your life from the time you started driving, like myself and the decades that have past has never changed your love for them you may eventually be faced with making concessions to continue enjoying your old car obsession.

I plan on doing whatever it takes to keep driving my Hot Rods.HRP

 

No bad knees or hips and still more than physically able now at age 57 to drive a car with a manual trans, but I simply don't want to anymore.....plus it makes it so much easier for my 4'10" tall wife to take the wheel if she so desires.

This little chrome column shifter handle controls a 4L70E 4-speed overdrive auto. My other car has a console-shifted TH400.

If my knees start to go bad later on down the line I'm already good to go.

 

Skyraiders were our choice for close in air support, but those fast movers were also good . Frank

 

As I stated earlier I still enjoy shifting, and part of that may be because I live in a small city, with a metro area prolly less than 50K, so traffic jams are few and far between When I go to ATL, which is approx 40 miles, unless it's a hot rod related event I usually drive either my Duramax/Allison Silverado, or my Fusion DD, both of which are automatics. First of all I don't like putting either of my hot rods on the ATL Xways even without traffic jams because they are well known as wild and wooly roads to drive.
And secondly, when you get an accident ahead of you the traffic jams can get horrendous, especially if there's a fatality, and a stiff clutch and manual shift are definitely no fun then. If I lived in a large city such as ATL, then I'd prolly feel a bit different about manual shift cars.
I've been considering going to dual disc clutches in both hot rods if leg problems get any worse, as I'm told they reduce pedal pressure requirements considerably, and wonder who has personal experience with them. I do believe a reply would be welcomed by more of this threads participants than just myself. Only contact with dual discs I've had was with a fellow club member going to one because he was having trouble containing the torque and horsepower of a blown stroker SBC with a single disc clutch.
Another alternative is an automatic with a full manual shift valve body. My Fusion has a sport mode that allows you to use the paddle shifter, but I seldom use it.

 

are we all BROTHERS from different MOTHERS...
in my youth i sat under the hood... now i BRUISE the ol beergut reaching over
dang....
and on a side note
where are all the youth wanting to watch/learn WHAT we do/know...?

 

I must be darn lucky. Finished building my roadster at age 70. Model A ,324 Olds, 39 Ford 3 spd trans. I am now76 & have driven the rod 22,000mi.& looking to drive it many more fun miles. I have a lot to be thankful for. Greg

 

I guess I can relate to what a lot of guys are saying on this thread but I take it day by day and keep plugging along. I guess my signature line suits this thread, lol.

 

This reminds me of a line from "Old Folks Boogie":
And you know that you're over the hill
When your mind makes a promise that your body can't fill

 

Hello,

After years of contact sports activities and crawling over/under our race cars has obviously taken a toll on the body. Things just do not heal as fast then something goes wrong. As we all know, we are not 25 any more. (freefall down a 15 ft wave-shoulder injury, rugby injury, knee twist rock jumping, locking fingers/thumbs-fb/basketball injury) So, whatever ails us today is the direct result of having fun when we were younger…which reminds me of this snippet from a fabulous song and TV series:

“When we were young
We were small, but we didn't know it
When you were hurt
You would smile so you didn't show it…”

Those days are long gone, but everyday reminders are present in any activity we all do today. What do we do about it? Sit back and enjoy your life. You may not be doing what you really want to do, but you are with family, grand kids, pleasant jobs, and activities that you can participate in without much pain and torture.

Driving a cool car has always been the most pleasurable thing for me. I love driving, but heavy traffic is beginning to bug me, so planning a route during low traffic times is important. Driving around in a cool sounding car is so pleasurable that it makes being old fun. A million dollar stereo? Naaah…Give me the whine of a high performance motor running well and accelerating…Time will always march on, and we can go with the flow or be unhappy and fight it all day long. What do you think is the most positive way to deal with growing up? You be the judge. Kudos to the old builders doing their own thing...

Jnaki