Hot Rods So now what do you do with it?

Make an effort at the local shows/ cruises/car club to make some new friends to plan some longer events/cruises if you want/need company cruising. In years past I drove my 3 HAMB cars (pics in albums)about 20 K miles per car in about 8 years per car overlapping with my OT hobby cars. Myself, I still just go for a ride, guessing 1/3 to 1/2 of the miles I was alone, I will drive 50 miles just to go to lunch. Last year I had a health issue and did not use the cars much, this season I've surpassed last season's mileage already. The drawback to this is road rash, chips, windshield in one car taking the fresh built look away, etc., which is always fixable. Make your choice, garage queen or driver, and Enjoy the hobby. Maybe you're a garage guy not interested in the social part of the hobby. There is no rhyme or reason, most all of us have a lot of money sitting in something not practicable money wise, but all hobbies have the same definition of Fun, any hobby equals $$$.

 

Well said........^^^^^^^^^ Too much shining and not enough driving, too much worrying about the correct part numbers instead of just enjoying what you can afford.

 

Even if it's just uptown.

 

Definitely drive it.
If you need an 'event', make your own.
Three or four friends with a common interest, and a destination with coffee and food.
Keep it simple. Make it regular, every week / fortnight / month or whatever.
Some of the best events have little or no organising. A simple text or email should be enough.
Have been doing this for a while; three geriatrics. We take the 'slow' roads away from the traffic to a coffee shop somewhere, then spend some time putting the world to rights. More fun than mowing lawns.
Will do it again Thursday.

 

Well, for me, something happened in the last couple years, in feb of 2022 I got a new aortic valve, heart surgery to those not in the know.....so prior to that for a year I was in no shape to build anything. After the big cut, and recovery, I didn't have the oomph to get out in the shop, I think I'd been laying around too long. The short of it, I haven't got my mojo back, my 36 gets driven infrequently, just enough to keep it alive. I don't have that old life long craving I did, I'm doing other things, my old girl will never be sold, but it's not being driven much anymore either. I still lurk, keep up on you guys, but I've lost something as well. Desire.

 

Like 'Petejoe' we dropped shows and simply drive the wheels off ours anytime we get. For us it is simply about the enjoyment of nostalgic motoring. Car gigs (like reliability runs) that have driving as an integral part, swap meets with friends... we've been to a couple of outdoor twilight cinema nights Drive-In style.


Swap meet - lunch - friends - live music... great day


Reliability run event - stage 1


Cruising out for lunch in the '60s cruiser...


Twilight Drive-In movies during summer...


For us we like to keep them running by using them. Nothing worse than letting them sit in the garage...garage gremlins get to them.

 

Ran into a guy I knew as a kid. He was older, maybe 30 and I was about 15. Hung out at the same mechanic shop so basically just knew each other. He had a jawline that made him immediately recognizeable, even after 30/40 years. I asked him if he still fooled around with cars. His answer was........."Naw, it got too hard to do". He still looked capable, but I never forgot that.......So I decided I never want that to happen to me. Yep some days its hard to muster the desire to go work in the shop, but I find when I do so I get somewhat energized and want to accomplish some of the long list of things still in my bucket. Yep, it takes longer to accomplish things, but you still get a sense of satisfaction when you finish a task. Get in your cars and drive them......you may find that you feel better and the desire is still there. Best medicine I can think of........

 

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You can enjoy seeing vehicles no matter who built or who bought them. Not everyone was brought up with the "advantage" of being around people who work on cars. Some of them never held a wrench in their hands and during their formulative years were forced to attend colleges and universities. They never had the opportunities that most of us had...........but even with those disadvantages they persevered and did the best they could to become part of the car community. Give em a break............

Seriously, many people want to become rodders but never got the opportunity due to growing up in a family where they weren't exposed to the things needed to use your hands as well as your mind.

 

I'm with everybody else - get it out on the road and put some miles on it! We live in the country and it's a 30 mile round trip to work or get lunch and 90 to go to Walmart. I take my '30 everywhere as long as its roadster worthy weather (not raining or snowing and >30 degs). Between the North East Vintage Drags, cars & coffee at the Seal Cove Auto Museum, driving to work and misc errands, I've put 1000 miles on it in the last couple of weeks and I drug the old lady along for most of them. If you enjoy driving your car you don't need a special event to get it out of the garage!

 

I enjoy the build most of all but I like driving them too. I can't make myself part with them after building them and it's getting hard to drive them all but I drive them quite a bit. I know they aren't going to likely gain value but I don't really care. It'll all someday be our kids problem and hopefully some of them will enjoy them too.

 

We have however enjoyed letting our grandson race our crusty coupe in the mud drag races at a local event. We let him make a couple passes around the dirt track too. He's only 10 years old so we won't let him drive alone yet.
He was in heaven!

 

I agree. I drove antique/hotrods ONLY for 53 years. No modern cars until I got old and heart surgery, need air conditioning now

 

Oh yeah... you are the greatest influence a boy could have!! Another lucky kid/apprentice gear head in the making... good on you!

 

I can agree with this, I have a crazy heart condition, 100% paced, no heartbeat without the pacer, heart pump is sitting about 28%, they gave me 5 yrs 9 1/2 yrs ago and I'm on my 2nd pacer already.
Along with that I also have a debilitating back issue for the last 20 yrs, between the two I have had to learn some work arounds.
I try to get in the garage daily, some days I don't get much accomplished but other days I do, it definitely takes longer but I sure don't let it stress me out.
I very recently got my Henry J back on the road after a 10 yr make over and it does feel pretty good.

 

Neither of us analyzed you, we didn't even mention you. We both tried to encourage people to continue working on and driving their cars even in the face of adversity. I respect that Swade41 chose to continue doing the things he loves and just maybe that has helped him in many ways. If you honestly can't do those things, or if you choose not to even try............its not for me to judge. My plan is to take one day at a time and do as much as I can do for as long as God gives me the strength to do so, because I think doing so helps me to continue to do so.

 

I think a lot of guys overbuild their cars and take the joy out of simply driving them from a to b. Built my 55 to be a versatile driver. It was the only non-daily driver car I had for a long time, so I wanted it to be well rounded. Well what I REALLY wanted was for it to be an absolute crusher on the streets, but my wallet limited what I could do. It's a pretty good cruiser, will go down the 1/4 if I want it to, and will sit in traffic in the summer without complaining. I made it worse by lifting the front end and doing the gasser thing so I could run with the local nostalgia drag guys, but then the price of everything exploded so i changed it all back because i just didn't enjoy driving it as much. It's not great at any one thing, but it's not bad at anything either. It's dialed in and dead nuts reliable. What more could I ask for?

 

Additionally, and this may sound stupid to a lot of you, but I decided to start a YouTube channel that is just me and a couple of buddies recording our drives in our old stuff. No talking, no music, no walk arounds or "build breakdowns", just us driving one of our cars from a to b, usually for no reason at all. It also gives us another reason to get them out and enjoy them. I say enjoy them as much as you can while you still can.

 

Car parts: Cool... human body parts, not so much.

 

I like collecting Model A body parts because if you come up with a cowl, a pair or doors and quarters a deck lid and a few other pieces, you can build a body and fit it on a 32 frame and you've got a good start on a car. Stitching bodies together is more fun to me so I've got several put together now waiting to be finished.