I finally had to face it today whom many of us have become. Found that most of my time (on the net at least ) is now at places like the following: The Garage Journal, HAMB , Craigslist, eBay automotive and tool areas, NAPA, junkyards and local old guy hotrod get togethers. Under the hood of my pre 1976 vehicles, chainsaws, firewood and the list goes on. Is that what we have become ? Where did surfing, beer, pizza out of the parking lot go to? No one around me now can change a tire. A local tow truck driver likes to jerk people about. When he picks up a Tesla on the road, he asks the driver if they ran out of gas. That is a joke and the drivers don't even figure out the joke ? Dan still stuck in the 1960's .
There was a time when I would build a new hot rod every 3 years, had boundless energy and was quite social. Now I find myself glued to my computer chair...til my *** falls asleep.
I feel it's not a bad place to be. I like peaceful living. Young ones can have the drama. I do miss going out on Friday or Sat. nights and hanging out. Cruise in's aren't for me. Just not the same. Mostly people with cars they know nothing about or late model junk. They just sit with their cars. Mostly so people don't touch them or get to close. They don't care to meet new people or do something with their cars. Wouldn't consider racing or long distance driving. I enjoy what I have and the friends who get me.
I'm still a little 64 year old kid, so I get out and drive mine....and I seem to keep picking up new ones to play with, too. Looked at two more last week.
Right there with you Jim. Sold 3 and bought 2 in the past year or so. Born in 66 and going on 20. Drove nothing newer than 73 till I turned 32. Now at 59 going on 60 I only buy older cars. Had the pleasure of changing the fuel pump on the Nova in a parking lot yesterday. Drove it to town and besides having to stop to change the fuel pump I drove it home. Life is good.
I'm not saying that I or we are old, it's just, what happen to the rest of the world. Where did they all go to ?? When I was in high school it was " Hey WOW, you HAVE a car ?? Can you give us a ride to the what ever. The student parking lot at school like a mobile junk yard. And the kids loved them. Now people think of a car the same way most look at a toaster or what not. Just an appliance.
Once when you pulled up at the lights with a jalopy people around you would look, point, kids would wave (and get a wave or honk back), sometimes ask you through an open window "What year is your car, mate?', etc. Now when you stop at the lights everyone (sometimes even the knuckle head drivers) have got their heads stuck in their damn phones, you could be driving a Space shuttle and it wouldn't even register. I have found that over the years my friends have mostly come from the "old car/hot rod" scene, we still see each other at shows and swap meets, chew the fat and have a few beers at the pub (especially the ones with good off-street parking!) "Pointless cruising" was a thing when we were single, because, lets face it, it was for impressing girls that we would never meet! My mind is still building a car a year, but my bones are having trouble keeping up with my brain.
I worked a long time to get to the point that I no longer have to work. My wife and myself are still pretty good friends, we enjoy spending time together. We don't do much through the winter anymore, we spend a lot of time online and looking out the window thinking about how happy we are that we don't have to go outside into that weather unless we want to. My wife and I are pretty active with our church. We are enjoying life right now. We do stay pretty active through the warmer months. Its getting close to the time things start getting busy around here, busy for us anyway. Neither of us are sorry we stepped out of the rat race and into a time of being content. We don't need more stuff, and neither of us feel that we have anything to prove to anyone else. Its a great place to be.
I'm not as GUNG HO as I use to be,I use to eat breed and sleep hot rods and race cars and customs. I'm burned out on local car shows and cruise nights, swap meets are a thing of the past. Don't get me wrong when I see a good car it still gets my heart pumping. I like to hang out with guys who do there own work on their cars, getting fewer and fewer. But social media has opened a whole new world to me. There's the HAMB , u tube, different discussion groups, at one time all we had to go by were HOT ROD MAGAZINES that came by once a month. So things aren't so bad just different. Now that I'm retired I'm able to hit the big shows,Grand national Roadster show, this year did Detroit Autorama, a lot of the big Goodguys shows and hopefully hit Nashville this September. Life is good in Jersey!
But at least we lived long enough to get here! Many did not. I still work on mine and dream of another. Ben
If u want to visit a gr8 show with plenty of driven hot rods——go to the LoneStar Roundup east of Austin. Lived (resident of S.Texas for 75 years b4 moving to Delaware) 100 miles away and visited 20 out of the 24-25?? times when I was able/now 1500 miles back to Texas and had to miss the upcoming show in April because wife had open heart surgery and couldn’t travel soon enuf.
Couple days ago a friend a me took the A and visited some people we had not seen for years.... it feels real. For over a year I was busy working on my house/life/projects....often only talking on the phone... First he was like " naaah" ... but in the evening.... He was sure it was a good idea, just like when we were younger and had much more time to kill....
Thinking you've described aging And that has many changes, IMO. Like so many things in our life we adapt as we go, the last 10 years my wife and I spend way too much time, Dr appointments, tests, sometimes procedures, wife a cancer survivor, now heart problems, I have some health issues, waiting and driving each other, our SUV knows it's way to the clinic and hospital. I never thought much about the "Golden Years" Happy I'm not peeing my pants. Most conversions at cruises/shows a**** my peers, Dr's, procedures, drug types, side effects, who died, or in the process of dying, happy to still be here, I refuse to give up, I need to make some younger friends,LOL. Aging ****s, Not for Sissies. Now the positive, spending time here on the HAMB, spending time on phone with old friends left, have a home in beautiful part of the country, a family to spend Easter with, planning on making some local shows/cruises, Spring, Summer, C'mon !. I'm ready, the positive of OT hobby cars, take the battery tenders off, check a few things over, clean them up, ready to go. All is good here in the Northwoods, hoping the predicted ice storm will miss us, I've owned this property for 34 years, 18 as a secondary, 16 our retirement home, so Winter here is not a surprise, just a PIA now. AM Coffee, the HAMB. Enjoy your day !
The funny thing is I remember meeting a lot of you guys in the late 90's, early 2000's. You guys were all young back then. I'm glad I didn't get old with yall.
I still like working on this junk as well as driving it. I should get in maybe 600-700 miles this weekend on my flathead. I put probably put 300 on it last weekend to and from a swap meet. There is also a group of guys in town that still get out on Friday nights and hang out kind of like we did 40 years ago. So, I try to make that every now and then if I don't feel like working in the shop. Other than having less energy to get things done, it doesn't feel like much has changed for me.
When you get to be 91 you do a lot less but want to as much as you have in the past. I wanted to go to Duncan swap this last week end but did not make it. Duncan is my home town and i get to see some of my friends that are still there. Don
I like your reference to your car as "Junk", I've been calling all of my cars, hot rods, "Junk" for many years and my various racers "**** Box" was my term of endearment for them, it was discretely painted on them. I copied that off the Bogar Sprint cars that Jan Opperman drove back in the day. I never called my Dad's racer "**** Box" as that Was his pride and joy, he built it after coming home from WWII
Go to Lloydfest for a slip back in time- relaxed/ laidback, lotsa talk about stuff we wanna talk about. I recommend it highly!!
I know I'm still kicking, because I keep wearing out boots. I have a dream project, and a pile of sponserbileries that never seem to go down. I expect there is no point in waiting for someone to hand me a wooden nickle with A Round Tuit printed on the back. I still have plenty of blessings though, when I remember to count them. I'd be better off if I started off with that last one and worked backwards from there. You guys are the real deal, keep on trucking.
Today I changed the oil in the Mazda DD, vacuumed and cleaned the inside, washed the outside. Out of steam, I'm sitting in the garage looking at this MGB GT project, trying to muster the energy to do the next thing. As someone said, the spirit is willing....
I don't think that I have changed that much except for health. The rest of the world, well, its gone to hell if you ask me.
Yup. When I went to my High School 50 reunion ( never do that ) I looked for my cl***mates. All I saw was a roon full of Old People. I was in the wrong place, so went home. Got out some chips and beer, sat and watched the TV. Reruns of Laugh In.
I knew I was old today. Helping my Brother replace the starter on his 74 Chevy PU. Took us half a day to find a rebuilt one. NO one was stocking a starter for a 70's Chevy 350. He missplaced the two mounting bolts. Took us another half day to find a tool supply that had bolts that would work. NO parts house or shop stocked that any more. We even called a Chevy dealership and they had no clue. When you can no longer find starter mounting bolts for a SBC , the world has definately gone to Heck.
yeah, i p***ed on the 50 yr reunion. didn't like most of them then, why would i like them now? got the house paid off last year so the hunt for new territory is on! like some, i don't relate to the world i find myself in anymore. after i get my cataracts taken care of, my **** this **** meter will be mostly pegged out. all i'm after is 3-5 acres, a nice sized shop, and a four post lift. the first project will be to build a spirit cars 27 T w/ a 350 and TH 350. it's gonna be my daily driver, simple and reliable. then the fun will begin.......
The Jalopy Journal
