I get it - all of it - the overload that is traffic, the constant building and rebuilding of every car you see, the grateful understanding of a patient family...If only the days were longer so that we could fit in more of this craziness. I sometimes wonder what people like us obsessed over when there were no cars...
Your little girl lets you sleep till 7:30 wow that is great. My little 4 month old girls internal clock is set for about 5:30. This morning it was4:45. anyway cool story I liked it a lot.
I'm obsessed with cars too, but throw in my obsession with motorcycles especially vintage ones and thats all I talk about. I don't know how I get any work done when I'm always flipping back from the jalopy journal and the jockey journal.
I admit ...i too am a Hamboholic and obsess about traditional hotrods all the time I get like this when something interests me and i want to learn about it. that's why i keep telling my older brother to stop bugging me to get into golf until i'm in my 60's to have 'lil white balls on the brain Ryan ...How did you ever end up with a "skaterade" shirt? Great post and loved the "day in the life" story
I could sit & watch Phil bend exhaust for hours....an artist who's chosen pipe for a medium to work with. At garage sales and such , i see various things that could be adapted as covers, brackets, etc to a vehicle. Not a sickness, just a "less accepted" way to use whatever artistic ability one might have. My job is automotive related, i get home & work on whatever is in the garaage...and never get bored with it. Frustrated at times, of course. But never to the point of, say , taking up golf. My name is mike........ and i am a proud motorhead
Why does your back hurt? Are you really that old? Where you bench pressing a Flathead engine with Offenhasuer junk? Do I need to send you a Get Well card? This place is Love/Hate for me. Somedays I love it and some, well....It's like a date and at the end you say to yourself, "What the Hell happened". Ken
The worst part of commuting is unconsciously rebuilding whatever shitbox is on the road beside you, only to snap to it and realize you just spent 5 minutes thinking about doing WHAT???? to WHAT!!!!
you know what sucks... as i was reading that there was little things that would make me think about my Plymouth.... oo i could do this... ooooooh or that. now i cant stop thinking about the new camaro. i would really like one.
You HAND STAMP the aliance tags!?!?! No wonder you kicked me off the board after I bought one! Nice post. I often feel guilty about how much time I spend thinking about cars. I have three kids and a great wife, a great job...but cars...
And that is why I am thankful to have you! I betting we would have met eventually but I'm glad the HAMB speeded it up! Of the few of my friends that are girls they totally don't get it. I keep trying to tell them about the hundreds of guys at car shows but they still don't want to go! I think I may have talked my best friend who lives in Hotlanta to going to Dixie Fried with me. So that's a start... Heck, even most of my guy friends don't get it. Very few can comprehend how I can 'play' cars all day then come home and play cars until 1 or 2am. I've said it before and I'll say it again.... it's a disease! Good on you Ryan for being a good help in raising PJ. Too many guys don't think that is their 'job'.
Holy Shit! You mean WE are not NORMAL? All this time I thought everyone else was outta step! This explains a LOT! Thanks for turning MY life Upside Down. My head is spinning with people I have to contact and let them know!
Its funny, I spend most of my day thinkig of (in this order) cars, my wife, cars, my daughter, cars, then cars some more. I lose sleep over what I might be able to do to my 51 Chebby. My wife tells me I have a problem, but considering that the problem I have isn't cheating on her, drinking too much or doing drugs or gambeling she deals with it. I also have a 46 Jeep CJ2A. I obsess over both of my vehicles to the point that the weekends and most of my free time are spent either working on them or looking for parts for them or trying to come up with a way to fix something with out spending a ton of money on a replacement part just to say that I have fixed it and now know how it works so I might be able to help out any one who has the same problem. I have said it before hot rods, classics, traditional rods or just plain stockers, I love cars
I'd swear that certain names and details were changed to protect the innocent...right down to the morning Dora ritual!
sounds like ya need a good....."carropractor" ? good read ryan. I feel I should shorten my hamb name now, your going to have to show me that route you take out here ! to avoid the traffic ?
Man, the crazy just keeps pouring out around here. <?xml:namespace prefix = o ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-comfficeffice" /><o></o> <o></o> One great aspect of this gear head madness, is that you got proof you lived. And the more crazy an individual is with it, usually the more proof of a life well used. I happen to enjoy my scars, lack of neighborhood approval, burn mark on the back of my skull from welding a radiator and setting my hair on fire, exploded parts on the wall, knowing that i have doubled the speed limit on most of the roads within a 3 miles of my house, pictures of started, finished and future projects and the long, almost endless list other stuff that makes hot rodding something great. <o></o> <o></o> That and i know it kept me out of trouble (the felony kind) as a teenager and brought and continues to bring me closer my family. <o></o>
You're a lucky man Ryan. Love that little girl everyday, she'll be moving out soon. My younger one just graduated high school...wait...no, that was in 2000. She just graduated from college..NOOO that was 2004. She just moved to Raleigh...NOOOO, that was 2005, she just got married...no no noooo, that was last year.......oh yeah, she and her husband are closing on a house next week.....
That "rebuilding every car you see" thing... That is EXACTLY why I don't own or have not yet built the "perfect hot rod" !! I mean how can anybody settle on one true love? Whenever someone asks me what my favorite car is, my head just starts vibrating until I can regain control. If I ever won the lottery I would be like a crack junky on a car binge. Oh yeah, don't EVER miss any of those goofy "Dora" moments. One minute they're 4 and next minute they're 24 and living with a med student who thinks he knows everything and ... well, you know.
Ok, I'm not alone then. People have learned to not ask what my favorite car is. A question like that leads me to ask a lot of qualifiers that most people just don't get like; Favorite factory or custom or hot rod? Favorite car of what era? body style? cruiser or racer? Standard or automatic? Fins or no fins? The list goes on and on.... And just for good measure "Backpack backpack". Why is it that every Dora toy talks?
Sometimes I wonder what it would be like to be like the majority, people that are perfectly content to drive their Honda day in, and day out. It must be easier, as their heads must be a lot more clear than mine. I truly have a sickness, but it's not quite the same as everyone on this board. My mind doesn't stop with traditional rods, and customs. Sure, I love 'em, and at some point I will own a true hot rod. I just haven't gotten there yet. You know how you're rollin down the highway and wonder how far you'd lower that 1/2 ton? My mind never stops at wondering. And that's how I've amassed such a collection of projects. I started out with lowriders and minitrucks. I own a few S-10s, one is a 96 I bought new, and at 15000 miles I tore it apart and put hydraulics on it. At around 25000 miles, I pulled it apart to the frame, and body dropped it, and have huge plans for it. Problem is, during the build, I picked up a 66 Impala as a driver. That lead to a 64 Impala, which lead to a few motorcycles, and a couple of 63 Chevy C-10s, and a chopped Yamaha XS650, and a 49 chevy waiting for me to drop the 235 in it that I got from Tony on here. Then theirs my obsession with front engined dragsters, and etc, etc. My problem is I can't stop at wondering what I would if I had a certain vehicle, I have to go out and get it. And then, half way through, I start obssesing about something else. Welcome to the sick world that which I live in
Man, I am the same way and thank God for this place! If being this way is wrong, I don't want to be right. Viva la HAMB!
The Jalopy Journal
