Folks Of Interest My 97 year old grandpa, the original hot rodder

Roothawg, you're a lucky guy.

My great-grandfather rode a flathead Harley with a sidecar when he came back to Australia after serving in PNG in WW2. He used it when "courting" my great-grandma - you shoulda seen his eyes sparkle when he told THAT story! Hers to, come to think of it.

The bike was long gone by the time i came along, but i do have a photo of the 2 of us standing beside a similar bike when i was a teenager and he was 87. If the house ever burns, it'll be one of the few things i'll take with me......

 

Great story! Pick his brain for all the info you can while he's still around. I wished I had asked my grandfathers and uncles about some of the stuff they knew when they where around, of course I was to young to know any better. The old timers are a wealth of information and when their gone its lost unless it gets p***ed down.

 

Nice Family shot & great story - I can only hope to be that sharp & spritely at 97..... Your Grandpa has that look in his eyes - the look that says that he has known the secret for living a long and fulfilled life for quite some time.

Cheers & heres to many more good years together to come.

 

hahaha.. LOVE IT!

 

Grandpa's are way cool people!!

Thanks for sharing your story.

 

Great story, its not the age that gets you, its the mileage.

 

Well said. I lost my grandfather last year, and every day I realize how much I miss him, and his stories, and how it seemed he knew about EVERYTHING I ever asked about...In the past year there have been dozens of times I wish i could have gone and asked "pap" about how to do something, or how something worked, because I KNOW he'd know all about it, but I can't anymore...and it ****s. Cherish every moment, and don't be afraid to ask as much as you can, and by all means,...LISTEN. Great photo by the way.... a lucky man.

 

Great story - love the pic too. I lost one of my Grandpa's when I was 4 or 5 and the other when I was 18 but he lived 1200 miles away so I never really knew either one of them very well. You are a lucky man.

 

I'm thankful there are still family's like yours. God bless you and hope you'll get to take another photo next year.

Terry

 

Great story Root!

 

Great story...maybe we'll see ya in the next week or two.

 

The best part of that story is you are smart enough to realize how lucky you are, many people miss that. I hope your xmas is the Merriest! Great Thanksgiving story, it is what life is about ... family!

 

thanks....very cool

 

Great story...thanks for sharing...Still Runnin has it right in that it is cool that you realize and appreciate how lucky you are!

 

Completely awesome! What a blessing to have your grandfather. Made me miss mine...

 

My Brother in law's family are Model A owners. His dad is 87 has 3 model A 's a coupe a roadster and a speedster with a hot Winfield equipped banger. I had a wonderful time yesterday waiting on turkey dinner being entertained with stories of the cars the old man has owned. I asked him about a 32 Cadillac V12 he bought from my grandmothers estate, asked him if it had white house paint on the right front fender, he said yes it did, then told me the story of his father in law's Studebaker dealership painting the car in their new spray booth. I told him I painted that fender , I was 5 years old, got a spanking, but not locked out of the garage.

 

You are a very lucky guy for sure. All the best to your family, especially your grandpa.

 

great story , your lucky to have relatives to get the stories from all mine are gone , an the memories are fading

 

Awesome story and pic. I wish my Grandparents were still alive. Enjoy all the moments you can with him.

 

Thanks for that.

Great story and even better pic.

 

Thanks for posting, love the older generation! Don't mean to hyjack; here is my Mother just after her 94th Bday in July, 08. She remembers the horse and buggy days, out door toilets and getting a ride to school in a car with a 'curtain for a window' (in Michigan). It sure is easy to get her in and out of the 55 verses the new cars!

 

Very cool! I'm envious.

 

Thanks for a great thread. Your grandpa is quite the guy. You might want to sit down with him with a voice recorder and do***ent some cool stories for safe keeping. I wish I had done that with my grandfather who was in WW1

 

Four generations, in it's self is remarkable. You are a lucky guy.

 

great story,your a lucky guy,my gramp,and dad died too young

 

thats too cool...Wish I had that opportunity.

 

Thanks for that post, it really touches the HEART...... Take note all you "YOUNGSTERS" out there. Open your ears and learn from your "ELDERS" or one day you will reget that you didn't......... R E S P E C T !!!!!!!!

 

Thank you for posting that great story but the picture... the picture is something else. You need to have that blown up huge and framed and put in a place of honor.

 

The family actually hired a guy to do an interview with him and tape the whole thing. He got a total of about 8 hours of tape. I don't know how much is usable.

My grandpa said he couldn't understand why anyone would want to interview him.

My dad actually still has the 36 Ford my grandpa bought new for his produce company. I asked him the phone number of the old company and he rattled it off the top of his head. That had to be 50+ years ago.

 

Sounds like a great man. He's forgot more than alot of us will ever know. Not many like him left around. Hope you have many more thanksgivings with him.