Cool Dads

Man, great thread. My dad is an awesome guy, I enjoy the time we get to spend with each other. He supports me in this waste-of-time-and-money hobby because he gets as big a kick out of it as I do. He has taught me a lot and even does some manual labor for me. Love you dad-

 

My dad died in 1959, when I was 13......even after all this time, 50 years next November, I wish I had gotten to know him as an adult and that he could have seen his grandkids.

 

Just lost my pops Dec. 13 2008. Just now starting to sink in. Had a question the other day about a car and realized I couldnt just call him up and have him answer it for me. Really hard for me to believe he is gone. He'd been taking me to car shows and drags since I could walk. This last fathers day we took the wagon out and cruised around all day and hit up a couple shows, he really enjoyed that. Glad we got to cruise Paso together a few times and he even made it out to Santa Maria last year even though he was feeling very ill. Going through all his stuff I found his old car club plaque and a bunch of dash plaques from different shows and poker runs over the years. He was a vietnam vet and cancer took him. Sure do miss him and I imagine him sitting next to me when I have the wagon out. My sincere condolences to all who have lost their dads. Not sure if I'll ever get used to him being gone. R.I.P. Pops.

 

Was 13 years old cutting some trees down with my dad in 90 degree heat. We stopped up the road at a lil tavern where he ordered two fishbowls of draft beer. We sat there and sipped away, cracking jokes, telling stories.

Went home late for dinner Mom was pissed ! She never found out our little secret, I never told her !

My Dad just turned 75 this week , we still find time for beers and jokes together. My heart goes out to you guys grieving the loss of your fathers.
God Bless

 

My father p***ed away in 1972. He was British, VERY British. A suit and tie surgeon and if you didn't know the real him, you'd swear he was a typical stuffy guy. Back in the late 50s, I had a 30 A Highboy on 32 frame, flathead/almost a show car. One morning he tried to go to the office and his car wouldn't start. I had used his battery to work on my roadster. He was late so.....he hopped into the A, no top, and roared off to work. Loud pipes. Looking SO cool and out of place. He returned home late that evening and his hair...well, he looked like Einstein. And the odometer showed he had driven over a hundred miles!! He never said a word about it and when asked how he enjoyed the car, he answered, "A spendid experience".
Never mentioned it again.
Damn I miss him!!

 

My Dad was my hero. Like so many of us my dad loved cars. He loved hot rods, customs, race cars and anything that went fast. We went to Detroit Dragway when I was young. He taught me so much not only about cars but about life. My dad p***ed away June 15th 2001. I turned his 57 Chevy 150 into the g***er we always talked about. I was lucky enough to get inyo the 200mph club at Bonneville. We packed his ashes in the chute and spread them on the salt at over 212mph. I guess all I can do as father is hope my kids love me half as much as i loved my dad.

 

The thing my old man did was buy me a Japanese battery operated tin toy 1965 Mustang coupe that would never fall off the edge of tables, it was the most fascinating thing I'd ever seen.
He was never really a car guy but his gift made me into one and I'll love him forever for that.
His days are numbered, I'll miss him and mom awful bad.

 

My father died in 1973. He was 55 years old. He was one of those people that were very skillful with their hands. Very mechanically and artistically inclined. I never got to know him as a person only as a father. I left home in 67' and joined the army and only saw him once between the time I left and the time he died in 73'.
Does anybody believe in dreams and, for want of a better term, "the beyond"?
I bought an old 87 Harley bagger about 10 years ago. One night I had this dream. In the dream my Dad came to me and said. "Hey son, I heard you bought a Harley and I had to come and see it, and to see how you've been". I showed him the bike and
than we chatted for awhile. After a time he said he had to be going and to take care and be careful than he left. Right after he left I woke up and immediately remembered what I was dreaming. It seemed so real and still does.

 

My dad was killed May 3rd 2001....I think of him everyday, he was 56 when he died. You always think that you will have plenty of time for everything ....truth is no one is promised tomorrow and as everyone else, oh I'll do it later. Dad was cool.....He kept telling me he knew where there was a old Chevy pick-up and he wanted to get it and fix it up .......it just never happened....hold on to all those memories of dad you only have one and make some with your son so he'll remember when..............

 

Dean,

I'm not going to pretend I understand your life, I'm only adding a possible outcome.....

We have two chances at "father" relationships, the first we have little control over as sons and one that we completely direct as fathers.

s.

 

Pretty Cool Thread
I lost my Dad on May 28, 1989 at 62 years old.....I was a junior in high school......He was awesome, knew how to do it all too...he played football, he raced Nascar in the early days, he drag raced, he rode motorcycles ....He taught me everything he could in the time we had....My biggest regret is being the lil ****head I was when I was growing up.........a day doesnt go by that I dont think of him....I just hope and pray that I can be half the father he was to me to my kids.....

 

Ditto.... Like you I had the coolest Dad on the planet. He died at 51 and didn't get the chance to see my kids grow. He never did Nascar but he raced modifieds(he ran over my leggs on my 5th b-day with the race car trailer cuzz I was trying to jump on to go along) untill 1974. Then he started building hotrods. He could do metalshaping, machine work, and ch***is as good as anyone I know.
Here he is doing what he did so well.


His first race car

Frame built in yard by pole with 220v for the welder. And here is the first car finished

Or close...... Note gas can and distressed look on the guy in the car (Dad and I know that look)...

I'm not picking on you like "My dad can kick your dads $^&*". I just wanted to say I feel your pain and hang in there.... You sound like you have a very good picture of what a dad is like. We don't allways meet our own standards, but to our kids we are heros. Until we say no. Then we are still heros but....
Jeff

 

My dad wasnt a car guy in the sense he did not have a custom etc, but he did take me to my first dirt track race when I was 16 months old. And many races thru the years. My son is doing a fleetline and I just hope someday he thinks his old man was ok. John