Well it's snowing again, temps in the teens, drank a whole pot of coffee just sittin' here dreaming about a cool little roadster I saw for sale out west and dreamin' about flying out in May and picking it up and driving back through Pa. and hitting the Jalopy showdown on the way home.. Sounds good but then I think when the java buzz wears off and I come to my senses and realize I'm in my 60s thinking about driving an open roadster across half the country in May with a bad back, bad eye sight, and all the other gray beard ailments, who am I kidding ? When I got out of the service I drove my '66 Nova with a straight front axle from Panama City Florida non stop to Upstate N.Y. in January without snow tires and never gave it a second thought, so why would a nice little ride in an open roadster in May now seem like something out of reach ? Anyone else let their age dampen their dreams ?
Yeah, somewhat. I figure, having just turned 70, I better limit my plans to the 6 projects I have lined up out there now and stop looking in the cl***ifieds. However, if you know where there is a '50 Chevy 4 dr sedan, rough, cheap, with ***le, I might get to one more.
Doodlrodz......Age is just a number in you mind,,,,GO FOR IT.. I'm 76 and still doin it........Had a guy here at our car show 92 and drove his 32 roadster 300 miles to attend.60's are still young.. wicked50coupe.....You would be suprised!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Yeah, its all about compromise and adjustment these days. I have alot more money to throw around than I used to, but parts and labor costs have risen accordingly too. These days my right knee is limiting my dreams, other than that I'm pursuing those dreams as hard as I can..
Does your age limit your dreams ...nope my dreams are as big as ever.....but thats all they are...just dreams
No I don't let anything limit my dreams. I just have to remember that what I used to do all night now takes me all night to do. I don't see a problem with your dream of going cross country in a roadster. That is of course if the roadster is up to the task.
Age does keep me from doing some things. At 69, this month, it is harder to work on a car all day long. At 65 though I did jump on my 22 year old Gold Wing and rode it from FL to CA and back all alone. Now that was a hoot. Now days though I think I'd have to have a trike to do that again. I would like to run my '56 Ford the route 66 thingy, 'cept now gas is goin' up again and it's really geared too damn low. I'd like to ride the bike up Natches Trace too. Other than that, nearly done everything I can afford to do. But like the guy said, if the roadster is up to it I'd do that trip in a heart beat. And nothing limits dreams, may limit the reality of the dream but not the dream.
If you think your age limits your dreams, you are simply limiting them yourself; it's not your age doing it at all. we have to do things diffferently sometimes with age, but we can still do the same things, new things, etc. I probably won't ride a 200 mph drag bike again, so I'm building a car similar to my avatar to run 200 in. I don't ride an open cl*** Ninja on the street anymore, but I'm about to get a new Concours14, which is darn near as quick and a lot more comfy for my wife. Steve Whitman was 92 years old and still had an unlimited aerobatic waiver from the FAA, meaning he could fly airshows and do things as low to the ground as he liked. Do you think he let his age limit his dreams? We're Americans; we must always dream!
I'm 64 and have all the similar ailments, too. Two years ago, my wife & I drove out to Rapid City, SD from Upstate New York and toured the area in our '37 Chevy coupe. We also drove over to Devil's Tower, in Wyo. All-in-all, we put on about 3600 miles and were gone for a couple of weeks. One of the best times we ever had. In the next year or two we're thinking of a trip out to California and back in the same car. BTW, our coupe is all original, except for a 235 engine and an overdrive unit in the torque tube. If you can dream it, chances are you can do it. The biggest problem (outside of accidents, etc.) is a major mechanical proble along the way. So you get a hotel, arrange for a transport to haul your car the rest of the way home and rent a car for yourself or get it fixed locally and continue the adventure. I sure don't want to be on my death bed, wishing I'd had that last piece of pizza! Go for it!
Unfortunately, that's not true for all of us. Age is also a number in your body too, and some bodies get more abuse than others, and some hold up better than others. My dad's 89, and really, probably in better shape than I am, but he never broke his back, along with 20 some other bones, and he doesn't have pins and screws holding things together either, along with all the other abuse I put my body through during a "misspent youth". This is all my fault and so I'm not complaining, just pointing out to you that 60's ain't so young for all of us, especially at this time of year in the north east, when the cold gets right down into those bones. Add the fact that the economy tanked and pretty much wiped out my business, and part 2 of the dream equation is in short supply too, money. I still dream, but reality is closing in on me. EDIT I just came in from digging a hole in frozen ground and burying my Great Dane. I'm hurting now like you wouldn't believe,----------in more ways than one.
Age encouraged my dreams and still does. At 60 i realize statistically I have at average maybe 21 years left total and I had better quit talking and dreaming and start doing. How is that working for me? So far pretty good. What is the worst that could happen? They will say he died out in his garage working on his dragster. Seven guys would look at each other and smile and say , "That is the way he would have wanted to go." Beats the heck out of died in THE HOME dribbling on his shirt mumbling something about F E D. Since i retired 12 years ago and after a rather rocky 3 months of adjustment to going from being needed to useless I got my **** in gear. I have since written two books . learned to speak the language of my forefathers, traveled to many intersting places in the world. Got invloved in a couple of very intersting automotive projects. Been on Tv several times and done a lot of public speaking. Learned to play and make violins. Built a 63 Dodge Max Wedge car for cruise nights . A FED and a HEmi Jeep. Now i am starting on another FED. Best time of my life. I am not rich but have just enuf to get by and have a bit of fun. Mostly i have realized I have no time to waste. Quit worrying, just "git er done !" Don My goal for this year is to buy and learn to use a scratch tig attachment for my Miller AC/DC Welder.
hell no, if you let age kick you in the ***, it will. when you're older, do what the hell you want. if you don't want to socialize with someone don't. if you don't want to go somewhere, don't. some things in life you can control and some things you can't-getting older is one you can't control and it sure beats the alternative. so get those cars you want if you can affors to, drive them and have some laughs. forget about getting old, it'l remind you in some way every day. who cares, go for it!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Hey, I'm a geezer too...one foot in the grave and the other on a banana peel, but the other day driving my roadster in 20 degree weather, I felt like I was 25 again and came back home totally rejuvenated. I can't wait till spring so I can take some real road trips. We may only have a limited number of good years left so follow your bliss!
I used to think I was going to get all this stuff done, all these cars done the way I want them. Now I tell my kids, I am making a list for each car so when I'm dead, you will know what my intentions were. Life is good, Keep the faith!
Ah Chopped. I feel more than my age . I have a severely broken ribcage , not repairable so I am never away from disomfort. I am also almost 300# If i stand in one place too long my feet swell. i am always cold from Nov to mid May. I turned totally grey about two months after my ribcage injury BUT- when i am in the shop doing what I love i dont even remember I am hurting. Same when playing my fiddle or guitar. When i go to the drags the younger or in better shape friends from the old days help me making what would be impossible for me alone possible. Physically I feel about 107 but I dont have time to think about that. Don
^^ Yeah, money is more limiting than age I think.Still,it takes longer to do things but a lot of that is because I am no longer in a hurry to do anything.
1) A wise man once said: "You're only as old as the women you feel, and lately I've been feelin' about 25." 2) An even wiser man said: "I do everything I always have, I just do it slower." Must fall into the second category, my aging would come to a sudden halt if the wife caught me feelin' 25 ! It's funny, a kid looks back at me in the mirror most mornings, act quite childish at times, yet the arthritis in my hands gives me a reality check regularly. Get the roadster, drive it across country, just give yourself a few extra days.......... Johnnie.
When my wife turned 40 I told her I was trading her in on two twentys....she said you are not wired for two twentys... ..shes right
I'm 68 and my dream has always been to drive a roadster of some type to all the lower states and attend as many car shows as possible all in one big trip. Will I be able to do it, probably not but the dream is still there. My wife and I drove my old truck to the Round-up last year and then went on and drove to Carlsbad, Rosswell NM then Santa Fe and then on up to Pueblo CO before we headed on home. This year our big trip is to go to the GG first spring show at Scottsdale AZ and sightsee as we go. My poor old body has so much hardware in it that I set off the alarms in stores but I still love to go. NEVER LET YOUR DREAMS DIE! Later, ****
Health is as important as love and friends. You just don't think of it when you are younger...everything feels so good that you can't imagine feeling any other way. When I was 51, the years of carrying heavy camera equipment did me in. I have had back trouble ever since and finally resorted to surgery last summer. Now at 59, I'm still having big problems with the old back. But, everything else is good...heart, eyes, lungs, blood pressure...no problems. I'm a lucky guy. I now can just focus on the one problem. I see my surgeon tomorrow morning to see what we can do next...I'm ready to put this pain behind me, so to speak. Pain, severe pain, is a crippler in so many ways. Who would have every guessed that leaning over to brush your teeth would feel like you'd been shot? Having health issues stops you in your tracks and makes you re-evaluate EVERYTHING. And that's not a bad thing for us to do anyways... I will win the battle with pain and win the war with my back. No question. I simply can not live with "it", so "it" has to go. Now kiddies, sit down and listen to Uncle Doug..... Take care of yourself, physically and mentally, no matter what your age. Be good to yourself by not doing harm to yourself. There is nothing as ugly as watching someone die from cancer. (I was lucky, I had one cigarette at a Jefferson Airplane concert in 1968 and on the way home, I barfed out of the window of my Model A panel. That was it for me smoking) If you smoke, quit. If you drink, don't get plastered all the time. For you guys that are 50 or so, get your blood pressure checked often, get a physical and a blood test at least once a year. Get your **** scoped, too, and not by the chick next door...get checked for colon cancer. If caught early, it's rarely fatal. Hot rodding isn't like stamp collecting. It's physical, and that's part of the fun. Whether it's working on your car or just rowing your four-speed, you have to feel good. There are few things in life as truly wonderful as being absolutely pain free, driving your rod or custom, being with friends and having the sun to your back and the whole day in front of you. But, just like having your car run right, your body has to run right, too. It requires maintenance and care. I had older guys talk to me like I'm talking to you right now, and, honestly, I thought that being in good health was going to be with me forever. The old guys were right. The geezers are always right...ugh. I made reservations for the Nugget Hotel for Bonneville next August. I did that for a reason. Now I have a goal. A lifelong goal, finally to be met. I'll be well by then. No pain, just me getting another chance to do what I love and to do what I have been enjoying for my whole life. Cars and people, people and cars.... So, I'll see you there, next August. I'll be the guy with the biggest smile. Take care...I mean it....
One of the good things about getting older is that you learn to be more realistic and are willing to work within your limitations. I would say go for the roadster and make that trip, just take it easier and drive shorter distances each day. To borrow a phrase from Peter Eagan (who writes for Road and Track); "There are only so many summers left". Good luck.
The Jalopy Journal
