At 59 I admint to thinking a lot more about....well... when the bus hits me, what is the wife gonna do with all this ****. As for dating college girls, I'm up to it if they are.... and the wife isn't looking ... and if I could find one that would date me......
well hell 60,s thats not old.what a rush!!feel that summer air! buy a thermos for coffee. dial in some cl***es. find a buddy and go for it.i'm 48 years old .alot of my buddies are your age. and drive to mopar nationals every year. and sevral convertibles.
I opened this thread because it struck a chord. I'm 60... It's winter here in Oregon......warm but wet , and I've been daydreaming about my summer past full of car shows and Bonneville. I wasn't able to drive my truck but I went and enjoyed the events and the people. These experiences are what keep me working on doing more because they are what make me happy. I still dream of having my truck at Pleasanton and the Hot Rod Reunion in the future. Luckily my health is good and my spirit young and my dreams vivid....drive your roadster, know your limits, have your experiences.....and TAKE LOTSA PICTURES!!! to post on the H.A.M.B.
Don Imus once asked Delbert McClinton to teach him how to play guitar, Old Delbert says, "You haven't got enough time left." Pretty funny, and applys to everything.
the view, going from Los Angeles to St. Louis in 1967, when I was 16... 43 years later, heading down Route 66.. now have a roof over my head but still fun! This year: Grand National Roadster Show, the "March Meet" at Famoso, L.A. Roadster Show, El Mirage Dry Lakes, Bonneville, California Hot Rod Reunion, the Antique Nationals, 4-Banger Hillclimbs, and on and on and on...too much to enjoy to slow down now...chin up and hammer down
Money stops me more than anything... but at 61 I still wanna run Bonneville once, drive another dirt car at least one more night and finish my F100 before I build a '33 5 window. Honestly I fell pretty good right now.. I had a shoulder replacement last Jan 15th... that really helped. The arthritis in my knees is pretty painful but good drugs control much of that. I'll need one new one in a few years. I can still squeeze my fat *** into my '54 TR2... that's victory. And I'm finally making plans to get all my shop's machine tools going so I can make more stuff... The only real compromises I've made have been limiting my walking at big shows... no more miles of strolling thru Back to the Fifties, I'm afraid. All that **** we did when we were younger has come back to haunt many of us geezers... I tore my right ACL years ago and let it fix itself. Plus I've had three falls off the deck of my flatbed trailer and a trip and fall ten years ago at an old car dealer while looking at projects I didn't need... that'll teach me.
I here a lot of the same storys,my dads 144 and he does this that ect.Some people have better health than others,ive been told to loose weight walk more ect and i will be fine.That dont always work,ive been told i pray wrong.Seems most have a opinion ,if i can do it ,you can to,that doesnt always work .The man that told me im praying wrong i told him ,,,Well i quess all the children at St Jude hospital hasnt been praying right,thats why they have Cancer .No answer,we just do the way we have to do it,and be very thankfull for your health,because there is no quarantee on it.Keep on keepin on.....................YG
Age slows the body but not the dreams. I''m 64 and God willin' (and finances permitting) I'll be hauling the sidecar to Bonneville to pound on some records. Nice thing about a sidecar is you don't have to hold it up like a bike when waiting to run. A bonus would be getting to meet Mazooma at Bonneville. [/IMG]
At the risk of sounding like a line from a Sam Spade character, I remember the first time I realized that I was getting older. I was at a party and realized that I was the oldest person in the room, I was 19. It is about perspective. I will be 60 in March but to cut down on your long drive home just have me pick up your new roadster and I will drive it around all summer, just to make sure it is running ok. I will than deliver it to you at Bville and you will only have a short drive home. Deal?
Professionally Yes, but in the shop, hell No, I'm 24 and 3 of my last 5 jobs since i was 18 i shoulda been a lead, had guys 3 times my age working under me, but my bosses wouldnt give me the ***le of lead i'm ***uming because of age and money. I was certainly doing as much as any other lead, and we had no leads in my dept, at any of the shops
I'm 61 and grew up on a farm, then built houses by myself until 12 years ago when a bad back forced a career change ( was told one more house by myself and I probably would be living in a wheelchair ) to a low paying but enjoyable job of furniture making. Looking back I wished I would have worked a little ( oh hell a LOT smarter ) and not had to live with the back and arm pain. This winter I have been working on getting the backed fixed I might miss a couple months of work. But being able to work on cars and go to car shows with out back pain and my legs giving out from the pain will be worth it. A far a dreams I'm working on the 54 when I can and hopefully it will be done this year, depending on how bad the doctor bills are. Am I still dreaming hell ya, I'm collecting parts for my Falcon project, and recently got a 28 chev 2door sedan project.
Mazooma1, you said it. I've always enjoyed your posts and this one is no different. This is excellent advice. I've snipped the quotations so it doesn't take up so much space but your entire message is spot on.
Wow, lots of great advice there now all I have to do is make the deal on the roadster ( may be harder than the trip ) How many guys are planning on making the trip to the Jalopy Showdown from the mid west ? It would be nice to hook up along the way if it does happen.
When you get older, a person isn't as likely to drive 500 miles in a 30 year old car with ladder bars and no heat. Way I figure it, high blood pressure, being overweight, colon/prostate cancer are the things I'll watch out for. Guys that go to the doctor every 5-6 years might get some unpleasant surprises. I think it's at***ude. I'm 42 going on 25 when it comes to cars, only difference is that I make less mistakes now.
"...everything is ok when you are in the erect position..." that is TRUE on so many levels. I would also like to indicate that learning never stops. I'm 65 and learned to MIG weld by myself about 4 years ago and put my chopped top back together, piecut the hood, mixed and matched Caddy grille parts, misc panel reconstruction (see avatar). I have dreamed about building an early '50's custom for decades and it just didn't seem to happen. Now the clock is ticking....there is nothing like realizing there is DARK at the end of the tunnel to get your *** moving....
I haven't read this whole thread, but the reverse question is also interesting: Do your dreams limit your age? I think the answer is yes, very much so. trakrodstr
At the prime age of 63 I can relate. I will say that Health and at***ude trump age and finances. I watched my dad retire at the same age that I am now and spend the next 22 years telling himself what he couldn't do rather than what he could do. I could harp on and on about the things he fussed that he couldn't do for one reason or another but mostly just because he was always telling himself he couldn't do them. I've made a lot of decisions in the past few years. I'm not going to build my truck into a 50,000 show truck with all the tricky slicky latest things out of the rod and truck rags on it. I'm going to build it straightforward and simple and have a hell of a good time driving it on that other 40,000 beyond the about 10,000 I'll have in it. It may not impress the gotta have the latest fad boys and it may still have too smooth and shiny of a paint job for the primer and patina boys but it will be a finished and well detailed truck that I can and will drive anywhere I decide to go in it. It will also have creature comforts that may or may not fit the general concept of a traditional rod or custom but will make long distance trips a lot easier for a couple in their mid 60's. Other than the truck I have two other projects on the burner that will get done in due time. I'll admit that when it's below 50 degrees outside my enthusiasm for going out and working on projects really gets put to a test as I have an unheated one car garage that you couldn't stick a bare Model A frame in on it's side right now let alone a car. But I can use the time to plan and find and buy parts so that when the weather is good I can put in some long hours on my days off and get something done. I just made a call to go look at a running flathead V8 that is currently taking up space under the hood of an early Jeep for a right price while I was in the middle of typing this. The A V8 may be a reality a lot earlier than I had calculated.
Your 1. Living or 2. Dieing. Lets get with the program and either live or die!!!! Dont let your age hinder you.
I am finally going to retire in June of this year. I will be 69 in August. I will finally have the time to complete some of my projects and when my Pickup is finished I plan on touring X-country for a summer with a friend of mine from Kindergarten. I have found found that my dreams sitll shine brightly & all the fine young ladies I lusted after in my youth have gotten older as well. Any day above ground is a good one, get the roadster and drive it home & why wait until May?
Lack of money is no excuse for not hotrodding. It is only an excuse or reason for not buying instead of building. When i build a rail or altered I spend about $30 to $70 per month. The rest of the time I am making welding cutting scrounging. I cant say how much it cost to build some of my cars because the people would want some money back. Mostly it is sweat that gits it done. Actual pieces cost very little in comparison. Depends where you set your sights. Right now I am enjoying the nostalgia thing to the hilt. Like those HA/GR cars. They have to be a blast to own and yet somewhere I saw someone say they had spent only $1100 cash. Over two or three years that is only $30 to $54 per month. Heck ,i spend that on coffee. I quit smoking and drinking in my 30s There is my funds right there. I would much rather spend $5 per day on a hot rod that stick burning weeds in my mouth and watch them go up in smoke. And we all know where the booze winds up. Now that is just me. Not everyone feels that way and that is ok too but it is a matter of priorities. A few bucks of steel willl keep you busy for several days. I just odered the DOM tubing for the bottom rails of the new car. So far I am in $34. That willl bring me closer to $100 when it comes in a week. I the meantime i still have things i can do that cost nothing but have to be done on that car. Don
I'm 54............I'll let you know when I grow up! One legged & still running as hard as I can................
For awhile here I thought I was one of the last of the geezers (almost 67) still working in the shop most every day on a couple projects and putting miles under the old bones. I'm a 25 year old guy inside, who looks at his dad in the mirror every day while shaving. Instead of big plans I'm just trying to make some more of the dreams come true. Got a lot of roadster roads to travel, God willing and the creek don't rise. Can't agree strongly enough with the guys who stress taking care of yourself. Charlie
52 now and realize age isn't limiting too much, but finances are. I am not going to make the big bucks to buy done cars, so I am brushing up on skills that will enable me to buy beaters and bring them to life. Taking metal shaping cl***es, buying a better tig and getting a plasma cutter, buying more tools. All so I can build a woody some day and drive it across the country. But Mazooma point is clear, the better you take care of yourself, the more fun you can have. I hit the Bowflex everyday, eat less than when young, walk a mile every day, drink a beer with dinner and no more. Oh, and having a wife 15 years younger also helps!!!!!
That's a cool quote. My father in law is from Muskegon, now lives in Grand Haven. He's 69 and kicking ****. Only things I hope to be (ONLY) doing extra 25 years from now might be dealing with arthritis and no hair to comb.
I feel for all you hot rodders with health probs. Seems time p***es too fast and before ya know it we are hanging from the edge. I have diabetes and severe neuropathy in both feet and now coming in the hands and effecting the eyes too. So at 53, (still a young guy) I'm not sure what the future holds. And being a pinstriper who has to stand on 2 feet to do my biz, that stuff ain't helping. But as long as I get up everyday 6' above, have some brain left and still hot rod dreamin', I'll still keep living this crazy hobby. Although 80% of my life I ate healthy, excersized, never smoked, or drank much, I still got a ****py disease. Please all you young'uns, get your health checked regularly. Mikey www.mikeyspinstriping.com "Living a Strange Existence"
The Jalopy Journal
