Fathers Day - Was Your Dad A Car Guy?

My Father had a stock 1937 Willys coupe in 1940. He owned a 1938 Hudson Terriplane coupe that he and my Mother brought me home from the hospital. When he was older, after I left the house, he restored a 1949 Willys Jeep Station wagon and a 56 Lincoln MK 2.

 

My "dad" bailed when I was four. I learned by necessity and trial and error. Made sure my son didn't have to! My avatar is mostly a father and son project.

 

Yep...not real real great on turning wrenches but it would be hard not to call him a car guy when he owned the following:
1934 Chevy 3 window
1950 Merc
1956 Vette
1955 Chevy Convertable
1965 Rivierra
1969 Camaro

He now drives a Dodge Magnum which you know will be a sought after car 30-40 years from now.

 

Out of respect for my Father i must chime in...He was a car guy in the sense that he loved one car at a time and they were English. He started with Austin Healys and then Jags. He was one of the first in my neighborhood to have Jags (1960's) daily drivers - and everyone knew it. I swear with all the money he spent at our local Overseas Motors they were able to build a new showroom. Pretty cars but broke down alot. He thought my hot rods were silly. Yep he was right but they are also cool ass fun.
Love and miss you Dad.

 

NO
But back inn the day with all the Junkers we had as Kids he was forced to work on them. Didn't help but watch .....

 

My dad loved cars and all things mechanical. Some of the best times we had together was working in the garage on my cars. Sure miss you dad. Happy Fathers Day.

 

Yea he was! I can blame so much on him! Lol!

As a kid we had more different muscle cars than I can remember, this was the early eighties so they were still cheap used cars then. We had a Renault Caravelle, pretty little rag top. Had a 195? VW bus. My grandparents held on to the '57 XK140 he swapped a 327 into in high school in exchange for sending him money for something at one time. Later one of his buddies told me about dad taking that car on the dirt track on their run what you brung night!
When he passed he'd developed a thing for Volvos. We had a 244 and 265, both wore out and in need of constant upkeep. The Volvo thing may have gone way back, he used to talk about drag racing a SBF powered Volvo until the frame bent.
He used to hand me shop manuals at bed time and tell me read this chapter, we're doing that tomorrow.

 

Yep...my dad's club coat from 1956

 

By all means my Dad was a car guy, and with his mechanical knowledge he along with my mother raised 7 children out of their gas station repair shop 1950's through mid 70's. Hence our 57 buick which Dad had one when I was a kid and I always like the three piece back window, Thanks Dad for all you taught us.

 

Glad I saw this thread didn't realize it is Fathers day tomorrow.... I will have to call him from Korea, since I cant see him.

Im glad he got to be a part of getting my 57 Dodge running at the beginning of the build while I was stationed in Arizona...got some cool pictures with him in her.

He is definitely a car guy he currently owns 3 Cuda's a 67-383/833formulaS, a 68- 340/727/formulaS, a 72 440/833, his DD is one of the cleanest 91 Dodge ram 250s Ive ever seen and a 08 Jeep Commander Hemi.






And his Dad was also a car guy he had a sleeper Teal colored 67 D100 with a 440 in it that my dad was always taking out getting in trouble racing Camaros in. and I believe my great grandfather was also a Mopar guy I have a owners manual with his name inside of it from a 1919 Dodge brothers.

My grandfather with my dad's Duster in the early 70's


My great Grandfathers 1919 Dodge owners manual

 

No, my dad wasn't a gearhead, or what we'd think of as a car guy. He loved his Buicks, but never did much of his own work on them, and always kept them stock. He did have a cool '59 Chevy PU in the early 70's that had a 6 cyl. and I swapped in a 327 for him, so it would have a little more power. He ended up selling it, as it was "too fast".

 

My Dad was a car guy, but not like us. As a lawman, he flipped cars to make extra money to support us. The job let him find sweet deals and in the mid 70s thru the 80 a ton of sweet muscle cars went thru his hands, all fueling my fire. He never understood my penchant for the hot rods, but helped me buy the Doc Eiland roadster when i was 16, a car that burned a passion in me. He also convinced me to sell it when a man offered way too much cash, but that is what he knew. He was well known for making you think you got a sweet deal when he was totally lowballing you. (That trait skipped me unfortunatly!) His brothers wear hot rodders as well.
He could detail a car like no other, and we spent many weekends together prowling the local yards looking for cheap custom wheels and better seats to improve the cars before selling them. He did restore a 1950 Chevy truck once and always had a yearning for a 40 Ford.
We lost him last night at 78, looks like another trip to junkyard with my sons is due.
Happy Fathers Day to all of you!

 

no!
kk

 

My pop was a car guy. Not to work on them but to enjoy driving and style. He didn't get married until he was in his early 40s. There is a family scrapbook of his cars he had in his 30s, lot of roadsters and convertibles. He was a road superintendent for a bank building firm during the depression so he made good money, after all the banks had it, and bought new car every year or two. From the looks of the eye candy perched on the fenders, he did well with the ladies before he met my mother.
But biggest gift he gave me was to enable a teen kid who wanted to build a hot rod, a '47 Ford tudor with a 283" chevy motor in 1960. Took a bay in his storage shed, put in a concrete floor, some lights and power and made me one happy kid! He also bought a '64 el camino, 4 speed and then the next year a 300hp 4 speed model as he knew I was in love with them.

 

Not to much my dad was into old tractors mainly. Restored them and took them to steam engine shows. Still cool! He was restoring a 59 el camino for years but i bet 20 tractors god done and his el camino never did. I enjoyed the tractors also they had some pretty cool tractors in the old days.

 

He only worked on our family car out of necessity as we had very little money to do any vanity things to them. And I remember he never met a bolt he couldn't break! But what he DID pass down was a profound sense of respect for them, including safety.

 

My father was an auto mechanic by trade. He had worked for a Packard dealer and then a Ford dealer before I was born. He had every thing from model T's to FE powered Fords. He wasn't into hot rodding or racing ( so he said ), but let some one pull up next to him at a traffic light and rev the engine a few times. Then it was on. He loved old cars and going to car shows. He past away in '94. I have his '48 Ford tudor that I came home from the hospital when I was born.
We didn't always see eye to eye on things but I miss him dearly.

 

Born in September, 1941
10% Set back 1957 Austin panel ripping up Woodward.
Doing a burnout in front of a cop the night before going to Vietnam, using it as a free pass.
1958 Detroit drag way, bracket racing.
Owned more classics then we could keep track of on Excell. Buy-sell-buy-sell-trade-sell-buy-trade.
That's just what I can think of right now.

Yeah, I think he's car guy.

 

Absolutely Not !!! He couldn't believe I would waste time and money "ruining" a perfectly good car by nosing and decking it, ruining a perfectly good paint job with primer spots, changing carbs, wheels, tires and hubcaps etc. The only thing he approved of was me working on my own car since it saved money by not paying a mechanic. So of course he made me do all the oil changes and tuneups on his cars.
He did have a '51 Crown Vic once, but that was the only cool car he ever owned.
I miss him though, I wish he was still around to tell me what an irresponsible nincompoop I was.

 

i'm proud to say yes, both my dad and grandfather were both mechanics. i worked for my dad growing up and never liked it a a career, but now it's just for fun. thanks guys i couldn't have done it without you.

 

Love my pops, but for him a car was simply a way to get from point A to point B.
I also have six brothers and none of them are into cars, so I don't know where I got the bug from but I've had it since I was about 12 or 13.
41plym

 

He was a farmer so he was always rebuilding truck and tractor engines and could do it all. Always had nice cars too. In 59 he found my 57 Pontiac tripower car and all he said was "it's faster than our 57 J2 but don't tell your mom". Was not real happy with me modiying my cars but would help. Got really upset with me (Iwould too now) for taking his 57 J2 or new pickup to Madera drags when they were out of town (we didn't quite get all of the white shoe polish off the windows). He did bring home a loaded flathead for me for my 37 Ford PU that he got from a circle track racer who rebuilt his cotton pickers. Have tried to pass on to my son and he and I built his 40 coupe that is in my album.

 

Yes he was
Normal was boring for him
Past cars were a 54 Fordilac, Early Postal Jeep with 390 Cad, Bread truck with 38.5 tires and 455 Pontiac - with some hearses in there too
Will miss him -

 

My old man has bought me all my toys. And he breathes oil working sun up to sun down. I just can never return the favors and all he has done for me. His favorite car is a 1931 cadillac v-12. For Father's Day I bought him a original '31 v-12 caddy operators manual though.

 

Yep, he's been a Hot Rodder since the fifties. I'm sitting with him at a car show right now!


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I spent my morning working on the injector for his big block dragster. He's a big time car guy, I grew up in the garage and drag strip

 

Yup, made me who I am. Happy father's Day, Pops, love ya!

 

He was and still is,he has a Traditional Model A coupe with a small block stick shift a 39 ford coupe with a Chrysler 331 Hemi,A 49 Ford F 100 I believe a smallblock Ford, a 36 Ford Pick up with a 500 Caddy.I think that's it but you nver know.He still works on them and he's 79.

 

Yep, and stil is. I was pounding on cars as a kid with hammers and my dad would look at me and smile, neighbors hated us. When working on cars, I would always ask "can you do that?" and he would say YOU can do anything. I have taken that logic and never looked back. My friends ask me where I learn how to do the things I do MY DAD!! I have passed his logic on and both of my daughters have the same logic, YOU can do anyhting. Both daughters like looking at cars, but no interest to build one.

Love you Dad, thanks for the world.

 

Best Post I have seen in a long time Thanks for Starting it.I enjoyed hearing the story's very much with 12 Grandkids I'm sure I will have a few Grease monkeys in the bunch