This one really makes you think.Luckily,my Dad is alive and well and just yesterday we talked in depth about getting the '49 on the road when spring hits.Thanks for the food for thought,Ryan.
If this post don't choke you up you better go to the doctor and have your heart checked. I miss my dad and I hope that I can pass some of my love for cars to my children and grandchildren.
I thank the Good Lord frequently for this hotrodding hobby that I can share with my son (who is now 40). The time we spend togther working on cars is priceless. My own Dad is still alive and well at 92, and much as I love and respect him as my Dad, we never really shared interests much. My old car addiction came out of the blue in 1958, but that's another story. What's cool about this thread is that Ryan's lead story shows how our hobby can make father/son closer thru the HAMB, even when one of them isn't a car guy, and the other one has already passed away. Thanks Ryan, for sharing a side of hotrodding that would be hard for a "civilian" to understand. Way cool.
What a great way to see your father as a person. My dad was all over in WWII, both theatres, went from a Leutenant to a Major and rarely talked about it. His biggest love in life was deer hunting after the war. After he passed at 82 in 1995 I found things he had written earlier in life and found notes he had made about hunting, places he wanted to try at our deer camp. I pull these things out from time to time and mull over questions I would have liked to have asked him. It was only after he died that learned so many things about him. To have a record like this board is a true gift, not only personally but for all that will seek this info out years from now.
I had never thought of the HAMB in that light before, that someday the archieves would be valved like those little pages of days gone by. What we are doing here will be looked back o upon by future generations. Some members would do well to remember that before posting!
Thank you for sharing, it is wonderful when something like this happens. Thanks to you and H.A.M.B. for being there.
A few years ago I rescued a box full of negatives from my grandmothers' house. I printed some of my dad when he was about 3 years old, great fun. Later I got to rescue his negatives from WWII, in occupied Japan, Hiroshima. He's in a lot of them and they make me feel that much closer to him. Rescue your family photos, label them and preserve them. Now he's 86, just had a stroke (not a bad one, thank God!) and I know he won't be here much longer. We talk more now that our roles are kind of reversed. Guys and gals, get to know your parents as people, you'll be glad you did. Ryan, thanks for the reminder of what life is really about.
Wow, Ryan, that was amazing! I was holding back tears reading it. Thanks for sharing that email. That young man just cashed in a winning lottery ticket. To be able to read his dad's old posts and get to know him better. Amazing! I'm so happy for him. The HAMB has been a blessing, but I never thought about it any deeper than that. Hot rods and all things old are my life. For someone like my kids to be able to view my posts in the future to really get to know me is amazing. (I better watch what I say.) As Ryan said, it sure would be cool have a HAMB from yesteryear and be able to read posts from the pioneers like Barney Navarro..... To really get into their day to day lives. I would love to view something similar with my grandfather's during WWII. It would be priceless. I've always been thankful for the HAMB, but today it's on a whole new level. A sincere THANK YOU Ryan for changing our world!!!! God Bless!
Wow Ryan, you are the care taker of some invaluable seeds whether they be of hot rodding or otherwise. I often wonder 60 years into the future, will our dialect, customs and fate become lost much like those of some native American indian tribes? I like it all, the good posts, the bad posts, and even a flame job serves its purpose once in a while. It is what we are, not perfect by any stretch, but some guys here have taught us well by example. Many of us have grown up over the years on the Hamb. For some, it was a brief but important lifetime. I could name well over a dozen great ones that I have fond memories of and not a day goes by I don't think of Hamb Andy. I never met him but he taught us all little something and he lives on. Thanks again, Joe
Thanks Ryan...........What took you so long! The fellowship, coma"rod"ery, an Meeting New people from EVERYWHERE< Is very Special!! But when U read someting like THAT.......It definitly leaves A LUMP, in your throat!!! I lost my dad when I was 16 yrs.....but, what I learned from HIM, and the stories others have related to me, are the closest thing to my HEART. He WAS a CAR PERSON! John 'You don't Miss whatcha GOT!....Til' ITS GONE"
Has seemed a little "slow" around here lately, to me. This one thread more than makes up for it. Thanks, Ryan. Thanks everybody.
Wow thats a great story. My dad left my mom when he found out she was pregnant with me. I have never met him and Im not certain of his location or if he is still alive. I grew up with a lot of hate and resentment towards a man who I have never met. Now that Im older (31 years old) with 2 kids of my own I actually miss the person I have never known and also miss all the things we never got a chance to do together. I wonder if he ever thinks about me or misses me as well. I treasure every moment I get to spend with my children and just wonder how he was able to walk away from that....I often wonder if he could be a member of this board or what hobbies he may have or had. This story has brought about a flood of emotions. I hope someday I get a chance to look into his thoughts and get to see the person I know nothing about...
It's great to see how many folks on the HAMB will live on forever! I've searched threads of Jays (C-9), vendettaautofab, as well as other friends and would smile at their comments and remember when I'd finally meet them at a show... seems like they never looked like they typed...! I like looking at the Eulogy I wrote for my Dad on the HAMB and the Private Messages I saved from all my friends... Thanks to all he'll live on forever as well... http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=110649&page=2
This is a great story! Makes me want to go home right about now and spend some quality time with my dad while I still have him around. Post like these make you realize how much we take for granted our loved ones like our families and friends.
I read this & hope my son thinks of me that way. I was a single parent & had him sanding primer on my Model A at age 3. Some type of father-son bonding thing---- with a bunch of dust. He's now got a 59 T-bird that we put together when he finished Highschool. This makes me remember those days before I retired in 2003 and moved to Oregon. Thanks for the rememberances & what a story you've told in so few words. Movin/on
Wow,thats cool.Thanks to you for sharing and thanks to the HAMB for sharing a bit of that man's father with him..
Oh my Goodness! Ryan - Thanks for the awesome post. I just couldn't read all these responses without chiming in with my 2 cents worth. Relationship, Relationship, Relationship. In addition to all the priceless grandfather/father/son relationships, my opinion is, "This old car thing is so much more than just Old Cars. It's all about the PEOPLE AND RELATIONSHIPS that are built around our common love for Old Cars." Think about it... So you've finished your dream ride, whatever it may be. You take it out for the first time and when you get to the local hangout, there are other cars there, but no people. Bummer! How much fun are you having now? Theres nobody to share your car with. Nobody to tell all you went through to get it on the road. Nobody to say, Coooool! I love your ride. Nobody! - - - You just drive your awesome ride back home and kick the dog when you get there. <O Moving on... Its a different day. Your Hot Rod is broken and you can't fix it before you were supposed to meet the other Hot Rodders to hang out. So you go there in your daily driver. Or if your daily driver is your Hot Rod, you bum a ride with a friend. Several others are in your same situation. Their ride is down-and-out, too. Even if all the Hot Rods aren't there, but your fellow Rodders are, you still have a BLAST! You swap lies. Some even tell the truth. The Old Timers tell about their Moonshine Runnin days in a 40 coupe running truck springs, hidden tanks, three 97s on a built flathead; or their days racing on the oval dirt tracks of the past. How 'bout the time they borrowed the buddys dads family car and removed the engine to put it the car they raced Saturday night. Then put it back in before the buddys dad drove the family to church on Sunday in the same car. The young Rodder talks about his current project and the stuff he's trying to do. The Old Timer tells the young guy about some stuff out behind his shop and tells the newbie to come by and you can have that old axle and the pair of split bones. Just help some other kid when you get a chance. I think you get the picture. <O So you tell me... Is it about the cars, or the people?
I never got to spend much time with my father as he was a career United States Air Force pilot and was absent for much of my growing up stationed at different air bases about every 1-3 years. I went to 6 different grade/junior high schools and 3 different high schools. My mechanical/automotive interest comes from my grandfather who took the time to teach me most of the automotive related skills I have today. I tried to make a different relationship with my son and so far it's paid off. I'm 66 and he is 45 and still makes it a point to keep me up to date on his latest automotive activities. Right now he is in the final stages of rebuilding the '69 Z-28 I gave him for his 16th birthday. Together we rebuilt that car and he drove it the last year of high school and it was his college ride. Now he and his son are turning it into a pro-touring car. Thank you Ryan for this recording of this segment of auto related history. Hope some of those who are yet to come can use it as a reference much like those treasured ancient issues of Hot Rod magazine. Frank
Ryan, thanks for the touching post. Been thinking a lot about my Dad lately and how little I knew about some aspects of his life. He wasn't a 'car guy', that was his younger brother Bud and the one that started me down the path of mechanicalness(is that a real word, tis now). In a way, I kind of envy this young man because he's getting to see his dad in a way that some of us will never have the opportunity to know our own. I could get all philosophical about this, but I think most of you know where I'm coming from. Cat
Wow, thanks for sharing Ryan. I lost my father to cancer last July. I still had so much to ask him. . .
This is such a touching post, thank you for sharing it with us. The legacy you have started, is far greater than anybody would have anticipated, back when the HAMB began. I'll bet there are a lot of emotions being felt, all over the world, as we all read these posts.
My dad passed away in 86. He was old school and never showed emotion. After he was gone, i felt i didnt really know him, so i understand where the young fella is coming from. I didnt have a web site to get to see another side of my dad, just a few small talks with his old workmates. I never thought of the hamb like this, but i will now. Thanks for changing my perspective.
Great post. I never knew my Dad, he left before I was born. But as I sit here next to my two boys, I can only hope that they know exactly who I was after I am gone. There is no way to guarantee that they will, but I will do my best to make sure they know that family comes first.
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