A few days ago I posted about the HF stud welder I bought to fix our son's family fun car, a '65 Ranch Wagon. It has taken me a bit more time than I thought, mainly because it's been 90 here for the last week and I slow down in the heat. Today I struggled to get my lift out of the back of the shop to move it to the front, and finally gave up that idea, pulled the car into the driveway and got my trusty bumper lift in back and hiked the back end up. I wanted to take some time and re-do the bottom of the rear wheel opening (which I made 5 years ago when I made most of the both rear quarters). I never like how I'd done, so I got busy and made a new lower lip, that's shaped properly, knocked a little paint off it and got that (mostly) done. It also looked like somebody had backed into the rear bumper and flexed it enough to chip some paint off the quarter behind it, so I did a quick fix on that as well. Might as well just spot those two places in when I paint, right? It's gotten hot enough already today that I'm knocking off for the afternoon, and going to go to the Cl***ic Car Club's event at the Gilmore Museum. I'll drive the roadster, nothing like rolling up in a hot rod at an event for big old stodgy limousines owned by really old rich people, right? I'll fit right in... Anyway, as I worked on the car, I was thinking about my dad, how he tolerated my hobby that he really didn't understand, and supported me by teaching me, or really, just turning me loose and letting me make mistakes and teach myself, and the sacrifices we make as parents for our own kids. I could have been doing other things, like finishing up some loose ends on the DeSoto (like the horn isn't hooked up, I need to get the Vintage Air unit controls to work right and charge the A/C), painting the wheels and hood top for the roadster, or painting my wife's vintage Monkey Wards scooter, but I wanted to get the wagon done for Craig and his family. They like to pull their boat with it, they have camping outings coming up and the car is supposed to be doing those things, not setting in my shop being worked on. They appreciate it, and most of all, I like doing things for them. My stuff will still be here. Unfinished, but still still here...
From the zoo! I cruise up there in the shoebox from time to time. Next time I head over I'll message ya and cold beers on me...
@flynbrian48 it's what we do. My daughter had a roll-back drop off one of her ancient Toyota PUs yesterday, needs a carb rebuild and POR15 bed liner. After this one is out of here, I get to paint her SR5 shorty 4x4 Toyota. I would prefer working on my own stuff, but it is nice still being needed by your children. She does intend to help with everything, it will be a fun father/daughter summer. Wagon is look good!
Lucky...my parents never encouraged any of my pursuits but they did teach me a very valuable lesson - how NOT to be a parent...
Lol...I have spent today changing out a clutch in my sons pickup. He could and would have helped, but he worked this morning and it also happens to be his birthday. So, I figured I would just knock this one out for him. I also made a list of other things we need to work on while under it. Number one is to get the driveshaft shortened since I had to pry it out. Pretty sure that one is a rookie mistake to not check when the previous owner lowered it. Oh, and it needs lowered more so might as well do that too... It’s what we as dad’s do sometimes even though I have a shop full of projects that need attention.
Well, sets a mark for kids to be like their parents are/were. My folks were supportive of sports activities, etc, spent a lot of time on me when they could have been doing something else. My oldest daughter is 28, I’ll drop what I’m doing if she needs help. Same with the other two (26 and 21). It’s what parents should do.
Yep. My dad thought that working on old cars was a waste of time. Luckily I didn’t listen to him too much.
My Dad helped out in my adult life with no hesitance on all of my projects, cars, home repairs and anything else I ever needed. I learned everything a man needs to survive & thrive through my Pops. Lost him a few years ago, I was 39 he was 65. I still carry on what he did for me by trying to be helpful to my son, family and all those around me. Youre a good Dad Brian ! Im sure your at***ude will carry on through your future generations. A ripple effect of helping loved ones, Good on you!
23 years ago, when we built our addition, my dad helped me hang drywall and pour cement for the garage floor. He was 75 at the time. From him I learned that the hardest part of any job was to simply start. 4 years ago, right after I retired, I was building a new storage barn, digging post-holes by hand for the posts. He was 95, watching, and said, "Let me have turn with that.". He took about 4 turns, handed me the post hole digger and said, "Well, that's about enough of that." I should have taken a lesson from that too, and rented an auger... He died after a brief illness a month after that, I still think "I should call dad and ask how to..." whenever I'm stuck on a project.
Brian, you are a great Dad. The wagon looks great, FE power? My Dad and I did everything together until his dementia got too bad. He taught me a ton of cool stuff and I’m trying hard to fill his shoes by p***ing the same stuff he taught me onto Little Truckdoctor. Yesterday, Little Truckdoctor and went for a 135 mile ride on Dad’s favorite Harley and I thought about him a lot and miss him badly.
That’s pretty cool. My dad died at age 54 before I really got going in the hobby. I’d give anything to work with him now or just ask him a question. He was a wealth of knowledge. When he p***ed it was like an automotive library burned down.
I didn't work on the wagon yesterday, I took the day off and drove the roadster 100 miles to their house and visited.
That's cool that your son is into cars enough to own a 65 Ranch Wagon. I'm sure he and the family appreciate the help. Not all of us were lucky enough to have dads who p***ed down useful knowledge or a p***ion for a given hobby. My daughter is still little and I want to support her in whatever she wants to do, but I do also hope that she develops a love of something we could share, whether it be hockey, cars, guitars, home renovation, or even if she wanted to pursue law like mom and dad. God help her... Nice work on the Ranch Wagon, I'm sure it will be a quality repair that will last a long time. Looks like a super fun ride
From an ex-Muskegonite, glad you're getting some nice days to drive your roadster before Winter shows up around July 5th .
We enjoy endless summer, and will be taking the roadster with us to Sarasota the end of October. I'm looking for a place to store the car trailer (who thought that storing a car trailer would be on my list of things to do?) and find some other hot rod guys there. No snow for me!
Hello, Nice photo array. In this era, with the pandemic throwing everyone for a loop, we all have to adjust to the parameters set out by the illness as it affects your house and family. As a long time parent and seeing how much my own dad helped me indirectly back then was amazing. It did not strike me until we had our own son. Then, the next step of our granddaughter, that we were able to be another set of parents, from 6 months to the teen years and high school graduation this year. From my own dad and for most of us, support is what is/was necessary. Our dad was not a “car guy” but, he did everything possible to get involved with our chosen activity. He even came to Lions Dragstrip on many different times to see what was what and specifically to see the Westcoast tour of the famous Green Monster. Just the name itself made people sit up and pay attention. He gave me many jobs, but the one that sticks out is the ability to work for a price, do a good job and get rewarded with either money, food or products. In this case, he taught me to edit his family 16mm color movie films from tiny rolls to one big metal reel for his night out with their friends and showcase gatherings from all of them. Community picnics, baseball games, family gatherings, etc. His topics were not necessarily our topics, but a job is a job. I got to use left over 16mm movie film still in his movie camera, until it ran out. Then the next new film was put in place that had nothing but drag racing and hot rods on it. When we were finished for the week or two, our dad took the films to get developed, continuing my editing job for the returned films. But, it was also allowing me to gather all of the week’s or two worth of films for our teenage friends to come over and have a bi-weekly movie night from the previous week's filming. Note: Back then, we all knew all of the racers at the drag strip and ***ociations with the named speed shops of our own areas. So, it was too bad that the list was lost and the names are still haunting me for some identification. Jnaki So, I learned that our dad supported both my brother and me directly, but not knowing exactly what we were doing in the backyard build of the 671 SBC Willys Coupe. At least the two brothers were doing something together with little to no fights or arguments. When our drag racing/building days were coming to a halt, he started supporting us in his own way. taking various 16mm color films of our new surfing day’s adventures. He has always been an outdoor person back to the Terminal Island/San Pedro days as a teen. So, he decided to give us something to ***ociate with his way of participating in our teenage activities. Surf films from learning stage to the high performance days as we got older. Thanks, Dad… Note: So, I learned to be supportive of our only son in his activities, what ever they were at the time. My wife and I were always on the same page, so, our son knew. With our granddaughter, there was no need, as she was always listening and doing what she wanted to do with us in mind. When she graduated from high school a couple of days ago, the rewards were shown as she earned many accolades and grew up wonderfully. We were told by the parents that it was our involvement plus outlook on things, that our granddaughter turned out doing so much with her talents and inquisitive approach to many things. YRMV...
Here's an update on the Country Squire wagon repair: I shot the color this morning, it's a perfect match with the original "Kirker" color (In case some of you have tried their paints, I HIGHLY recommend them. I get the stuff through "Auto Body Tool Mart"). This is a single stage urethane. They offer a base coat converter that can be used under their equally nice clear, which I used on our DeSoto wagon. I kept all the repair and painting below the sharp character line that runs down the side, a natural place to break the paint, and blended it in the narrow part below it over the front wheel. It's nearly invisible now, and with a little cut and buff where new meets old, it'll be completely gone. Since our kids gave me the entire amount of the insurance check, I think it's going to go home with a set of American 5 spokes, since they look good everything, and I may splurge and get a set of original style wire wheels for our DeSoto wagon. It needs a little "bling". They are thrilled with the way it looks, and I know they'll be super happy with how much better it runs, after I replaced the leaky Holley carb with a new one. Parenthood, it never gets old, and I'm glad they still need me.
Thanks. Gave me an excuse to get that stud gun and try it out, and use my shrinking disk set. Now I'll prolly never need them again...
The Jalopy Journal
