Bonding with my son over Mopars

It is so cool to read all the stories. My son has always had an interest with me. His first car was a pedal car which he would wash along side us in the driveway. Somebody here wrote to stay involved with your kids and that was the exact advice we got when we were young and always lived by. We have three kids who are all gems. It was a lot of work and still is but it pays huge dividends. Stay involved! Many of our friends thought they were done once their kids hit high school- they were so wrong, that's when they need you the most. We were in Scouts, sports boosters and band boosters, went to all the games and concerts and field trips if we could. All those other families have dealt with arrests now because in high school the kids ran amuck while the parents were out partying or heading out of town and leaving the kids alone for lots of weekends. They thought we were square parents and would tease us about always being off to an event our kids were involved in.

This Satellite has a bit of a history. I drove it for a little while as my driver. I did the first rebuild of the front suspension about seven years ago. In 2007 I let my son drive it to football practice when he was a senior only to receive a call that he ran it over a curb on a sharp turn at the school and flattened a tire. I drove down to the school in pissed off dad mode with a spare and my floor jack. What I saw was two flats on the right side and a right front wheel cambered at about 45 degrees. I had to get a trailer and drag it home. He was dicking around and not watching the parking lot curb.

He took full responsibility for it and agreed that he needed to redo the front end himself. Fortunately we also had a donor car because it turned out that the K member was also toast. This was his first real lesson in cars that if you screw it up, you fix it and you can't drive it during the time that it's busted. With my guidance he redid the entire front end and also prepped the engine compartment to eventually paint the entire car yellow.

I picked up a 408 from a buddy and we put that in there for a spell and had some fun at the strip. Then the ol' Mopar bulkhead connector gremlins struck and the wiring under the dash became a glob of wire and insulation. I re-spliced everything that was fried but then work halted because my mom came down with cancer and I had to become both their caregivers. The car went on the backburner.

After she passed I had to take care of my dad and it sat. That was in 2008. The car just sat and in the mean time, the Dart came available and having always wanted an A-body, I snatched it up and restored it.

This last summer my son pulled the 408 and rebuilt the original 318. It's a dandy. He also put the dash all back together. He's only home for about a week every 5 to 6 weeks so he's been busy on it. He finally got it ready to take it off the non-op and put it on the road so three weeks ago I officially signed the title over to him.

He's grown so much since that mis-step over five years ago. He really understands and appreciates the responsibility now of owning a classic mopar. He has hours and hours in it. During this time he also had an old Toyota Forerunner while he was in school. Every time he was up to his elbows in grease working on that thing I would remind him. Stay in school, get a good job and then you can pay someone to fix your daily driver in a day if you want and then you can have your hobby car that is actually fun to work on, on your own terms.

He got his degree and got a good job and that's exactly what he can do now although he still likes to tinker with his 2008 Prerunner he bought a few months ago. The difference is that if he doesn't have the time or understanding, he can get it done by someone who does.

He just got called up to work again and has to leave Saturday. We're going to go for one more side by side cruise tomorrow for breakfast. He met me at work tonight and we hung out and talked for a bit and then drove home nose to tail. Must have looked pretty cool, two old mopars. He and I picked up a '70 bug convertible for Mom so you can bet we'll be working on that one together too.