old and woreout?

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barbee6043

barbee6043

barbee 6043
FABO Gold Member
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Shepherd, Texas ( SE Tx)
i'm 67 and its getting really hard to get up and down, crawl under these old cars, but I know I will go till I keel over one day. I have 6 cars, I have 63, 64, 65 darts gts, 65 cuda, 62 lancer and 72 duster. I like them all but my keepers are the Early A bodies. couple 273 cars, rest slants. I found a complete running 66 dart slant car for $500. I will drag it home. I figure I should sell the lancer and the duster. the grandson might wind up with one in a year.

I hate selling cars. I've had a bunch ( and lots of desirable ones years past) since the mid 80's. but generally selling cars is a PITA. one thing I can say, I've never lost a dime on one, whether restored to the max or just a roller. ( few people can truly say that)... I don't buy anything I think I can't at least get my money out of, and I do all my own work, except machine work and trans. NOW some may say that 66 dart for $500 is overpriced??? LOL

so whats the point here?? don't really know. ( senile, stupid, or just don't know chit?)... I don't need anyone to tell me what to ask or take for a car I would sell. don't need to hear anyone tell me I am a horder, or say I need a few more! I guess sometimes it just helps to get a little opinion from people whether you take their advice or not!!???? LOL......

I have always had trouble troubleshooting electrical problems. BUT nothing like now days!! I have pieced dozens of cars back together from rollers and engines missing. but back then , the FIRST thing I did if I had a car I was restoring or not running right off the bat, was buy an engine wiring harness from Evans. usually problem solved. that and a new distributor. now maybe its an indication getting just STUPID!????
now if I have a problem, great people on here try to help me diagnose the problem, but its all pretty much like Greek.

I have started colts, trained quarter horses all my life. I can hardly get up on one now, got to climb on gate then up. I can hardly get down under a car, takes quite a while to get up. i'm sure I have fewer health issues than a lot and not whinning, I guess its just hard tow ant to admit i'm getting woreout!?

I have 2 two year old filly to start this summer. just one. I know I shouldn't but I know I will. she could dump me before I would ever see it coming.,,,,,,,,,,
 
Makes you wonder how Abraham felt, when he became a father at age 86, and again at 99.
Im a bit younger than you(61.8), but I can tell the years are adding up.The Good Lord has blessed me with many,many years of good health. But I dont jump over the side of the pick-up anymore.And I aint as handsome as I once was.And an extra 20 or 25 pounds aint helping. And I wouldnt be interested in horseback riding. At all. But, Im very glad to have made it this far, and still looking forward to the future.What Im NOT looking forward to is the next few years of cleaning out the garage.

Keep your chin up gramps.
 
get a lift to work on the cars, so you don't have to crawl around under them.
 
I worked on my pick up today and was up and down from the creeper 2 dozen times or more. I'm feeling it now and I'm only 59. My back problems and being 225# hurt me the most. When I get home from work I'm beat and don't want to go for a walk to exercise . Tomorrow I need to get up at 6:30 and walk instead. Hang in there! Thin the herd and concentrate on just what trips your trigger. tmm
 
I would build the cleanest rust free, running car for you grandson.
Small block parts are alot easier to find than slant ones.
The last slant I had order an air filter - 5 day wait.
 
Im a little younger then you at 55 but I found myself 3 years ago deciding to sell my business because I couldnt see crawling under dashes anymore. My vision became a problem and I couldnt hear where noises were coming from when customers would come in. The hardest thing to accept was I couldnt hear the screechers on the brake pads. Ive been blessed with at least good enough health to play golf every weekend and I still find a way to work on my cars. I just told my wife this past week how hard it was for me to get into the interior of my 66 Dart to weld the roll cage but I have made up my mind that Im going racing before I call it quits on playing with cars. Guess its like your philly for this summer. As far as selling off the herd I have no advice! I too have 5 cars that I really dont need but its just not time yet to unload. I can say i am one of those guys that cant get my money back on 2 of my cars unless things really change in the values in the next few years. My problem is I always buy new parts instead of finding nice used parts and I feel everything has to be upgraded. Best of luck with whatever direction you decide to go.
Rod
 
actually I have no real health problems, not overweight, and get "casual" exercise. can't hear squat, need cataract surgery but most do at my age!

I lost several close friends before they hit 55, so I tell people, do the things ion life while you can. I started that thinking in my 20's. that's why I can't afford a lift!??? LOL

the grandson just turned 15, lives 200 mi away. if I figure he has no interest in these cars, I will try to help him get an OLD car we can afford that he has an interest in. good kid, staraght A student, no dad.

I live in the sticks but I can have any part for anything in 2 days, slants for sure. one thing about the slant, they are hard to kill!

sometimes it just helps to put your thoughts on paper. I hate doing that and the throwing it in the trash!! ?? I do enjoy all the comments on here. most are meant well, a few people just to pick at ya!! ?? LOL
 
barbee6043 said:
actually I have no real health problems, not overweight, and get "casual" exercise. can't hear squat, need cataract surgery but most do at my age!

the grandson just turned 15, lives 200 mi away. if I figure he has no interest in these cars, I will try to help him get an OLD car we can afford that he has an interest in. good kid, staraght A student, no dad.
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First go away with that "I'm old but feeling good stuff..." LOL! I may be old and fat, but I can still see good (20/20) and my hearing is still ok (what is left from my younger days of blasting the stereo).... And I'm loosing weight - so far down 60 lbs and 60 more to go...

Second, don't give up on the grandson just yet. He sounds a little like my youngest son. He wasn't interested in cars, and we didn't push him. Then after he got his license and started to drive, he became interested in cars and mechanical things.

His olcer brother got him interested in building an engine and asked me if I had one to give him. I gave him a 360 that I had laying around, and tore it down with him. Now I have to calculate what pistons to get and we can start putting it back together.

He's also started to get into mini bikes. The guy that I sold my old house to in Detroit has kids my sons ages and has gotten the younger one interested in mini bikes and showed him how to work on them. Now they talk back and forth, and I'm helping him with getting them apart and painted, so he can put them together again...

Give him time, he still may come around...
 
The wisdom and experience you older ones bring to this forum is priceless! Thank you for sharing what takes a lifetime to gain.

"Gray hair is a crown of beauty" -Proverbs 16:31.
 
jonnydart440 said:
The wisdom and experience you older ones bring to this forum is priceless! Thank you for sharing what takes a lifetime to gain.

"Gray hair is a crown of beauty" -Proverbs 16:31.
Click to expand...

sounds like your all a bunch of puppies ! lol, yea it`s a little harder to get up, and hate to have to work under a dash now. :protest:
 
I was run over by a car at twenty one. Now at fifty-nine I have aches in places I didn't even know I had. Yet the only time I feel good these days seem to be when I'm messing with my cars. Takes my mind off everything. On the twenty ninth of last month the frame of my car was hanging from a tree in my yard. On the first I was in it on my way to Las Vegas. Sure it hurt. But walking here didn't seem reasonable. I mean, what is the alternative? Sit under a tree and take pills till I croak?
 
jonnydart440 said:
The wisdom and experience you older ones bring to this forum is priceless! Thank you for sharing what takes a lifetime to gain.

"Gray hair is a crown of beauty" -Proverbs 16:31.
Click to expand...


We go gray early in our family.... :violent1:

Grandma was completely white by 40.... :pale:

Or maybe we get the wisdom of old age early with the gray hair.... :glasses7:


Yeah, that's it, were smart for our age in our family.... :cheers:

Maybe even jenius..... :D
 
67 is the new 40!!!!

Yes, us old farts wake up with aches and pains but I`m thankful I`m on the right side of the dirt every morning. Some days I can`t make a fist or bend my knees or back, but I don`t stop trying.

This is the perfect time for all us old guys to pass on our knowledge to the younger folks. I`m mentoring my son with his car and bike builds. And I`m trying to pass along my paint and body knowledge on this site as well.

My current car build is my last, not because I can`t do it anymore, it`s because I found a more enjoyable hobby, and much cheaper too. My new hobby may be the reason why it`s taking me so long to finish my current build.

Never stop trying!!!!

:glasses7:
 
Yes, gene-yus . As in; in your genes, handed down from parents.Back to Noah(and Adam). Noah was considered perfect in all his generations. His kids not so much.I mean, look where we are today! On the edge of WW3. But I digress.
 
I thank the good Lord everyday and look to find the beauty in that day. I try not to ever complain because I know I have a lot to be thankful for, and many out there are in a bad way. i'm 67. I've been hit head on by a drunk at 25, crushed my kneecap and cut the tendons into. took a year before I could get in a car sorta "normally", never could squat again. I've fractured vertebra in my back and neck. next year I know I will have the get the cataracs taken car of. ( maybe why I can barely make out that wiring diagram?)...

the grandson is a good kid, totally ate up with sports... good exercise. and good for the mind. A student.... I won't push him into anything, but if I give him a car he will help earn it. he's not quite old enough yet to think the difference between walking and riding!? and what i'm saying is if he has no interest in old mopars but likes chevys, that's o k too. if he has no interest in these old cars, if he works to earn whatever he may ride in, I will help him. I want him to do his best to learn to at least maintain whatever he chooses for a ride.

I admit I've never been any good with auto electronics ( wiring etc). I appreciate the people that take the time to try to help and educate me on it. I should have picked up some skill with it over the years! I will admit to can't see for chit. and i'm dislexic. (spelling???). I flip numbers and letters around, over, etc.. LOL so that's my excuse for STUPID! LOL

well back to my seasonal, 3 day a week little job tomorrow, ( unless rained out!) helps pay for some car parts. drive that tractor pulling a rough mower on the golf ( goffer) course. 8 hours a day, have to get off every 30-40 min and walk around the thing or I can't walk!!! hope everyone had a good Easter, and found some chocolate rabbits!!!
 
69 soon to be 70. Crawled under my '69 'Cuda at 23 when I bought it new. Still crawling under it now, would not have it any other way! We both show a little wear and tear, but we can still both be terrors! lol:angel12:

Pa karp:burnout:
 
pa karp said:
69 soon to be 70. Crawled under my '69 'Cuda at 23 when I bought it new. Still crawling under it now, would not have it any other way! We both show a little wear and tear, but we can still both be terrors! lol:angel12:

Pa karp:burnout:
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Wanna sell it? I'll give you what you paid for it!!!
 
$2830.00 new. $17,626.00 in today's dollars + sentimental value, it is priceless! This one is going to a grandkid also, many years down the line.....

#5457

Curt Rees:burnout:
 
I sympathize. As I'm sneaking up on 74, I'm probably in the top 5 age-wise on this forum, but I still enjoy my Mopars. My '64 Valiant convertible was restored a few years ago, and it will be my fun driver until some bureaucrat decides it's time to pull my license. I don't know what I'd do if I had to work on a half-dozen projects, as my body complains every time I have to crawl in, under, or around, anything.

That said, my final project has been in work for about four years. It was a Fred Flintstone...."shoulda' been a parts car"...'56 Plymouth hardtop, and I don't know if I'll live long enough to see it move under its own power. My dad's '56 Plymouth was the first new car I got to drive, and maybe another '56 will be the last.
 
Barbee, it sounds like you've got quite a bit of spring in your steps in most of your posts. When I have a hard time getting back up from laying beneath my cars I try not to close my eyes for very long for fear I'll fall asleep. LOL.

There's more than one of us here that are heading towards being the 'cool old geezers in the neighborhood with all the old cars'. It's got to be a step better than just being 'plain old geezers'.
 
HA! spring in my step! HA..... their leaf springs that lost their arch!????

last spring an 80 mph straight wind caught my car shed ( open to the s and w. I watched it pull 4 poles 4 ft out of the ground! it almost blew it all the hell away! I put it back. last sat. I went to town and got some 2 x 4's and barn tin, and enclosed that w. gable end. hopefully another wind won't get it. I also increased my ins, to at least cover my material costs. ( I am labor). I spent all day sat, getting it done by myself, I was so tired , sun I made it to church and that was bout it!
my piddly part time job started this a m. I get up at 4, to leave at 5 to be there at 6, NO one tells me they are starting at 6: 30, till it gets hot! drive tractor 8 hours. i'm pooped! NO spring in my step!!

as an older guy once told me, he said ' I just get a little tireder a little quicker">
 
Went to my son's for Easter. Asked him how he was doing, and he told me he was worn out. He's 37, a tech for Dish, and I know he works hard. He also had to work an extra day last week. I told him I understood, but try this for worn out. Try being 62, have hernia surgery on Friday, go back to work on Monday, "light duty", lose 2 of your 5 employees, and end up working 60 hours, including the 10 straight I had just put in before getting there. That's worn out. No day off in sight. You have to be tough to get old. It's not for sissy's.
 
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