Bonding with my son over Mopars

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Robj

Robj

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I gave my son my old '74 Plymouth. A project I never really got going on. He's just finished rebuilding all the suspension and the driveline. We went for our first cruise together tonight. It was pretty fun seeing the Plymouth out on the road in front of me. He works out of town as a geologist on oil and gas rigs so when he's back between wells, we work on our cars together. Spent a few hours laying shoulder to shoulder with him under our cars. Great times I will never forget. Now for body and interior. My wife took this photo of us tonight.
 

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Lucky him....and lucky you. It's nice to see fathers and sons working and playing together. I'm gonna do the same for and with mine hopefully.
 
Awesome, here is my first car, a 74 Sebring Plus, still have it!!!
 

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Nice to see,the connection with classic cars continue.Sweet car of yours,son has a running project.Keith,nice Satellite!
 
I am unbelievably envious. I bought my Dart hoping that it was going to also be a bonding experience between us. My son showed some initial interest in our working on it together but went back to his video games (which I hate with a passion), all those stupid cartoon shows on prime time, and of course his precious cell phone. When he calls me in the future for around the house help(which I also tried to teach him), or wants help on his car I can't wait to tell him that I tried to teach him to make his own repairs on houses and cars but now he will have to pay someone else to do it for him.
 
Too many young people don't know how to turn wrenches or simple common sense fix-it tasks. Most parents don't bother to spend time teaching them. When my son started walking his next lesson was how to bring me wrenches,hammers,gardening tools or beer.We mechanicaly restored a 73 dart swinger for him for a daily driver here in the yard together. I surely feel proud every time he leaves in that car to go to work or tech school.
 
wow that is sooooo awesome .....if i ever have kids i hope they wont be to cool to work on and play with cars with their ol mom here lol.... then i can pass my mopars down.

i wish my dad would have taught me stuff about handy work but he lives in another country and dont even know what a mopar is. i had to go to Auto school and do a lot of trial and error .....mostly error LOL and learn from my cousin

very cool to see cars bringing ppl together .....proof that they are much more than just cars ....in many ways the cars themselves can teach life lessons and really talk to us if we listen........no other man made creation brings ppl together like an old car. when is the last time anyone bonded over an old toaster LOL
 
Very cool, I remember working on mine and dads cars/trucks as a kid. Actually any time there is/was car work to be done we did what we can ourselves. Over the past couple years it was nice to work together on some nice ones...his 58 Apache and his 67 cuda. There are frustrations, but the satisfaction/success and memories are amazing!
 
That's great to see. Son and I work together on our cars..(more like I have to help him when ever something goes wrong) lol. It was real cool when we got the second mopar so we could cruise together.
 

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PapstXX said:
It's nice to see fathers and sons working and playing together !
Click to expand...
I could not have said it better Ulie (PapstXX) It sure is, and I made many great memories with my 2 sons :glasses7:

Very nice Satellite, I used the same hood on my Ramcharger :coffee2: The roadrunner hoods for these are built
great and you will love it
 

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It is pretty cool to pass on the tradition. I have 3 daughters and non were interested in working on the car.

My grandson is a different story, he loves helping.
 

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my son and I have been wrenching together on the swinger for over 20 years best bonding tool for us ever. you can see him in my picks ..he is tried and true mopar lover and my best friend, when he comes over we always end up in the garage.
 
My Dad started me out (I'm the oldest son) by making me stand out in two feet of snow holding his tools so they wouldn't freeze.
We cut and hauled firewood together, worked on cars, tractors and other equipment as I grew up.
My very first car of my own was and old Chrysler Windsor when I was 13 and I changed out the trans by myself.
When he was at work at the local prison I would get up at 4 in the morning before school, go out and clear the snow away from our caterpillar (TD4) so I could make a small fire under the crankcase so I would be able to crank start it by myself.
Then I would drive it down to the plowed road and tow him up to the house when he got there.
After about a half hour of warming the oil I would raise the engine cover, get the crank in the right position, squirt it with starting fluid and the jump off the track onto the crank and it usually fired up.
My Dad drove a VW bug at the time that he bought brand new for $625.00 and one day as I was backing the cat up to hook up the chain my foot slipped off the clutch because of the ice, and I backed the cat clear up to the windshield on the VW totally crushing the entire front end of the poor bug.
I was about 11 when that one happened and I thought he was going to kill me.
He just bailed out of the bug thinking I may not stop the tractor in time, looked at the poor VW and laughed.
He said "accidents happen" and if it was anyones fault it was his for expecting so much from me at such a young age.
As I grew up we rode dirtbikes together, and as I got older we put down a ton of interstate street miles together on big dresser bikes.

Today, he lives about 2 miles from me and can barely get out of his chair by himself, or barely speak anthing we can undestand or hear.
From a huge strong man of the house and family to someone nobody hardly even listens to anymore, or even cares what he says.

Now it's my turn to raise my four kids and take my place as the oldest man in the family.
So it seems I will be the next one to sit around saying things no one cares about or understands when I talk about my life and past memories.

That's life I guess.
 
I would say while it is a great thing when a father and son have the same interests, it is also a great gift if a father can find a way to show pride in his son if they don't.
 
Even though my kids are still kinda young, they are dyed in the wool Mopar fanatics. I don't think anyone can doubt the love that Nella...err, I mean "Cudagirl" has for her car. She helps however she can, mostly in the washing, maintenance, and picking what goes on with it.

I remember one time when she was washing it in her powered wheelchair, and she accidently backed into it with the safety handle and put a big crease in the door and fender. She was torn apart, thinking that I would be mad, but how can you be mad at someone who is such a great kid and is living the dream with Dad. It IS her car after all!!


Now, my son Ian is 8 years old, but has been under every car we own, changing the oil, removing tires, checking and adjusting brakes and just being there with Dad.

We had a funny little lesson about left handed lugs a while back...he couldn't figure out what was going on, they should all be lefty-loosey, right Dad?? Well, half of them were right and half were left on one wheel, and he was totally confused!! Man, did we laugh because I knew about it and he didn't, and he knew I set him up to figure it out for himself!!!

We go to the junkyard together often, and he is in, out, around, and all over the cars. He is an excellent spotter of precious Mopar iron, and can't wait to go again. We have even written a song about our favorite junkyard, and sing it often on the way there!! As I type this, we just got back from the scrap yard where we scored a couple Mopar parts, and got a lead on some Roadrunner stuff!!

I wouldn't trade a minute of these memories for all the $$ in the world. I love my kids and enjoy every minute sharing this with them, and watching their love grow, for the cars, and ME!!!

Get under dem hoods wit the kids all, they'll be glad you did!! Geof
 
I made a pact with my self that when I had kids that I would definately stay in volved with them ,my dad's life got cut short from cancer but we did quality time together working on my old 57 Ford, Now I am involved with Bryce and his 73 Duster and its one of the best moves I could have done. Next to my wife, he is my best friend.
Keep on working with your son and be proud !!!

Bob
 
Great I wish my sons would do something like that with me,but they are not into cars like I am.
 
Working, teaching & learning is a great way to keep close. My Son & I did our share of argueing too! He (being 14 @ the time) wanted to hurry and I wanted to take my time. He's almost 21 now and I wish he had something else to drive so we could pul that ramcharger back into the garage and REALLY do it right.
 

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My all children were brought up around race cars/hot rods my daughter [34 now] was around when we were workin on stock cars and while i built my 4x4 mud truck. My sons were around when i started building/showing street/show cars both boys are very intrested the classic car hobby, my youngest is the born mechanic just like me he can take things apart fix them put them back again but he is more intrested in getting his college education right now which is great,my oldest son loves cars as much if not more than myself hes a walking book of specs. [of highend cars lambos,astons ect] he loves older muscle cars and driving them. He does not have the mechanical aptitude of my youngest but he has the love so the mechanics should be there buried somewhere i'll find them. He bought a basket case 74 charger as his classic muscle car and has helped me occosionally [in the last 19 months] working on it but he too like his brother is intrested in his college education also which is great. Now this is not our first project my sons and i rebuilt a 79 box impala twice in 8 years,91 nissan 240sx,2005 mustang together and my oldest and i are building the charger which is completely financed by him im just the laborer. I love hotrods i live eat and breath them i love working on them [as i get older that is becoming more difficult] some times i overdo it and painfully pay dearly for days after but i wont stop till i can't hold tools or i'm in lala land hopefully my sons will have learned enough to carry on this hobby.
 

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My son is 14 so I gave him my old 67 273 fastback. He has already started
stripping the fenders I bought and cleaning stuff up wire brushing rust and dirt off the car. I sold this car complete as a driver 12 years ago to a young fellow who was going to restore it as a hi school project , the kid stripped the car down and then turned into a crack head . I bumped into his step father last winter and asked about my old car. Turned out the car changed hands several times , each time getting stripped more and more parts being sold lost stolen. I track down everyone that
had owend my car and eventually got my car back . It had been seating the last six
years in a building at an old abandonded mine site in the mountians. I had to wait for spring just to see what was left of my baby. Not much left but I got it out and on a trailor and home for my son. We will be building it together and so far has been great hanging with the son outside working on the car instead of him playing PS3 in his room. Father and son car builds rule . I could not wish anything better for a father and son to do together except maybe building a house or fishing, LOL. I hope your project brings you both tons of happiness. Cheers.
 
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