Do you have anyone that you can pass on your skills?

-
Kern Dog

Kern Dog

Build your car to handle.
FABO Gold Member
Joined
May 23, 2010
Messages
9,749
Reaction score
28,054
Location
Granite Bay CA
I wanted kids for years but it never happened for me. Who knows...maybe it was better that way.
I wanted someone to benefit from my experiences. I've always been into cars and wished that I had a smart car guy to guide me when I was starting out. My Dad liked cars but was not into working on them. I feel that in many cases, guys get into cars because they are curious as to how stuff works. That is definitely the case with me. The design and engineering interests me. Some work on them because they couldn't afford to pay someone else to fix their stuff.
Do you have someone around to pass on your skills?
A buddy of mine works on stuff with his Son. They ***** and argue but they get stuff done. I used to work on stuff with my Brother many years ago. He moved on with family stuff. My Brother in Law has his 72 Duster here. Too bad he lives out of state!
 
Kern Dog said:
I wanted kids for years but it never happened for me. Who knows...maybe it was better that way.
I wanted someone to benefit from my experiences. I've always been into cars and wished that I had a smart car guy to guide me when I was starting out. My Dad liked cars but was not into working on them. I feel that in many cases, guys get into cars because they are curious as to how stuff works. That is definitely the case with me. The design and engineering interests me. Some work on them because they couldn't afford to pay someone else to fix their stuff.
Do you have someone around to pass on your skills?
A buddy of mine works on stuff with his Son. They ***** and argue but they get stuff done. I used to work on stuff with my Brother many years ago. He moved on with family stuff. My Brother in Law has his 72 Duster here. Too bad he lives out of state!
Click to expand...
I grew up working on farm machinery. My dad didn`t have very good mech. skills. My ex partner on my hemi drag car taught me a lot. My son doesn`t have any interest what so ever in working on a car, he has the $$ to have everything done anyway. I feel like it might be my fault for being so pre-occupied when building my cars. Live and learn I guess.
 
I know now that just 1 son was a bad play. Should have had 3.
 
When I was about 12 years old, Dad was teaching me drum brake jobs, and how to rebuild starters and alternators. Thats where it all started for me. Dad was one of the best mechanics at Tate Chrysler from 1969 thru the early 1980's. He passed away at 82 last week.

Jakes is my oldest son, now 20 yrs old. He started hanging with me at shows and in the garage when he was about 12. He's doing well with it. His little brother is getting ready to turn 9 and told me the other night he needs to help me work on the 68 B'cuda ragtop. I say bring it on. My wife tolerates my hobby - she knows I'm not hanging in the local bars. My little girls is just 6 yr old and the wife says she will not get greasy.... we shall see...... lol

I miss you Dad.....thanks for the ability!
 
Last edited:
My dad helped me put a water pump on my first car, a 318 Duster, when I was sixteen. My son is 24 and although he likes cars, we usually work on motorcycles together. I find myself teaching him something every time we are in the garage. Some times it's little things like keeping your workspace clean, other times it's important like not stripping out threads in aluminum heads by over tightening your spark plugs.
 
At one time in life I had the hope of mentoring you people and helping them work on their cars in my retirement.
But life has not worked out that way, so far.
That being said.......
Generally speaking, I think mechanical aptitude is like many other things about people.
For example, I could not have been a NFL player.
I did not have the requisite natural abilities and physical requirements to be nurtured.
Some people can be trained to do a specific job.
School and training only goes so far.
Once something is not what they have previously experienced and requires analytical thought to figure something out, they are SOL.
How do I use this tool for this job?
You can train a monkey to fly a plane, but not fix it.
 
Everyone that I can mentor.

The year I spent in retail parts sales was good for that. Explaining to customers what to look for, how to diagnose, why a part can fail, what can lead to failure of other things when "this" fails. Might not have been hands on in their garage, but it was fun.

When I owned my own shop it was the same way.

That being said, I gave my soon to be 22 year old nephew my '82 Diplomat last summer. Between my dad and I we've taught him a lot. Plus he went to school for diesel. His knowledge with those passes mine. I am, however, looking forward to teaching him the finer arts of building a car.

My two little ones are too young to know where their interests lie. The two year old loves his cars and is always interested in things that drive or fly, like a lot of two year old boys, so we'll see.

The youngest is about two months old. He's still too busy crapping himself to show interest in much besides his bottle.
 
Kern Dog said:
Some work on them because they couldn't afford to pay someone else to fix their stuff.
Click to expand...

My Dad worked 2-3 jobs his whole life to support the family. Having 4 sons not much money around. He taught me alot of mechanical "tricks" over the years. And kept older cars on the road not as a hobby but as a neccessity. He eventually became a diesel test engineer
for International Harvester Corp. who was bought out by the Japs.
Hell of a man....... miss him alot.

My 2 sons & daughter, however, I have preached to them,choose a career working with your brain not your body. Your body wears out and eventually breaks over time......and it hurts.
I talk from experience.
 
I had no one to teach me, my friends and I were all self-taught. My son was an early computer adaptor, programming and using and never got into it. My best candidate is my middle grandson, 25 and out of the army. He gets it and if he was closer I could pass a lot on to him. But mostly, it will die with me.
 
my son is 22 ans well on his way at being better with mechanical stuff. he is into jeeps and has totally rebuilt his cherokee, swappped it from an automatic to a 5 speed and did a damn nice job doing it.. the cherokees for kids his age are like abodies were for me back inthe day.. cheap and plentiful...

its nice to see. my dad knew nothing about cars so with help from friends and they fathers i pretty much learned on my own. he is taking it to the next step i guess.

my 8 year old daughter always wants to help me work on the cars. in the end she may be better then me and my son...lol

both kids are way smarter then myself.. :)



here is my daughter doing plugs in my truck..lol. test drive at the end is funny..





started my son off early...lol

11025862_10152825429649862_1522448932698499618_o.jpg



here is his jeep now.. he put a 4.5" lift on it.. has a long arm set up in the front.. it really works well..

13112751_10153746498519862_7855096051801068780_o.jpg


13116499_10153746496289862_845386974320350650_o.jpg


my jeep and his together..
10848980_10153030962484862_2982958144436134558_o.jpg
 
Last edited:
Nope, No sons and daughters not interested. Try to get my son in law involved, but typical of youth, he's too light for heavy work and too heavy for light work.
 
I've wondered the same thing in life, who will I leave all my cars, tools, knowledge, hunting equipment, animal mounts, etc. to. Iam divorced, have one daughter that doesn't take interest in any my interests. So I believe Ill be having a heck of an auction, and my knowledge? guess Ill just take that with me when time comes... Hopefully not for a long time haha
 
I once had a stepson. He couldn't care less about anything mechanical. I tried to teach him the basics but he cried like it was punishment.

My dog on the other hand watched every move I made on the cars. He could almost fetch me the right tool when I needed it ;-)

The only man that I am friends with that knows mechanical things is a couple of years older than me. No one I know will want my tools or car parts.
 
there was this kid a few years ago - I taught him some of the things I know... with good behavior, he gets out in 2024... :lol:
 
Last edited:
too early in the game for me to tell

my oldest turned 7 last month
(and he takes credit for picking out the duster)

truth be told, im more worried about teaching him proper work ethic them i am about teaching him how to do a brake job on a 50 year old car
he can only get so far knowing how to fix cars (specially in this day and age) but if i can teach him how to work, no matter the job, no matter the pay and no matter who is the boss, but simply put his nose to the grindstone and get the job done, well, then it doesnt matter where he ends up, he'll work his way up in no time
 
diymirage said:
too early in the game for me to tell

my oldest turned 7 last month
(and he takes credit for picking out the duster)

truth be told, im more worried about teaching him proper work ethic them i am about teaching him how to do a brake job on a 50 year old car
he can only get so far knowing how to fix cars (specially in this day and age) but if i can teach him how to work, no matter the job, no matter the pay and no matter who is the boss, but simply put his nose to the grindstone and get the job done, well, then it doesnt matter where he ends up, he'll work his way up in no time
Click to expand...
Working on cars can provide a decent living, and never be in want for a job!
 
My dad would take everything needing repair to the garage. I like to try to do everything myself.
My 3 children have no interest in my Barracuda whatsoever. Neither does my wife. I had told her one of my bucket list items was to complete my car and drive to Chicago. There I would start on route 66 and head to Santa Monica. She offered to fly to Chicago and meet me there. When I would leave for Santa Monica she would catch a flight to Los Angeles. When I arrived there we could have dinner before she could take a flight back to North Carolina.
That is still on my bucket list, even if I have to go alone. I know route 66 is broken up quite a bit now, but still something I would like to do. Maybe even meet some of you along the way.
 
I grew up taking apart every toy or mechanical thing in the house. I remember getting my *** whipped when I took apart an oscillating fan and an antique sewing machine. My old man did basic work on the family cars, brakes, oil changes, etc, and I loved helping him.
As is the curse of my job, I ended up having 2 daughters(5 & 8), but they already help me in the garage with the Valiant, handing me tools etc. Put a smile on my face when my youngest came home with a picture she drew of us working on it..
 
Both of my kids are nerds. My son will change filters and such to save some cash. The daughter won't even check the oil. Neither want anything to do with a Barracuda that is all standard and runs a little rich.
 
I have no one to leave anything to either. I had 2 sons. The youngest wanted to lay in bed playing video games. Oldest son already knew everything. Tore up every car he had. Haven't seen or spoken to them in over 5 years. We live in different states.
 
It's interesting. When I was younger I often thought if i'd ever be as handy as my dad was/is. He could fix everything I broke, my toys, bikes and later dirt bikes etc. Somehow it must have passed on to me working together with him on stuff. I guess also because I was interested. I realised as the years went by that I'm the same way now. I dont have kids, It never happened for me, so far at least. But i fix stuff for my brothers kids, my friends and at work all the time. Besides playing music professionaly I also work as a music teacher so I get to pass those skills on to youngster too. People pass their skills on to me here all the time, you probably do it a lot whitout even thinking about it.
 
I have four kids and six grandkids and all I can say is they better make good money and buy reliable cars, because so far none of them except one has a clue and don't want one.
My oldest Daughter Athena is a pretty fair mechanic.
 
I'll tackle most things around the house and cars, rubbed off on m oldest son who got into construction because he likes using his hands, and is now into rock climbing jeeps. My 12 year old grandson has little interest, but my 4 year old grandson shows promise

IMG_0048.JPG
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
-

Back
Top