how old where you when you first work on a car

[nutz]

so i always liked cars would build model cars anytime i could
so i remember the first time worked on a car was 12
dad had a pontiac and he wasn't much of a car guy had his friends helping him do a tune-up on it
they wanted someone to change the points (i guess they were to fat and old to climb under the hood)
so i volunteered ...don't know if it ran better but it ran
that was 50 years ago

 

[abdywgn]

13 when I bought my first car and managed to take the engine out without an engine hoist or any lifting device. did learn you should drain the oil first before pushing the engine off the motor mounts and out from under the car...wasn't the last oil spill!

 

[HemiSSDart]

Not until I was 16, my family was not car people and I had to do what I could to finally get one to work on. Had plenty of model kits, Hot Wheels, Matchbox, and Corgi cars laying around but the parents didn't get the hint...

 

[abdywgn]

Not until I was 16, my family was not car people and I had to do what I could to finally get one to work on. Had plenty of model kits, Hot Wheels, Matchbox, and Corgi cars laying around but the parents didn't get the hint...

don't forget the slot car tracks

 

[RustyRatRod]

5 or 6 helpin Daddy rotate tires on their cars. 9 when I actually started a paying job pumping gas and then changing oil and eventually setting toe in on trucks at a small service station less than a block away from the house where I grew up. I wish I had never done any of it.

 

[Professor Fate]

I grew up on a farm, so I can't honestly remember diving into my first engine- we were ALWAYS working on stuff. Equipment, lawn mowers, pto gearcases, grain trucks, one of 2 or 3 farm cars (one of which was a '47 Plymouth that I first learned to drive in, complete with pieces of 2x4 wired to the pedals so I could reach), etc. The first one of "mine" that I remember was an old Case SC that hadn't run in years; Dad dropped the toolbox at my feet and said "Go tear it down, see what you can do with it". I was about 9 or 10 at the time. Had it running about two weeks later working in my spare time, with advice from Dad, my older brother and uncle along the way.

 

[bcschief]

I purchased my first car when I was 15 almost 16 years old, a 61 Plymouth Belvedere for $300 dollars. A poly 318 and a 2-speed pushbutton Power flight transmission. And the education began.

 

[Bodyperson]

5 or 6 helpin Daddy rotate tires on their cars.

How many "Daddys" did you have?

 

[273]

My Dad had a garage business, probably around 10/11 maybe younger, by 11/12 or so, I was differently helping out around the shop. One of my 1st jobs was stripping parts cars and installing stereo's in cars he would sale.

First performance attempt was putting a V6 in a chevette around 13, never got finished, second was fixing up a 68 Dart was to be my first car but was stolen before I turned 16.

 

[RustyRatRod]

How many "Daddys" did you have?

His and Mama's car dork. lol

 

[RustyRatRod]

My Dad had a garage business, probably around 10/11 maybe younger, by 11/12 or so, I was differently helping out around the shop. One of my 1st jobs was stripping parts cars and installing stereo's in cars he would sale.

First performance attempt was putting a V6 in a chevette around 13, never got finished, second was fixing up a 68 Dart was to be my first car but was stolen before I turned 16.

I always wanted to do a 4.3 5 speed Chevette swap.

 

[fishmens67]

at 13 I was into everything to do with cars and dirt bikes, everything. Dad would give me a manual for what I was working on, he'd say read it and get back to me when you're done the job.
I had a full set of snap on tools by the time I was 15 after grandpa retired from GM.
I started legally driving at 14 during daylight hours.

 

[Bodyperson]

I always wanted to do a 4.3 5 speed Chevette swap.

4 bt would be cool too

 

[273]

I always wanted to do a 4.3 5 speed Chevette swap.

It was a I think a Chev 3.8l and stick out of a Iraqi taxi (Malibu).
Got it in but never got it road worthy.

 

[RustyRatRod]

It was a I think a Chev 3.8l and stick out of a Iraqi taxi (Malibu).
Got it in but never got it road worthy.

Too many people hacked up nice ones for V8 swaps. A V6 would fit right in.

 

[RustyRatRod]

4 bt would be cool too

Yeah, you'd have to cut a hole in the hood for the valve cover.

 

[66fyssh]

Not sure how old I was but I started building "chopper" bicycles. Cutting off the front forks of an old bike and having them welded on at a small machine shop up the road for a couple of bucks.

Started riding mini-bikes around 6 years old and working on them around 11 years old.

At 13 years old, I would hang out at a old shoe factory that had been converted into garage rental spaces. They were rented by high school and older kids that needed a place to work on their cars. It was there I learned a ton about cars and tools. They were awesome guys who didn't realize how much they helped me!!!

I was 15 when I got my first car, a 1972 Duster, from the original Manheim auto auction. That's when I started working on cars for myself.

 

[Bodyperson]

Yeah, you'd have to cut a hole in the hood for the valve cover.

I watch too much of Darnell stuff.

 

[fishmens67]

Not sure how old I was but I started building "chopper" bicycles. Cutting off the front forks of an old bike

We just extended them using old pipe, an older kid down the block put a Briggs 3.5 horse in a Schwinn frame chopper, we thought he was so cool. lol That was 1970 or there about.

 

[Vaanth]

I started working on my toy car at five years old, and I would "help" my father with the real cars.

At eight years old, I started working on real cars. My first "job" was to find the gas leak on our 1964 Valiant with 170 slant six and automatic. I found it... the sending unit seal was seeping, but it was intermittent depending on fuel level and driving conditions.

I continued working on my parents cars through adolescence and teen years with the Valiant, 1958 Belvedere 318, 1962 Chrysler 300 with 383, 1966 Charger 383, 1968 Sport Satellite 383, 1966 Coronet wagon with 361, and 1973 Duster 225, and many others for friends and family, until I got my own car, starting with a 1970 Duster 318 in 1975.

I further continued with cars until this day, but I gave up the cigars at five.

 

[nutz]

Too many people hacked up nice ones for V8 swaps. A V6 would fit right in.

mom had a 76 sis had a 79 stick
i remember on moms my work shoe would stick to the gas peddle so i would have to lift my foot off to hit the brake
was driving one of them in the snow hit a big snow drift 1/4 mile from home ,one of the oly time i ever got stuck
came out later and when i started it made some bad noise
open the hood and it was packed full of snow
only thing i could see was the top of the air filter

 

[nutz]

I started working on my toy car at five years old, and I would "help" my father with the real cars.
View attachment 1716395412

At eight years old, I started working on real cars. My first "job" was to find the gas leak on our 1964 Valiant with 170 slant six and automatic. I found it... the sending unit seal was seeping, but it was intermittent depending on fuel level and driving conditions.
View attachment 1716395413

I continued working on my parents cars through adolescence and teen years with the Valiant, 1958 Belvedere 318, 1962 Chrysler 300 with 383, 1966 Charger 383, 1968 Sport Satellite 383, 1966 Coronet wagon with 361, and 1973 Duster 225, and many others for friends and family, until I got my own car, starting with a 1970 Duster 318.

I further continued with cars until this day, but I gave up the cigars at five.

well i guess where you got your mopar problem from

 

[RustyRatRod]

mom had a 76 sis had a 79 stick
i remember on moms my work shoe would stick to the gas peddle so i would have to lift my foot off to hit the brake
was driving one of them in the snow hit a big snow drift 1/4 mile from home ,one of the oly time i ever got stuck
came out later and when i started it made some bad noise
open the hood and it was packed full of snow
only thing i could see was the top of the air filter

I dated a girl in school whose older sister had a Chevette "scooter" two door with a four speed. Cute little car. So was the older sister. She knew a thing or two.

 

[nutz]

My Dad had a garage business, probably around 10/11 maybe younger, by 11/12 or so, I was differently helping out around the shop. One of my 1st jobs was stripping parts cars and installing stereo's in cars he would sale.

First performance attempt was putting a V6 in a chevette around 13, never got finished, second was fixing up a 68 Dart was to be my first car but was stolen before I turned 16.

my first car was a 57 chevy 2 dr wagon ...think i paid $50 was at the gas station that i pumped gas at
took it all apart never put it back together turned out it was stolen (i knew that ) abandoned at the station ...was told nj would never issue a title

 

[nutz]

I dated a girl in school whose older sister had a Chevette "scooter" two door with a four speed. Cute little car. So was the older sister. She knew a thing or two.

it wasn't my sister was it ?.....they lived in va for a couple of years after we moved ....ha