RunninOnEmpty
Well-known member
So there's a recent thread How do you do it? where jbailly asks how some of you afford your awesome garages. In the thread several people have gotten off-track and have been discussing various reasons WHY they do what they do rather than how they afford it. In that thread there are some touching stories regarding families. I thought we could discuss that in a separate thread. Maybe if the people who posted in the other thread about this topic would be willing to re-post or directly link their other posts in that thread here.
Here's my story.
I've always loved cars. My dad was into cars his whole life. He was a mechanic for much of his life and as a child, I watched from a distance as he did a lot of work to his own cars, aside from his job as a mechanic. He often drove pieces of ****, like many mechanics, because they were cheap and he could fix them himself. He owned a few Ford and Chevy trucks. He had owned lots of cool cars when he was younger including an AMC Javelin and others but the only cool car he owned when I was alive was a Fox-body Mustang.
Despite not watching him do much car work, I myself still got into cars. Like many of you I grew up with posters of the Lamborghini Countach and Ferraris and other car posters on my wall. My dad always told me we were going to build a hot rod together. We never really decided what sort of hot rod it would be, but personally I always imagined it to be something from the 1920s or 1930s, maybe based on a Ford Model A. Yes, the car is from long before my time.
Unfortunately he ended up getting injured at work. My dad was not in a position to turn down work. Eventually it got so bad that he was forced to retire and he had back surgery which didn't go well. He was unable to work on cars after that. I was still pretty young at the time. I think this was a couple years before I was old enough to drive.
I got my first car, an 89 Camaro and I did some work to that car. He would sometimes come out to the garage and give me a few tips, though more often he would just tease me about my lack of skill, which honestly frustrated me at the time. I remember one time I replaced a wheel hub on my second car not long after and I looked for the longest "ratchet" to remove the axle nut. Well, that turned out to be his Snap On torque wrench which he'd never taught me proper care on. Yeah, he got just as pissed as you did reading that sentence.
A few years later, I started asking him when we were going to build that hotrod. He always gave me the runaround. I think back then I really underestimated the amount of trouble his back gave him. I feel really bad about it.
A few months before I turned 21, my father passed away unexpectedly.
I'm hoping to have my own house in a couple years. One thing I can say for sure: That hotrod WILL get built and even though my dad can't help, I know he'll be there in spirit... teasing me for every mistake I make and for everything that takes me five times as long to do as it would for him. And I know he'll be with me in spirit when I take it out to have some fun.
Do any of you have family-related stories relating to what you do? Or stories that have motivated you to do as an adult what you couldn't do with your family in your younger years?
Edit: If this should've been in Free Parking, feel free to move it, mods. I posted it in the same section as the thread I linked, and then thought to myself that maybe it should've been in there.
Here's my story.
I've always loved cars. My dad was into cars his whole life. He was a mechanic for much of his life and as a child, I watched from a distance as he did a lot of work to his own cars, aside from his job as a mechanic. He often drove pieces of ****, like many mechanics, because they were cheap and he could fix them himself. He owned a few Ford and Chevy trucks. He had owned lots of cool cars when he was younger including an AMC Javelin and others but the only cool car he owned when I was alive was a Fox-body Mustang.
Despite not watching him do much car work, I myself still got into cars. Like many of you I grew up with posters of the Lamborghini Countach and Ferraris and other car posters on my wall. My dad always told me we were going to build a hot rod together. We never really decided what sort of hot rod it would be, but personally I always imagined it to be something from the 1920s or 1930s, maybe based on a Ford Model A. Yes, the car is from long before my time.
Unfortunately he ended up getting injured at work. My dad was not in a position to turn down work. Eventually it got so bad that he was forced to retire and he had back surgery which didn't go well. He was unable to work on cars after that. I was still pretty young at the time. I think this was a couple years before I was old enough to drive.
I got my first car, an 89 Camaro and I did some work to that car. He would sometimes come out to the garage and give me a few tips, though more often he would just tease me about my lack of skill, which honestly frustrated me at the time. I remember one time I replaced a wheel hub on my second car not long after and I looked for the longest "ratchet" to remove the axle nut. Well, that turned out to be his Snap On torque wrench which he'd never taught me proper care on. Yeah, he got just as pissed as you did reading that sentence.
A few years later, I started asking him when we were going to build that hotrod. He always gave me the runaround. I think back then I really underestimated the amount of trouble his back gave him. I feel really bad about it.
A few months before I turned 21, my father passed away unexpectedly.
I'm hoping to have my own house in a couple years. One thing I can say for sure: That hotrod WILL get built and even though my dad can't help, I know he'll be there in spirit... teasing me for every mistake I make and for everything that takes me five times as long to do as it would for him. And I know he'll be with me in spirit when I take it out to have some fun.
Do any of you have family-related stories relating to what you do? Or stories that have motivated you to do as an adult what you couldn't do with your family in your younger years?
Edit: If this should've been in Free Parking, feel free to move it, mods. I posted it in the same section as the thread I linked, and then thought to myself that maybe it should've been in there.
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