Tools for future generations

[Oberstar]

I posted this on another favorite website, but I get most of my Dodge knowledge and help from you guys- I hope you can appreciate my gratitude for your help in building old flatheads!

 

This guy never knew his Great-Grandfather. If he had, he would have been proud that the most influential person in our 26 family member community (we all live within a few miles of each other- was a damn yankee from Chicago . He enlisted in the USAF in 1949 out of Van Nuys, California and was a part of the California Air National Guard. That unit then was sent to Donaldson AFB, Greenville, SC around 1951. For extra cash, he would do brake jobs and vehicle maintenance work for Officers on the installation. He met my Grandmother here, and while explaining to her Grandfather the relationship, he shook his cane at him and said , "You damn Yankee!"

He was always in his humble SC shop working on cars, not out of enjoyment or hobby, but out of necessity. The garage is perhaps a 2 car at the most, cinder block, and open eaves for humid SC weather. No AC, no heat, no music . He had all of the knowledge, but no space. I have an immense amount of space, but not even a portion of his German smarts.

It wasn't until after he passed- me enjoying jeeps, Dodges, and all manner of MV's, that my Dad commented that I must have gotten the bug from Grandpa. When I asked him what he meant, he then told me that Grandpa had been a motorpool mechanic during the KW, and showed me pictures of him in front of an old MB/GPW and a WC52 while stationed in North Africa. I was floored. No one else in our family messes with these old vehicles, and sometimes I wonder if it truly is a genetic link.

This is his Great Grandson. Jake is 13, a typical American boy, and works with me on a CJ2A and WC52 now. He's got his own wartime tool kit, and knows a lot more at his age than I ever did. Here's Jake cleaning the threads on a T-214 motor from a 43 WC. He finished lapping all 12 valves with his Great-Grandfather's ZIM hand grinder- flawless execution!  The tool of choice is a Vlchek raised panel DBE WBH2022. Vlchek DOE's are about to be put into service as well.

 

 

[jmooner3]

Awesome story! I love that your boy is into it too! My Jake is the funny looking gear shift in the 49! He's 17 now and I'm looking forward not only to my first drive in old blue but his too...Perhaps I've planted the seed of tinkering in him as well... Thanks for sharing the story.

Cheers,

Jayson