We really are at the tipping point...

[keithb7]

1 hour ago, Worden18 said:

My '18 Ram Ecodiesel was a piece of junk lemon.  I had to trade it off.  Yet my Meadowbrook will start and run when it's 100F or -33F. 

 

It's unfortunate to hear that @Worden18.  Your comments confirm my decision about buying  my 1998 RAM Cummins 2500! Lol.

 

I had another good day today with my son (born 1997) working on his car. He bought his used car 4 years ago for $2,200 US funds. Had 50,000 miles on it then. He's never had it in to any garage except mine. He's donned coveralls and assisted or performed every maintenance or repair performed since he bought it. It's been a great car and his cost per mile is unbelievably low. A 2000 Ford Focus. Yes, lots of plastic but so far holding out very well.  No rust! Today is has 84,000 miles. Last year he drove it to LA and Vegas and back home here in Canada.  It fires up every day in any weather. He could literally drop  a molotov cocktail in it tomorrow and still be ahead financially. He is interested in saving money, so this leads to his car maintenance work. I make it pretty easy and convenient with a heated, dry garage and all the tools he needs. Will his work evolve into love for vintage cars? I'm not sure. You never know. When he gets older he may pine for the old days when he worked with his Dad on cars in the garage. A simple old '38 Plymouth Deluxe might be right up his alley. I sure hope so. Again, it'll be easy. Dad already has a '38, also all the reference manuals ever needed. A support network on-line. Boxes of spare parts. Tools and experience....Could be an easy transition when I can't get under the car any more!

[pflaming]

6 hours ago, keithb7 said:

when I can't get under the car any more!

At 81 I’m almost there. Slow going down and slower getting up, will need to get under the Suburban today to install ny homemade floor shifter, then drive with it, to learn how it works in real time. Just now making notes on the project. 
 

Happy New Year to all! 

[Worden18]

6 hours ago, keithb7 said:

 

It's unfortunate to hear that @Worden18.  Your comments confirm my decision about buying  my 1998 RAM Cummins 2500! Lol.

 

I had another good day today with my son (born 1997) working on his car. He bought his used car 4 years ago for $2,200 US funds. Had 50,000 miles on it then. He's never had it in to any garage except mine. He's donned coveralls and assisted or performed every maintenance or repair performed since he bought it. It's been a great car and his cost per mile is unbelievably low. A 2000 Ford Focus. Yes, lots of plastic but so far holding out very well.  No rust! Today is has 84,000 miles. Last year he drove it to LA and Vegas and back home here in Canada.  It fires up every day in any weather. He could literally drop  a molotov cocktail in it tomorrow and still be ahead financially. He is interested in saving money, so this leads to his car maintenance work. I make it pretty easy and convenient with a heated, dry garage and all the tools he needs. Will his work evolve into love for vintage cars? I'm not sure. You never know. When he gets older he may pine for the old days when he worked with his Dad on cars in the garage. A simple old '38 Plymouth Deluxe might be right up his alley. I sure hope so. Again, it'll be easy. Dad already has a '38, also all the reference manuals ever needed. A support network on-line. Boxes of spare parts. Tools and experience....Could be an easy transition when I can't get under the car any more!

Big difference between the '98 with the Cummins and the '18 with the Fiat diesel.  You did good!  Mine had major design flaws they just didn't know how to deal with or fix.

[Bingster]

I've written a couple of oral history books where people of a certain genre talk about their lives. A good case in point is the 80 year old Mopar service tech you met when you where 21. If someone could have sat him down and asked him to go through the rebuilding of certain parts and assemblies, they'd be preserved for eternity, well almost.

It's kinda like the WWII vets that are interviewed on You Tube who were B-17 pilots or gunners or whatever.  It seems to me that possibly somebody like Jay Leno or some of the other "Barn Find" jocks on You Tube might know of the whereabouts of some of these guys.

If a 70+ year old guy had started working on old cars when he was 18, and grew up with them, he might still be alive and have at least more knowledge than most of us do. Besides, back then - even though they were technically "old cars", they weren't yet to the classic stage. My dad bought me a 1953 Chrysler New Yorker or some such big car from an old lady when I was 18 around 1973. At that time the car was only about eleven years old. 

I can tell you that these old guys love to be asked about their lives and their knowledge.  

[Sam Buchanan]

41 minutes ago, Bingster said:

My dad bought me a 1953 Chrysler New Yorker or some such big car from an old lady when I was 18 around 1973. At that time the car was only about eleven years old. 

 

One of the skills that erode when we get old is math..........       ?  ?

[Bingster]

You're quite right!

[Jeff Balazs]

On 12/26/2019 at 2:40 PM, Plymouthy Adams said:

 

 

Where we're going, we don't need any roads...….

 

 

I am guessing you are further on down that road than I am. Besides I am fairly certain someone in my family wants my truck......

Jeff