Thoughts on this Hobby

[slowforty]

Some days I fix cars.
Other days I stare at them wondering what life choices brought me here.

[Zeke3]

And, what have you come up with so far?

I have been poking around at the edges of the hobby, never able to fully commit to it, for about 62 years. One of these days I will finally decide or my situation will decide for me. Anyway, I still have fun with it.

[ford38v8]

Depends in large part on our parent’s life style when we got our first cars. Rich kids had sports cars tended by foreign car garages, kids with working parents got Fords and enjoyed building them to go faster than sports cars.
Those kids with turtle neck sweaters transported golf clubs and snow skis while blue collar kids carried tow ropes and chain falls. The well to do wore tweed coats and frequented the services of manicurists while greasers wore Levi’s and cleaned thier fingernails with toad stickers. Life styles represent choices that are made for us by our environment and our peers.

[jimTN]

I grew up around dirt track racing and had to stand on the wooden seats to see over the heads of those in front of me. As a teenager I got to be friends with a lot of those old racers and appreciated the flathead for what it was in the fifties. Then got into a Model A with a 8rt and a 50 cpe which I put a Olds in and built a round track car out of a 39cpe and others. Off to the military and Hawaii, bought a 39 std cpe and that was our car for three yrs and shipped it home and lots more early Fords since then. To me, the early years made sense and were easy to work on and find parts for.

[Flathead Fever]

I loved cars so I became a mechanic. I worked on cars every day, every hour and every minute. I collected around 15 cars so I would have something to do when I retired. Built a 2500 sf garage with 30' car port, put a hoist in When I retired I had back surgery, then a stroke. Now I just lay around and don't do much of anything. All those cars are sitting out in the garage, a '66 Shelby, '70 Boss 302 Mustang, '32 3-window. '32 5-window, real '32 roadster flathead highboy was my dad's, '32 Brookville roadster on an original flathead chassis, stock '29 Roadster, '29 Bonneville Boss 302 powered roadster. '33 pickup, '34 pickup, two '64 Falcons, 1915 Mack truck, 1923 Mack truck,'34 1 1/2-ton Ford truck and a few more. I must have at least 20 flathead motors out there. lots of speed equipment, I was buying it when it was cheap. I can do the work including the paint, I have one of my stalls converted into a paint booth. I just don't feel well enough to go out and do anything. My advice, don't wait until you retire to work on projects because you just don't know what shape you'll be in. Plus, I have three little grandkids to play with now. I could go out to the gargage and work on stuff. I think more than anything I'm just burned out on working on cars. Don't become a mechanic!!!!!!! Cars are better as a hobby, not so much as career.

I raised by Ford restorers, never had to chance to be a normal kid.

[petehoovie]

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Originally Posted by Flathead Fever

I loved cars so I became a mechanic. I worked on cars every day, every hour and every minute. I collected around 15 cars so I would have something to do when I retired. Built a 2500 sf garage with 30' car port, put a hoist in When I retired I had back surgery, then a stroke. Now I just lay around and don't do much of anything. All those cars are sitting out in the garage, a '66 Shelby, '70 Boss 302 Mustang, '32 3-window. '32 5-window, real '32 roadster flathead highboy was my dad's, '32 Brookville roadster on an original flathead chassis, stock '29 Roadster, '29 Bonneville Boss 302 powered roadster. '33 pickup, '34 pickup, two '64 Falcons, 1915 Mack truck, 1923 Mack truck,'34 1 1/2-ton Ford truck and a few more. I must have at least 20 flathead motors out there. lots of speed equipment, I was buying it when it was cheap. I can do the work including the paint, I have one of my stalls converted into a paint booth. I just don't feel well enough to go out and do anything. My advice, don't wait until you retire to work on projects because you just don't know what shape you'll be in. Plus, I have three little grandkids to play with now. I could go out to the gargage and work on stuff. I think more than anything I'm just burned out on working on cars. Don't become a mechanic!!!!!!! Cars are better as a hobby, not so much as career.

I raised by Ford restorers, never had to chance to be a normal kid.

[AZMerc39]

Originally Posted by Flathead Fever

I loved cars so I became a mechanic. I worked on cars every day, every hour and every minute. I collected around 15 cars so I would have something to do when I retired. Built a 2500 sf garage with 30' car port, put a hoist in When I retired I had back surgery, then a stroke. Now I just lay around and don't do much of anything. All those cars are sitting out in the garage, a '66 Shelby, '70 Boss 302 Mustang, '32 3-window. '32 5-window, real '32 roadster flathead highboy was my dad's, '32 Brookville roadster on an original flathead chassis, stock '29 Roadster, '29 Bonneville Boss 302 powered roadster. '33 pickup, '34 pickup, two '64 Falcons, 1915 Mack truck, 1923 Mack truck,'34 1 1/2-ton Ford truck and a few more. I must have at least 20 flathead motors out there. lots of speed equipment, I was buying it when it was cheap. I can do the work including the paint, I have one of my stalls converted into a paint booth. I just don't feel well enough to go out and do anything. My advice, don't wait until you retire to work on projects because you just don't know what shape you'll be in. Plus, I have three little grandkids to play with now. I could go out to the gargage and work on stuff. I think more than anything I'm just burned out on working on cars. Don't become a mechanic!!!!!!! Cars are better as a hobby, not so much as career.

I raised by Ford restorers, never had to chance to be a normal kid.

If you ever eventually decide to sell some stuff, id love to eventually buy some. My 39 needs lots of love.

[95476]

I do the same,most of the time I just consider them as art. Hard to part with, too many memories over the years. Better than hitting the bars .

[Steve51]

Don't become a collector unless you have really deep pockets. How can a person deal with 10 or 15 old cars that need constant tinkering? It becomes overwhelming. Two is plenty....one to drive and one to work on because something will always need attention on one of them.sure I see cars all the time that I would like and can afford but I purposely only have space for two. Only recently have I become a two car guy due to inheriting one. Its enough if I want to enjoy driving them.

[GB SISSON]

I like this thread. In the short time since it appeared I have thought about what I would add and changed it a number of times. In fact I just wrote a paragraph about endless wrenching on vehicle #4 versus the same time and effort spent on more meaningful endeavors in human terms, but I deleted it all. I love this hobby, I love my wife and my kids and grandkids and I love spending time with them and I think it's safe to say that they are happy I have a hobby I enjoy so I'm not bugging them all the time. Thanks for starting this thread Slowforty.

[ThirstyThirty]

Originally Posted by GB SISSON

I like this thread. < > Thanks for starting this thread Slowforty.

yeah - it's a good one! I have a file in Saved where I put certain FB thread titles so I don't have to go and try to find them, hunt them down...

This thread is one of them!

[Newc]

My dad hated old cars-pushed them tooo much, he had 750 prize ROSE bushes. I have three full barns and ONE rose bush- can't stand gardening. Newc

[petehoovie]

Originally Posted by Newc

My dad hated old cars-pushed them tooo much, he had 750 prize ROSE bushes. I have three full barns and ONE rose bush- can't stand gardening. Newc

A friend of mine once bought a YOGO. I asked him why he would buy such a POS car? He replied: "It's because it's easy to push"...

[vincent]

Wonderful hobby, there is a lot of satisfaction when all the work that I put into the car (34 Ford Tudor) results in nice rides without any problems. After putting a blower on top of the engine it results in even more smiles on my face. Yesterday evening my dog and me took a nice ride in the Neckar valley - empty roads, no potholes, warm weather. So we cruised at 65mph/2000rpm. On the rails near the road an Intercity Expresstrain came up and slowly overtook us. So I pressed the fun pedal a bit more and we overtook him again with around 80mph. When back home in the shed I grabbed a beer, switched on good music and sat half an hour in the car, still smiling and thinking, I would not want to give up this for anything in the world.

[richard crow]

the hobby is getting to expensive.

[rockfla]

Flathead Fever


That is a list of "Dreams" there!!!! Some I can only "wish" I could afford and enjoy.

[19Fordy]

Originally Posted by richard crow

the hobby is getting to expensive.

It's all relative to the cost of earning a living. Labor rates are through the roof.
As has been mentioned in other comments in other threads about the future of our hobby, auctions show the price of early Fords is dropping.
Younger folks want muscle cars and old cars with modern technology and drivability at highway speeds.

[GB SISSON]

To the generation now coming into the hobby a 65 mustang IS an old car and to many it's an ancient car. A stock prewar ford is as exciting to them as a stock brass era model T was to us. 'Quaint, but what do you do with it?' As far as labor rates, 2 days ago I learned that the three primary auto repair shops on the island are 165.00/hr, 185.00/hr and 200.00/hr. Fortunately it's been many years since I have had a car worked on.

[PeteVS]

Originally Posted by GB SISSON

To the generation now coming into the hobby a 65 mustang IS an old car and to many it's an ancient car. A stock prewar ford is as exciting to them as a stock brass era model T was to

A friend just bought a 2000 Lincoln? Here in New Jersey you can put "QQ" (historic) plates on anything 25 years old or older. He put them on his newest car.

[BlueSunoco]

Originally Posted by PeteVS

A friend just bought a 2000 Lincoln? Here in New Jersey you can put "QQ" (historic) plates on anything 25 years old or older. He put them on his newest car.

I saw Antique Plates on a guy's 1999 F-150 the other day. It caught me off guard and then I remembered you can run them in Illinois on ANY vehicle 25 years old and older

Man am I getting old, or what! For all of Illinois' faults so far they have been very good to the antique and classic car hobby folks!