This post from tof inspired this poll and thread


I also find it interesting that Herman got a lot of his 'car genes' from his uncle. Feel free to use this thead to expound about ANY family 'love of cars' stories. The "son/dtr" poll questions are only to 'get the juices flowing...'


Mod edit: This page represents the restored initial PO entry. The thread (not this post) has been sanitized, and is open to continued posting.

 

Interesting timig: the beater Integra just required a water pump and timing belt this weekend. I used to have "car genes' but I'm afraid I getting a little "light in the loafers" as I age.

 

I was the only one in my family that ever cared about cars. They all just consider them transportation. But....I hate working on them now a days. Bring back the days when you could actually work on a car without a degree in computer science.

 

^^ Totally agree with you David. I am reasonably familiar with my early 80s Honda models but the new stuff scares the heck out of me.

Once I move and am working in a garage a few days a week I am hoping that instead of paying the guys to work on my cars I can pay them to teach me HOW to do some of the work myself.

I'm gonna have access to a lift again!

 

I used to have a BMW 2002 TII. I worked on that car every weekend. sometimes for fun - sometimes because I had to to keep it running. The damn thing had to be tuned every 3000 miles, and would eat points for breakfast. I sold that car in 1994, and haven't spent much time working on cars since.

I recently helped a friend replace the starter on an 89 Dodge Ram 50 (small pickup) and it reminded me of how much I hate working on cars these days. The bottom of the truck was coated with grime and grease that would fall into our eyes every time we moved our hands. To get the upper starter bolt out, you had to snake your hand back through this rats nest of tubing and wires to get a wrench on it, and then you could only turn the bolt a 1/4 turn every time you put a wrench on it, so it took all afternoon to take out one bolt.

 

It all started in 1971 with a Honda motorcycle. When the shop didn't do what they said, I decided to take the bull by the horns and do the work myself.

That was followed by a series of British (and 1 Italian) sports cars. As everyone knows, the best way to become a top notch mechanic is to own a British (or Italian) sports car. Even when you finally got something fixed, you had to fix it again the next week. I owned 4. (I even still have my old Whitworth spanners).

All the while my father used to laugh at me. He had kept his car running in the late 1930s and early 1940s and was quite good at it, but he wondered why anyone would want to bother anymore. Still, I think it brought back memories and he even helped me to pay for my collection of tools. Secretly I think he saw a little of himself in me. Not to suggest that I could ever fill his shoes, but you know the old saying about the acorn not falling too far from the tree.

Fast forward 30 years. Now I have two sons of my own. My oldest, with whom I'm very close, has no interest what so ever in cars except as a means of getting from point A to point B. But my youngest, Adam, who many of you have met, is just as car crazy as I am. A fun day for us is a day spent getting dirty by tinkering with the car. We change oil every 1,000 miles, not because we have to, but because we both have a need to do something to the car. Sometimes, just for relaxation we'll rotate the tires on the Si or Liz's car.

Adam taught himself to drive by driving our garden tractor at the age of 10. Now that he's 14 he has been driving the S and the Si up and down my driveway and around the block. He is as good as anyone at driving manual and probably could pass his road test today. I think the acorn once again has fallen not too far from the tree.

I think there is something to car genes. Its in the DNA.

 

I can't remember the first time I worked on a car but I'm told I was three or four when I 'fixed" a neighbors car with a hammer and screwdriver.

but seriously my grandfather had a garage in Maine.
My dad broke both his ankles at 13 so my granddad set him up a low bench and he rebuilt his first engine during his recuperation.
Working on cars continued so i was always under the hood with my dad although I don't really recall what I learned or what we did other than that it was expected that you fix your own cars.
My dad died when I was 17 so my education process slowed a might since many activities were now trial and error. I did have a lot of my dad's friends to fall back on for help and quickly learned that when buying parts to make sure I got the "Mechanics discount".

As I mentioned in the previous incarnation of this thread, the genes don;t appear to have been passed although I have had #2 son under the hood doing brakes. Not sure he that he enjoyed it but since it is the car he gets to drive it wasn't an optional activity. of course he has turned down the option of learning to the to s2000 so I'm not holding my breath.

 

Great stories

As I noted before, my bro got all the Car Genes in my family....so I'm jealous of all of you that had 'wrenching' experience in your youth! I'm sad that he's not well now....since we could do some 'car stuff' together. Before his emphysema restricted him pretty much to his home, he spent dozens of hour restoring a '50 Ford....not 'frame off' but hand forming steel replacements for many areas of the body. It's now pretty complete and in primer....just waiting for the $$ for a decent paint job



I hope that more of you post, or re-post pictures (Rob, Patty )

 

Three generations of car genes. The same photo separated by 25 years.

Me, my dad and my TD (about 1980)



Me, my son and my S (about 2003)


Of course Adam is a young man now. He's much bigger, but still car crazy. Unfortunately my father is gone now. It was four years on September 15th.

 

Thanks for adding the pics Rob