Most car guys are fake, we're Monday Morning Quarterbacks who gripe about designs we know nothing about, squabble over 0–60 times, and all say we drive a six-speed diesel station wagon. I don't mean to disparage anyone, but it's true, read some posts, make some comments, call people names, and then repeat the next day. I started off on the right path, I have a dad who is a legitimate car guy, I grew up chasing tools in his tricked out, heated garage, rebuilt carburetors with my older brother, and owned a sweet, sweet 1984 GTI for my first car.
So what happened to me? I grew up thinking that I was going to be a mechanic, or an auto body technician, and then boom, I went to college, forgot about my love of actually working on cars, and since then haven't even changed my own oil, rotated my own tires, or stepped foot into any auto parts store. It's a sad reality that I must face, because as a kid, cars defined my relationship with my dad and my brother. We spent time in the garage, talking shop, taking in the aroma of oil-soaked tools while discussing the design of our next project. As a kid we had a revolving door of epic muscle cars, from a Boss 302, to a nearly dead 1972 Corvette, to an absolute dud of a Chevy Luv (for a moment I thought I would stick a small block in it!).
Why the importance of rekindling my love affair of all things auto? For starters, I can only read so many magazines, blogs, and watch videos before I start to question whether or not if I'm just a guy who reads about cars, or am I a guy who actually is a car guy. The next reason is because now I have kids, and both of my kids will benefit from what my brother and I benefited from, which was learning how to work with our hands, thinking creatively, and displaying patience and persistence to work through a serious problem, or project. My goal is to work with readers on understanding what a current car guys looks and acts like and what type of projects can be successfully completed with limited resources and limited expertise.
I'm not looking to simply buy a fixer upper and jump into this journey, rather I want to figure out what else I can do to help my kids appreciate this pastime, learn from "car guys" on what they do with their kids, what car shows to go to, where the best roads are to drive our daily driver on, what museums to see and then, eventually, pull the trigger on scoring a fixer upper to begin working with my kids.
I'm hoping to reconnect, and I need some guidance by real car guys who have used cars to shape their lives and their relationships with their kids.
So what happened to me? I grew up thinking that I was going to be a mechanic, or an auto body technician, and then boom, I went to college, forgot about my love of actually working on cars, and since then haven't even changed my own oil, rotated my own tires, or stepped foot into any auto parts store. It's a sad reality that I must face, because as a kid, cars defined my relationship with my dad and my brother. We spent time in the garage, talking shop, taking in the aroma of oil-soaked tools while discussing the design of our next project. As a kid we had a revolving door of epic muscle cars, from a Boss 302, to a nearly dead 1972 Corvette, to an absolute dud of a Chevy Luv (for a moment I thought I would stick a small block in it!).
Why the importance of rekindling my love affair of all things auto? For starters, I can only read so many magazines, blogs, and watch videos before I start to question whether or not if I'm just a guy who reads about cars, or am I a guy who actually is a car guy. The next reason is because now I have kids, and both of my kids will benefit from what my brother and I benefited from, which was learning how to work with our hands, thinking creatively, and displaying patience and persistence to work through a serious problem, or project. My goal is to work with readers on understanding what a current car guys looks and acts like and what type of projects can be successfully completed with limited resources and limited expertise.
I'm not looking to simply buy a fixer upper and jump into this journey, rather I want to figure out what else I can do to help my kids appreciate this pastime, learn from "car guys" on what they do with their kids, what car shows to go to, where the best roads are to drive our daily driver on, what museums to see and then, eventually, pull the trigger on scoring a fixer upper to begin working with my kids.
I'm hoping to reconnect, and I need some guidance by real car guys who have used cars to shape their lives and their relationships with their kids.
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