Young "Car Guys"

Along the lines of Lloyd's thread...how do the male equivalent fare? Are young sons as knowlegable or even into cars these days? Never had kids here so don't have any first hand experiance. But when I was growing up, it seemed all the guys were into cars,trucks, motorcycles in some fashion.

I ask cause I'm just back from the car wash getting a customer truck washed up for delivery. I was wearing the Vette jacket Laurie got me for Christmas. So three young fellas are toweling it off. One turns to me and says "you have a Corvette? " I said yeah a 99. He asks...Does it have a V8? 8-) I said yeah, they all do unless you got one of the first years. He mumbled something about thinking the 80s had V6s. Definitely not a car guy.:S

My oldest son missed the oily hands gene as did my middle son, but my youngest son got the gene and went through the GM apprentice program and is a GM wrench now.

A kid born in 90 I basically raised from 92 till 99 or so learned a great deal of mechanics from watching me and is into all cars but hot rods the ricers just by knowledge he learned from his peers to build the cars from other peoples cars parts:X

But he doesnt do drugs or drink.

Hello Jim hehe of course the kids round here (99% Hispanic or Haitian) have no clue what my GT is but they flock to it, like at weekend car shows I've started doing, and I find the younger ones (say 10-14) going "o snap a car my size, can you put rims on it yo, what you got for a (sound) system "

LMAO!!

But several older ones have expressed genuine curiousity and interest, asked for websites etc ... and "will you help me fix it if I get one?" Oh God ... in spite of having my hands full with my own, I probably would hehe 8-)

I know around here a lot of kids would say "yeah!"
But they just like what they see on tv and don't really know what they're lookin at

We'd better start educating them or we won't have anyone to sell our to once we're sent to the home. Also, who's going to repair them?

I have two sons, 21 and 13...no the second wasn't a mistake.:) Neither one wants anything to do with cars. When i work on my older son's car i have to force him to help. I could be under the car and ask him to adjust the light or hand me a part and he'll do it...when he's done texting!!!!!!!!!!!!!:X

This video about sums it up.

http://www.break.com/index/thanks-for-not-pulling-out.html

My dad's family has always had a knack for mechanical things. I inherited it from him and his brothers. There's German and Swiss blood in the family, I think it's genetic and also due to exposure that we all love things with engines.

Mechanical things with engines (earlier on scooters, minibikes, gas RC cars, more recently cars) have always been my thing.

I don't care if it's the last one on earth, I want my kids to be exposed to that sort of stuff. My dad made it a point to teach me about that stuff at a young age and it really extends into so many parts of your life. It's all SO valuable!

Problem is, I think, less and less kids these days are being exposed to that sort of stuff. Many folks my age are deathly afraid of doing any sort of automotive maintenance. I don't get it!!!

I was tuning up my Dad's 51 Chevy even before I was old enough to drive. My son is now 41 and watched me work on cars as he was growing up. Unfortunately none of it soaked in. I doubt if he can even chage a light bulb on one of his high tech vehicles.

I feel bad for those who's offspring didn't get the "car gene" I am fortunate that my son, 24 years old, has the interest as well as the aptitude to keep his MGB on the road. We have come to the point where I ask him for help as often as he asks for mine. I wish I could offer advice on how the get them interested, but sometimes it just happens.
Bruce

My son grew up around my working on cars and a good many other things, but inherited his mother's genes for music and mine for other interests. Not disappointed as I never really expected that any of our kids would end up being like us or our parents. If they did, fine. If not, well, fine too. Healthy, happy, successful in their chosen field, great as parents, have good relations with others, I guess that was enough.

HEY JIM, YOU FORGOT ME. I'm only 13 and have 2 B's of my own. I've always LOVED cars, but before I got my B's I didn't really "know" cars. Now that I've got my own I'm learning a lot from you guys and my parents. I probably know how to do things that the "modern" grown up can't do. But there is still A LOT of things I don't know and I'm glad I'm learning. My step-brother, 18, has been messing with trucks since he was a baby. He has rebuilt numerous engines, transmission, etc. I also have a few friends that are HUGE on trucks all about my age. In fact one of them just rebuilt some carbs for his old blazer. So yes, some children do "know" cars, probably not as much as there used to be, but they're out there. And I am going to keep trying to get others involved and keep my own passion going.

Olin

When I was a kid I learned all I could about cars. I knew some day I would buy one that I could work on and would be mine. I found a 1968 Mustang that needed a little work, but was very drivable. My parents could help me buy it, but not fix it. Though they were not too keen on the idea that I would redo the suspension or do a complete brake job on the car. They soon learned that these jobs were within my capabilities and further encouraged my education. In time I had a pretty nice Mustang that I took to college (12 hours one way) and drove everyday for work when I graduated. Thankfully that Mustang is still with me, locked in the garage behind a couple of MGB's.

Our son (now 12) has a keen interest in cars and MG's in particular. This is a good thing as many of our family vacations have been MG road trips to one event or another. I don't see the same passion for cars in him that I had, but he is aware of cool cars and probably knows more than most (or all) of his classmates when it comes to old cars. Maybe I need to keep in mind that his whole life has been spent with old cars and understand that his desire to do other things like video games or baseball does not take away from his passion for cars. To keep the fire going and to satisfy our own desires we purchased another project car for us to restore. It's a 1967 MGB GT that we will all work on together and if he earns it and learns how to take care of it will be his first car. This is something my parents could not do for me, but because of what my parents did do we can do for our son. Our friends have also played a big part in fueling his passion by giving him rides in cars he never dreamed he would get a chance to ride in. Heck he has been in more of them then I have B-)

Here he is backing the GT off the trailer for the first time.

My 27 year old son got the bug as a teenager when helping me with my mechanical hobby. He's now a master mechanic at a local Acura dealer. I'm proud that he went to tech school to earn his skills. I learned all along under the shade tree.

When I was a kid, I helped my dad with car, mostly by holding a light or passing tools. As time passed, those roles slowly changed. Fast forward to now. I'm 48 years old and my dad had his car over at my house Sunday afternoon and I was doing his brakes. I guess that's the circle of life.

I have 4 kids, all girls. The youngest is now 11 and is starting to show some interest in helping me.

I am 36. I have 3 children, 11, 7, and 6. I have always been a "car guy"; first job was at an auto-body and salvage yard, pulling engines, stripping cars, sanding, prepping, and priming cars. My oldest is thus far fairly indifferent. He seems to be more interested in his video games. My daughter is willing and has an interest in anything I do, but she doesn't seem to want to help. That's perfectly fine with me, as she will always be my "little lady". I did take her on a little nighttime cruise tonight, just the two of us. Now my youngest, who is autistic by the way, told me tonight, "Dad, is this your blue car? It's so beautiful!" This same boy went with me to look at a basket case of a Porsche 914 a couple of months ago, and completely out of the blue said "Dad, I love it, I love it! Is this for me?" That sort of thing just makes me so proud!

Too many other distractions to occupy their "time."
Knowing about cars/engines/mechanics is less of an actual necessity.

My 17 yr old barely watched me restore my 73 the last 3 years, then we got him a 260Z. He's reluctantly taken ownership of it's needs and wants, mostly because if he doesn't he ain't driven. He's gotta into it, but it is something that is learned.

6 years ago I sold my two XJ-S's (one was the driver and the other was the parts car, 10 numbers apart) to a 14 year old escorted by his father. They both were actually driveable and the Dad took a liking to the rusty parts car and the boy couldn't wait to show off his Jag to his older brothers that had Chevy's. I took that whole scenario as telling that there are kids that will work on "stuff".
My kids will work on stuff, but are busy doing other stuff.
Chris...

Kinda disturbing and is talked about occasionally when around a lot of family. All my grandfathers where very crafty individuals from carpenters to mechanics to electronic engineers, and my father is an outstanding tedious craftsman, and me and my brother the same. My son on the other hand is currently playing MOdern Warfare 3 with his friends online. Now don't get me wrong, he is good at math, knows how to help me frame in a wall and can take his ATV apart, but really has know desire too.

Kind of said, not sure if it is product of society or because he has always been around turning wrenches (making him not want too).

I painted my first car at age 14, rebuilt my first engine at 13 and was rebuilding suspensions somehwere inbetween and have a wide array of vehicles as far as I'm concerned, but he has know desire to work on them.

My two stepsons have very different interests and abilities when it comes to cars. The younger has been a car nut since he was 9 years old. He started by building model cars, then reading automotive magazines, collecting Hot Wheels, then owning a number of different cars since he was able to. All he talks about is cars, and is a trivia encyclopedia. However, he has no mechanical aptitude and everything he tries to do on a car takes forever and usually turns into a disaster. He makes the same mistakes over and over.

The older has never had any interest in cars, but now in his mid 30s he brings his cars over to my workshop and changes the oil, does brakes, and we did a clutch on one of them. Recently we swapped out a throttle body on his wife's Camry, which was acting up. He's patient and methodical, remembers everything, and never makes the same mistake twice. He still has about zero interest in cars as an automotive enthusiast, but does what he needs to do on his cars and is genuinely interested in learning for the sake of learning.

If the younger son is here when we are working on the older son's car, the younger one spends the whole time talking about cars...while we are fixing the car. 8-)

My 20 yr old step-son enjoys the cars and can't wait until he turns 25 so that he can drive one legally. We often go onto back roads where he gets to slip behind the wheel. He even has his own TR7 for a while. I wouldn't be surprised if his next "first" car is a MGF.

My soon to be 22 yr. old college boy has never had a driving permit.

Generally, I think there are as many real young car guys out there as there were in the past. We just don't recognize them as such.

Much of the new car guy world is 'plug and play'. It does not involve machine shop work on the internals of the engine. It's removing one component or system and replacing it with a better one (like putting on the Moss Supercharger, he-heh) and covers every aspect of a vehicle's performance, including the music system.

Tuners and the subset of drifters are a big group of young car guys, as shown in the success of the Fast & Furious movies. They are also the 'sports car guys and hot-rodders' we were forty years ago. They do unbelieveable things to their cars and the quality of workmanship and performance they extract from them is astounding. Our problem with them seems to stem from the fact they think of our restored old crocks the way we thought of restored Model Ts, "Yeah, thats cool for a parade, maybe, but a 327 and cheater slicks would be so much better than that crappy four and skinny tires." Their influence on the world's car manufacturers is evident in every single new vehicle on the road.

Off Roaders and 4X truckers certainly include a big group of young car guys who do their own work.

Then there are the young car guys who are the market for all the new high tech Pony Cars...

I've got my personal young car guy. He's a 20 year old engineering student at the local university I met through my wife. He's thinking when he finishes his BA, he will go to McPherson College for a second BA in automotive restoration. He loves old cars and has been a real help on my MG, especially at times when I get bogged down in completing some tedious task, or simply have to have a strong, competent helper. Thanks Micah for being there.

Agree'd on the 4x4 thing
Drove past the high school
Line of trucks about 10 trucks long
70' 80's
Smallest had about 37in tires

Our middle son will carry on the mechanical tradition in our family. That's him in the avatar. All three of the boys helped with the restoration, but he was always working on the car. He's now studying mechanical and biomedical engineering at Carnegie Mellon, so he'll be able to better fix the MG or whip up a prosthetic limb for me.

Another thread about the kids not into old cars. To them a 2005 is old. The key to getting someone interested is exposure. Pull them away from the games, Facebook, internet, TV, exc and get their hands greasy! Simple as that.

My niece just turned 3 and she loves to be out in the shop with me while I work on the B. I've asked her if she wants to take a ride in it when I'm done and she jumps up and down screaming YES!!! So you might have another enthusiast down the road as well.

I have a feeling I'll be doing another B restoration in about 13 years........ yay B-)

You are too cool, Olin.

Why thank you Dave, I guess you could say the same about yourself :I3:

I can second a change in trends. I am a 20 year old college student studying auto service so I can become "qualified" to work on the modern stuff. I have owned my 68 mgc gt for three years now, and am just finishing up a restoration completed by myself that included a rebuild of the auto box and a full sill replacement. Before that, I have owned my 1961 triumph tiger cub since I was 14. I have always loved cars, and especially old British makes. It supprises me that even while in class with fellow students, they have little idea what an mg is. "who makes that?" is probably the most common question I get, and forget trying to explain why the fuel pump has points, or even what points are for that matter. Even in need of a paint job, it's amazing how much attention the car can attract, you'd think a Ferrari or something of the sort had pulled in to the shop. While 15" spoked rims and a single speaker AM radio may not have the "swag" the tuners, tweekers, and ricers are after, it is the refreshingly simple yet overly effective mechanics that appeal to me most. No ECM's, BCM's, airbags, anti-lock brakes or other matter of nonsense that seems to only complicate the car and remove from the driving experience. It is for this reason that even after a long day working on the latest and greatest thing, it is still therapy to come home and enjoy working on something from a time when they seemed to just get things right.

Should we lay some of the blame here on modern automakers? I only started learning about cars after I turned 40 and bought my mid-life crisis B. I enjoy doing the basic maintenance but there has been a learning curve. For the most part the B has room for my hands and parts you can get to reasonably. I've tried applying some of my new knowledge to newer cars and am frustrated by the tighter spaces and more convoluted layouts. Fancy screwheads for no apparent reason except to prevent someone like me from getting into something. Some of it is new technology (no spark plugs) and a steeper learning curve.

I have two sons 27 and 23 years of age. both were taught how to change tires, oil,spark plugs, belts ,ect. and even how to weld. oldest one likes to pay someone to do it now while the youngest one took ownership of my El Camino. I'm glad they both know something about cars. in the oldest sons case his knowledge has prevented a shady mechanic trying to change parts that didn't need to be done.

Im 20 years old and I have just bought an MGB! Must have a slight understanding as I also have a classic mini and metro... all this british engineering keeps me busy with the spanners!

DC

When my (now 34 year old) son was growing up he hated it when I "forced" him to learn how to do minor maintenance on cars. He griped and whined and always said that he would pay someone to do the work on his car when he grew up.

Although he now has a very good job, he's had some lean times and at one point was unemployed for a year. He has learned now that knowing how to work on your car can be very valuable. He even works on his friends' cars now!

My 18 year old grandson loves it whenever I show him how to work on his car. He's been bugging me to teach him how to drive a standard shift so he can drive my 'B'. I'm not sure I'm ready for that yet!

Let's not forget the "car guys" who think that a park bench (wing) on the trunk, a fart can on the exhaust, and some stickers are "performance mods.":P

Seriously though, I've been into cars since I was a child. Mainly, because my dad and I built a VW-based kit car. When I say "built," I mean he did all the donkey work--I handed him the occasional tool/beer/sandwich. My excuse? I was only 3 years old :D Since then, I've built models, read nearly every automotive-related item I can get my hands on, plus gone through most of the threads here. I'm by no means an expert though--there's a bit of a learning curve with these cars. Oh, and I turn 36 in June.

Hey Bob,

You better teach that grandson how to drive a stick. It is the one automotive bonding experience you and he will never forget. I mean that in a good way. Your 80 B has a nice, stout all sycro box. It is unlikely, unless it is intentional, that he could break it. If he's already a licensed driver, find a nice empty parking lot and give him the short course with little bit of non-driving shifting so he knows where the stick should go. Then take a short drive with him to coach him through getting the car in motion in reverse, and then a run through the gears and a stop. Then have him drive you home and tell him, "Go practice. I see ya in a half an hour." This would make an excellent birthday gift, or could be done "just cuz."

This is my grandson right after the first time I let him drive my GT V8. Doesn't he look pleased with himself? He loves the stick shift, and his dream car (other than mine) is a TR6. If he didn't live so far away, we would be banging away together on a car of his own.

Well...I'm a young car guy (24 y/o), and I like to think I'm pretty tech savvy when it comes to these old brits. A little history, my Father's first car was a '65 MG Midget. That was in about 1969, it was my Uncle's, who wrecked it, he bought a new MGB and gave my Dad the Midget, he fixed it and drove it all through high school. Well, that just started it for him. He moved through a few American Iron pieces and ended up with this in college.

A photo of my Father in college University of KY, (circa 1973) with his 1964 Lotus Elan.



Fast forward to the late 70s early 80s, he was racing enduro karts ataround the East Coast from Mid-Ohio to Road Atlanta. Further that to 1987... Along came my twin brother and I.


I like to say I come by the car enthusiasm honestly... My Mother at Mid-Ohio 1987.



Find the hidden twins, haha.

Anyway, my Dad had a karting accident in 1989 and broke both of his ankles thus ending his karting career (needless to say he almost lost his marrige over it, leaving my mother caring for 2 infants while he couldn't even walk. haha)

He always had a project in the garage, when I was very young he had another Elan that I dont remember.



Fast forward to my 13th birthday, arguably the best day in my life.







It is a 1973 MGBGT, it was running and driving but needed a full restoration.

My Father owned a Welding and Fabrication shop, so at this point I had learned to weld and was eager to take on this project. We did rockers, quarters, fenders, floor boards.... Everything. It was awesome. It further gave me the "fever" I'll never be cured.

So the GT was ready to go the day I turned 16. Dad and I had been over every nut and bolt on that little car. A pretty awesome first car if I do say so myself.

In this photo it's a little dirty, but it was just finished.



Anyway, about a year of having my license Dad sent me to the Mid-Ohio racing school. Oh man, what a mistake. I had been autocrossing the BGT but after hitting Mid-Ohio I had to get back out there. What did I have to do it in??? My MGB GT, yep, I did my first track day in a 32 year old car. It was slow.... But a blast!

My parents had gotten a divorce which allowed Dad to spend a little more on our shared hobby. Oh and if any of you were wondering, while my brother enjoyed british sports cars his passion was in 4WDs.. He was a Jeep guy, and still is.

So Dad and I took on a lot of projects while I was in high school. With the Fab shop we had room for storage, the building was a city block, we had a room in the back dubbed "The Toy Room", here are just a few of the projects, some we turned around and sold for a profit, some we lost money on, and others we restored.














Anyway, what I am getting at is my passion in life is cars, I do all my own work thanks to my Father who taught me everything I know about them. I do all my own work on all of my cars. I still have my '73 BGT. I don't think I'll ever sell it.

I went to UK as well and am still living in Lexington, I have a great group of friends, we all share common a interest in cars but most of these guy's parents aren't into it with them. it's just them. I took it for granted before but now through them I see how awesome it is to share this hobby with my Dad. He's 59 now and still works on cars with me and goes to the racetrack with my friends and I.

The only thing that's changed is I have to buy all of the parts and materials for my projects these days.

Great story, Ian! The pic of your dad in front of the Elan looks like an album cover for a rock group!

My observation is that many kids are still interested in cars and are capable of appreciating an older car, they're still just kids and need mentors to help them understand the fun in keeping a classic on the road. Where ever we go in the B, my wife and I are very aware that folks - especially kids - notice the car and we try to act accordingly.