Better Beaters - Building Cars and Daily Drivers

Happy Father's Day!

Memories of better days!
I've lost my assistant since he's now almost twenty years older and much busier.

Cars, Dads and Kids.


It's one way that we as Fathers can try to connect with our children. Male or female. It's stereotypical to consider this bond as existing only between Dads and their Sons, but of course it can also exist between Dads and their Daughters.

For my kids there was no bonding over sports. No T Ball, soccer, or softball. I never had an interest in sports and I wasn't going to fake it and spend a lot of time taking my kids to activities that I had absolutely no interest in. I guess that makes me a poor Dad in that area at least, but that's how it is. The kids are all grown up now and they seem to survived okay.

All the following photos from The Happy racing web site.

Octane magazine is a great window into how the other half lives. There are some rallies advertised that are Father and Son (and now daughter) Ferrari owners events. Padre Figlio by HappyFew racing. They are restricted to only one example of each model! The photos in the advertisement shows it to be a pretty swanky affair.

Really that's all well and good. I'm not hating on these lucky guys who happen to be rich. There is absolutely nothing that prohibits us regular guys from doing the same thing. One of Octane's columnists wrote about how a group of his buddies got together to have a "poor mans's run" with their more common classics.

I have a future post featuring a group called Road Adventures. This is a grass root type of low key organization that produces local Northern California day drives and tours. They even produce off road adventures and drives. This sounds like a great way to get out and meet some fellow car enthusiasts.

Get together with a few of your old or collector car owning buddies and plan a two or three day outing with your Sons or Daughters. Pick a back roads route to some interesting sights and places that would have activities kids would enjoy. Let your kid navigate and make some route choices. Camp or stay in a group at a nice little hotel. Pack a few things to have a picnic lunch along the way. Travelling in a small caravan of three to four cars would make it an event to remember.

It may sound trite, but there is a "best by" date on their childhood. Once they get older it will be hard to find the time to spend with them. They will be busy and possibly won't want to hang out with the Old Man anymore.

My Wife and I just recently from my annual trip up to the Oregon Coast. It's a drive that I enjoy and the weather this year was again beautiful. I made the trip in my F150 because my other vehicles weren't quite ready or appropriate. Somehow my truck has become my enthusiasts driving vehicle. I've made the trip in my XJ6 before and it was such fun to drive one of my special cars. Like a lot of car guys I get buried in unfinished projects and end up having to take my daily driver. Still,it doesn't matter what car I drive, what counts is the trip itself.

This year I returned home to a new experience. As I pulled up my street I couldn't see my Explorer, which had been parked at the curb. I hoped that maybe my Daughter had used it for some errand. I noticed some broken glass in the street where I had parked it. As I pulled up in front I saw that it wasn't in the driveway either. I knew instantly that it had been stolen.

Why would someone steal an old worthless car? Well, it wasn't exactly worthless to me. I've found it to be quite useful and I enjoyed driving it. This is the first time that I've ever had a vehicle stolen. I know that lots of you out there have probably been in the same boat. So now I'm a member a club I'd never thought that I would have to join. I'm wondering if it was stolen because it had a fuel injected 5.0 small block Ford V8 in it. Maybe someone decided to use the motor in a project of their own.

Like most of my old cars it was only covered by liability insurance, so the loss is just going to come out of my pocket.

I had been considering selling it in attempt to thin the herd. That decisions been made for me now. Darn, I'd just fixed that leaky thermostat housing!