I dont think I ever had a real mentor no one ever took me aside and showed me what to do. I have a few car buddy s that hang together and B.S.. Most of the guys I have met in the Ottawa area are more about themselves if they take interest in some thing you are doing it is because they want it. Thats a sad statement of this area but after 30 years here thats how I see it.
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that is kind of how my life is now. the guys around here would rather buy it than build it. I make the drive to Belleville about once a month to have lunch with car guys but round here its mostly me in the garage
A terrific wife, mother, and homemaker, who went along with all my hair brained ideas over the years, and when they never worked out, never complained, supported me through many trials and tribulations, we managed to spend 30 good years together before she passed away. Consider myself extremely lucky to have known her.
My dad, he was not a hot rodder, but would buy old VWs and fix them up to sell. He had all kinds of tools, which I have now, the ones I didnt lose as a kid anyways....lol. He would always fix our own stuff, so I guess thats where I got that from....He was always working, so I didnt get to work on my cars with him....He did help me rebuild my 1st engine. He died too young and we never got to hang out when I got older.
I would say my Dad too. He was a car guy but not to the extent I am. He was always tinkering and he let me and my older brother help with everything. He got us tools and lets us use them and his. He had us work on fixing our old houses and showed us the value of the work we could do for ourselves. I still have the old torches he paid 50 dollars for that I glued many cars back together with. Probably the greatest thing about him was he would never put down any of the ideas you had and quite often got as excited as you did about them! His deal was if you're doing what you want and happy and safe then it was good by him. If you got off tangent he would try to get you back on track with some sage advice (but he'd let you learn for yourself if you chose to ignore!). Unfortunately he was taken just as we were becoming more like adult friends. There is not a day goes by I don't think of him, as so much of what makes up me is really due to him and is there as a reminder.
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Stu
"some things hurt more, much more, than cars and girls"
My father injected gasoline into my veins as a child, what did i know, but its my friends and friends of friends and all the kool people i meet who keep me going.... "The rest is History"
Good thread i remember as a kid in the 70s seeing and hearing all those cool cars and it was infectious. My brother and his buddys were my spark as they were 7-8 yrs older ,they were working on those 60s early 70s cars and i was in awe of the parts and the work they did. Those guys would answer my stupid questions but they took the time with me, it was awesome. My favorite car in around 75 was 71 Z that copied the Baldwin Motion treantment, it was loud with side pipes and it just had presence.
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gotta be young and dumb before you get old and wise
I would like to hear about the mentors in you life and pay respect to the people/person who gave a **** and helped you out
So who was/is it in your life?
Fred J. Hudie owned a lumber yard and I was 24 working in a tire shop... He liked me, and said why don't you buy a house?
I was only interested in cars.. Houses meant nothing to me...
He said give me 3G down in the next 6 months, and I will sell you a nice house on John Street Clinton for 18,000 I managed to get money to him (he wrote it down on a piece of paper)
I moved in in 1973 He took me to his lawyer, and had a contract made up for 15,000 bal at 8% (11-12 was the norm) and it was a open morgage for 20 years
What a wonderful old man He was in his 80's and later asked me to help him parallel park for his test (he passed)
I sold the 18,000.00 house in 1979 for 48,000 and bought this house for 58,000 (now worth 200,000.00) what a wonderful man to see so much potential in me
What does have to do with cars??
well his help with a affordable home, enabled me to to have over 100 "hobby cars" (so far)
The closest I got to a mentor was more of a good friend we thought each other stuff and pushed each other. I met Mike Bristow when I was 14 Im now 50 he died two years ago of cancer. A lot of guys knew him as UNCLE Z a name we gave him while wandering around the fields in Hershey P.A.
-- Edited by workin class on Monday 20th of February 2012 10:24:58 PM
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great stories thanks for sharing, I have been working on getting my Road Runner going for almost 10 years now and yes its getting close but what is more important is the friendships i have made along the way...
Same as most, my dad. I started by riding in the passenger seat of his B61 Mack running grain from Preston to Windsor on old highway 2. As I got older I would help out in the shop keeping the fleet running. I learned the proper way of repairing, not much modifying because the trucks had to be reliable to make money. The next guy that made a real impression was Jim Brown, a great mechanic with no end to new ideas. We built some really good race cars that upset a lot of people. When it got bad a Flamboro we took the Late Model and made a GT 1 car out of it. We went to Mosport and tormented the snobs with their high dollar cars. I drove a circle track modified for him that could not be beat with me behind the wheel. He wasn't much of a driver but wanted to try. We ran out of money, sold the car and he went on to build many other cool vehicles. He died of heart disease but his last vehicle was an '86 Chev crew cab short box pickup that was all wheel drive with 4 wheel independent suspension. He was never the easiest to get along with but was always up front and honest and never short of ideas.
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Keep your stick on the ice and don't pull your goalie.
Think I got the car bug from my Mom's side of the family, her brother had a texaco station & garage near leslie & Queen in toronto, & her Dad built a 'home built" car in the late 30's. never knew him as he died before I was born. The one thing I remember my Dad saying one night at our house in the Beaches district, was the night I "tore out" the D/shaft & pinion section" all over the road in my 55 Chevy. He sat there on the front porch, put his arm on my shoulders & said "SON, you just can't put that much power, where it's not supposed to be? I'd just finished putting a "STOUT" SBC in the 55 & pulled out the 6cyl, He was RIGHT!!!!!!! Dad wasn't a gear head, Pharmacist, but did have nice cars, & took care of them.
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I can only please one person a day, Today is not your day!!Tomorrow doesn't look good either !!!!
I dont think I ever had a real mentor no one ever took me aside and showed me what to do.
I am somewhat in the same boat. On top of that most of my "car buddies" don't really get the hot rod thing at all, a few are into muscle cars (only a couple) most of the rest are tuners, so I don't really "get it" with them at all. They can act interested in what I am doing if I do the same type thing, I just don't get putting $$$ into a 1.2L 4 cyl to gain an extra 30HP making it a roaring 150HP engine. But to each their own... I digress though.
Two guys when i was young. I worked in tune up shops and garages, and the one older man who ran a sunoco station (that got to be a real young guys hot rod hangout place at night,) Had an incredible amount of patience, (Not only with us young buggers,) but he was one of the most patient tune up guys i knew of. Never got excited, had a routine of his own of diagnosis that he strictly followed through on, and used a great deal of visual, listening, and vacumn testing.
The second older guy was a one man operation , (Not counting me,) and had a similar old school diagnostic proceedure, again of visuals, and listening quietly to an engine. The poor guy had an horrendous stuttering problem which made it very very difficult to converse with any newer customers. Extremely sharp on electrical diagnosis, and ignition problems. I remember almost every lunch hour he'd sit in his chair and play the "Auto-harp", which he was very good at also.
I mention these two, as these were older guys who had learned a great deal over their life by using such simple things as listening, and visuals and of course the old standby vacumn gauge.
I would like to hear about the mentors in you life and pay respect to the people/person who gave a **** and helped you out
Who got you started or even brought you back into to the car thing.
That special person who let you hang out and watch.
For me it’s a guy named Don Dulmage.
Thanks Don for lots of stuff but mostly talking the time to answer all my dub questions.
And not make me feel like a total turd.
So who was/is it in your life?
Don is a great guy and has given me some advice on building the engine I'm putting in my Cutlass. He certainly is a wealth of knowledge and a real car guy if there ever was one. Is he on this forum yet and if not why not?
I would like to hear about the mentors in you life and pay respect to the people/person who gave a **** and helped you out
Who got you started or even brought you back into to the car thing.
That special person who let you hang out and watch.
For me it’s a guy named Don Dulmage.
Thanks Don for lots of stuff but mostly talking the time to answer all my dub questions.
And not make me feel like a total turd.
So who was/is it in your life?
Don is a great guy and has given me some advice on building the engine I'm putting in my Cutlass. He certainly is a wealth of knowledge and a real car guy if there ever was one. Is he on this forum yet and if not why not?
Maybe, one of you guys should tell him about it........
great stories, even if for some of you guys there was no Mentor per se I like the fact that you all had a dream and went for it even if people around you did not care. my mentor came into my life really late, i worked on cars and later on bikes when i had no money and my dad did not really care about what i was doing. but still i love the feeling when you work on something and you stand back and just stare at it..... just you and your creation. And at that point it doesn't matter how you got there or who got you there, what matters is that you gave it a shot and now have something you can take pride in.
I was lucky as a 13 year old .To land a part time job; at Jones Motorcade Shop in Stoney Creek.The shop was ran by Rick Jones, his Dad and Granpa jones. They had 2 good mech"s Ted Marvin and Ken Aldrige. Between them they built the nicest -fastest cars around. Here is a few cars they built Forty coach 354;forty coupe 430 edsal; 55 t-bird 430; 56 ford 394 olds; 32 ford 301 3-speed; 55 FORD 375 cu.in. ( Bob Dawsons ) 29 rstr p/k 401 nailhead 4-speed; Lots of model A "s. Ralph Lancaster"s 55 chev aluminum rod 301 gasser. Ralph drove a brand new 62 vette as his daily driver.
Guys like Bruce Van Dyke ( famous stock car guru ) this guy won everywhere. Came to get a Rick Jones tune up. I learned so much as a 13 to 17 year old. What I learned from my mentor and his assossiates is invaluable. Great time in my life love them all. Never realized what I had till it was gone. I met the coolest people (car people ) I still see a lot of these people from my past they are the greatest. I could go on for hrs and hrs. I feel blessed that I new And met these people. Still see a lot of them; miss the others. Rick Jones was a well known car builder in southern ontario. He lives in Texas now. Down the street from Eddie Hill (drag guy). I miss him. So much talent at a young age. He could do anything and he never new it. I thank him for what he taught me and all the great people I met thru him. Rick Jones definetly imprinted My Life..... (and I can"t forget Ted Marvin and Ken Aldridge )
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It"s none of my business.......
What you think of me...........
nice thoughts it got me thinking of a couple of motorcycle mechanics i know, really really talented guys and now not sure of what they are doing with their lives now
Hi Joe