Hope you don't consider this hijacking the thread but..When I was a kid back in the 60's early 70's we (My Grandfather and Father) owned a filling station/Garage. My father taught Auto-Mechanics at the Manpower training center and did Body Work in my Grandfathers Garage. I grew up around some great cars, trucks and people. The week I turned 16 I bought my first car. My father went with me to pick it up (and approve of it). It was a Chevy Impala with a 283. He approved the deal and I forked out 250 dollars that I had spent weeks earning sticking lumber in a local lumber mill. My father drove the car home for me. When we got home I started to put on the plate with dreams of cruising in it. Dad said, "until it passed inspection it was not going anywhere". I told him that since I had just registered it, I had 10 days to get it inspected. He said that I evidently did not hear him right. He was not concerned with the State of New Hampshire inspection. It had to pass
his inspection. Dreams of cruisin’ passed quicker than gas through a funnel and eggs through a hen. We spent better 'n a month repacking wheel bearings, putting breaks on wheels whether they needed it or not, fully understanding' (by explaining it to him) exactly how emergency brakes worked and how to adjust them. It ran good when he brought it home but I still needed to do a tune up, flush the radiator, and change the hydro-matic filter screens. We did not paint it, but we did weld in patches and do body work. It was a good 6 -8 weeks before I ever drove it on the road, but when I did I knew how to maintain it and repair it, furthermore I had so much money and time invested in it, I did not dare to beat on it. All that it was it was because of my money and time. There was no way I was gonna' do anything to sideline it. At the time I never really did appreciate what my Dad was doing, but after that things were a bit different between us. We seemed to be a bit more eye to eye with each other.
My son turned 15 back in October. We stopped the other day and looked at an S-10. He though it was in pretty good shape. I told him I thought it would be good first car for him.
