Who here's dad was really cool with your friends?

[Louie Detroit]

My Old Man established good rapport with many of my associates.

[Taurus]

Originally Posted by Louie Detroit

My Old Man established good rapport with many of my associates.

My father worked for an industrial gas producer and would bring home nitrous for our cars. Pretty popular guy with my friends.

[Swany00]

My old man was well respected with my friends. We'd golf with him on occasion and one year he invited us to his golf tournament. Pops was a completely different guy with his buddies and it was cool to see him in that space.

[GTOguy]

Originally Posted by Louie Detroit

My Old Man established good rapport with many of my associates.

Did he lend them his soldering iron when you were building radios?

[Louie Detroit]

Originally Posted by GTOguy

Did he lend them his soldering iron when you were building radios?

Probably not. Most of what we did was wood working, car maintenance and some projects on occasion.

[Mike Mercury]

my father was well liked to my friends. But he didn't try to fit-in or become a reckless young adult; instead he became a role model for us (in a way that we didn't realize at the time of what he was really doing).

[TheHammer]

My old man was good with my friends. And they liked him, mainly because he hosted a couple fish fries every Summer. at our house. Breaded and deep fried Bass, Crappie, Catfish, with hush puppies and all the fixins.

[Yadkin]

My friends, my brother's friends, were all afraid of my Dad.

[GTOguy]

Originally Posted by Yadkin

My friends, my brother's friends, were all afraid of my Dad.

My situation as well. Of all my friends, only a couple had accessible dads who were engaged and wanted to interact with us as a group.

[Yadkin]

Originally Posted by GTOguy

My situation as well. Of all my friends, only a couple had accessible dads who were engaged and wanted to interact with us as a group.

That's the way it should be. Dad's should be parents, not friends.

When I was a scout leader the worst parents were the ones trying to be friends with the boys. All their kids ended up as losers.

[GTOguy]

Parents back then didn't put up with crap and you knew where the boundaries were really quickly. My brother and I learned really fast that the more responsible and better behaved we were, the more freedom we were given. I got smacked a total of 3 times in my life growing up by my dad, and each time, I was warned before hand, and each time, ignored the warning. We were rewarded for good behavior and had a 'talking to' for bad, usually about how they were disappointed in us. That was harder to take than a smack.

[GTOguy]

You can get that transferred to DVD. I had a 1965 film my family was in transferred to VHS 20 years ago or more and recently transferred it to DVD. It has all of us in it, and is very cool. A Keystone Cops silent that looks like a '20's Laurel and Hardy deal all done in '20's costumes in and around Concord, CA, by the faculty of Concord Hospital.

[Frankie the Fink]

Originally Posted by GTOguy

Parents back then didn't put up with crap and you knew where the boundaries were really quickly. My brother and I learned really fast that the more responsible and better behaved we were, the more freedom we were given. I got smacked a total of 3 times in my life growing up by my dad, and each time, I was warned before hand, and each time, ignored the warning. We were rewarded for good behavior and had a 'talking to' for bad, usually about how they were disappointed in us. That was harder to take than a smack.

Ha! A teacher told my parents that I might have ADD (Attention Deficit Disorder) and some pharmaceuticals might help, the ole man called it "daydreaming in class" and cured it that same evening with his old Marine Corps belt in a single application.

A medical miracle.

[Yesfam]

My friends respected my old man. He was an old car guy and my friends were all car guys. He never tried to be friends with my friends but they all got along with him. He painted a couple of their cars and was involved with some of our other automotive projects.

[Yesfam]

Originally Posted by Red Baron

Anybody ever carve out a Pinewood Derby car with their Pop?

Yup, did that too.

[Mick]

Originally Posted by Mike Mercury

my father was well liked to my friends. But he didn't try to fit-in or become a reckless young adult; instead he became a role model for us (in a way that we didn't realize at the time of what he was really doing).

Similar to my Dad. My brothers and I were way into the Boy Scouts. My Dad was NEVER the kind to try to "buddy up" with any of the scouts, but he was ALWAYS there to help kids in the troop. Gave rides to and from just about anywhere whenever asked. Volunteered to help with property maintenance regularly. Would even help some kids struggling with their wreath sales (our main fundraiser) when he found out about it, etc.

He was VERY well respected by all the kids in the troop, the parents of said kids, and the scout leaders as well.

He was one of the good guys, and I still miss him nearly every day.

[TheHammer]

Originally Posted by Red Baron

Anybody ever carve out a Pinewood Derby car with their Pop?

Didn't do a Pinewood Derby car, but a Soap Box Derby car, circa 1971. This was back when Chevrolet sponsored The Soap Box Derby, got 3rd in local event, qualified for regional in Des Moines where I went 1-2.

Picture is when my brother and Father took it out out of basement storage in 2006.

Still have it, hanging in my garage.

[slewfoot]

Originally Posted by Frankie the Fink

Ha! A teacher told my parents that I might have ADD (Attention Deficit Disorder) and some pharmaceuticals might help, the ole man called it "daydreaming in class" and cured it that same evening with his old Marine Corps belt in a single application.

A medical miracle.

My mother used the belt. Most of the time when needed and the rest was for the next time. That damn thing was so limber that as it crossed the back of my ass, parts of it went in and out of my butt crack to get good coverage.

[slewfoot]

Originally Posted by TheHammer

Didn't do a Pinewood Derby car, but a Soap Box Derby car, circa 1971. This was back when Chevrolet sponsored The Soap Box Derby, got 3rd in local event, qualified for regional in Des Moines where I went 1-2.

Picture is when my brother and Father took it out out of basement storage in 2006.

Still have it, hanging in my garage.

Me in the Blue 1970. I beat that kid but lost in the next round. Did it again in 1971

[TheHammer]

Originally Posted by Red Baron

That is so cool! Great picture, great story. Little Rascals?

Back then, you signed up at the Chevy dealership I believe, paid a fee. They give you the build dimensions, regulations, wheelbase, etc. They give you the axles and wheels, that's it. Give you a date and location where the local race is going to be, and be there.

I rememeber building it in the basement with my Father, maybe took a couple months? Only 3 kids entered from our town, I knew the other two and we were all friends. We had to commute to a nearby town for the local qualification race. There were probably 40 cars there? One car was completely built out of a single log, beautiful, of course the family were commercial loggers.

Anyway, this was the first or second year where the lay down car became the aero cool thing to do, and they won. One of my friends built his as a lay down car, by the end of summer, he had gained weight and had to tear the car apart and widen the floor board so he could get in it. He also qualified for the Regional in Des Moines. My father borrowed a race car flat bed stake bed truck and transported us and our cars to the Des Moines track, we were big time, lol. If you won at the Regional, you advanced to the Nationals in Akron OH.

I beleive that year the Akron, OH winner was disqualified, they found an electro-magnetic set up in the nose of the car. As the metal nose car stop dropped, the magnet pulled the car down the ramp.











My buddys Scott's lay down Soap Box;