how many guys still have several local car buddies

[grumpyvette]

how many guys still have several local car buddies

just curious , as to how many guys currently have at least two local freinds with a similar interest in cars, that they can call up and reasonably expect to have them show up when they want help working on their car and need that help to do something.

now when I was younger, and single, Id say that was hardly an issue, cars and engine builds and racing were nearly a religion at times, I spent may a day helping build cars in freinds shops and they spent lots of late nights in my shop, but as guys get older and have families and wives, and kids and grand kids, getting the spare time and money to work on cars usually needs to be planed for ahead of time.

Ive still got several 100% gear head buddies, that I depend on and several recent converts to the hobby, but time and disposable cash seem to be limited recently.

now I still have guys wanting me to work on their cars almost daily, and Ive certainly got far more skills, tools,knowledge, etc. but the days of a couple guys just deciding at the moment over a couple beers that they can or will go pull and rebuild an engine, or drive over to the local salvage yards and buy hundreds of dollars worth of parts without needing to discuss it with their wives seem to be a thing of the past.

[FlatBlack]

A bit off-topic as I can't quite relate.

 

I'm in the demographic you are describing as "younger and single," but luckily I work on campus with TrumpetRhapsody.

 

He's also got a L28ET swapped S30 on MegaSquirt, we both graduated High School the same year, and built our Zs in nearly the same chronological order.

 

I'm very thankful to have another Z guy around to BS and throw ideas around with!

 

I'm hoping as we got old and crotchety/cranky I'll still have a 'Z friend' haha.

[S130Z]

I am also in the young crowd, but I do at least 2 car budies that I can count on to give me a hand. Just last night I helped my friend pull his motor out of his 86 RX-7 Turbo to put in a new clutch and some other maintenance. We got the motor back in and running at about 2A.M.

 

Hopefully when I get out of the service, I will be able to find some more car enthusiasts, and maybe some will be Z-ipper heads like us.

[misterZ]

...the days of a couple guys just deciding at the moment over a couple beers that they can or will go pull and rebuild an engine, or drive over to the local salvage yards and buy hundreds of dollars worth of parts without needing to discuss it with their wives seem to be a thing of the past.

 

I'm getting up there in age but still young at heart and met a couple stand-up (younger) Z owners in my area with the same interests and certain that they'd drop what they're doing to come help me and vice versa. I owe it to this site for 'introducing' me to some great people! We go to salvage with the mindset do it now and beg for forgiveness later since you never know what you might find! Oh, and I was also introduced to the 'while I'm at it syndrome' that sometimes gets me in trouble spending-wise. It's a Z thing you know...

[cygnusx1]

Nobody here to call for help unless I need help opening some beers.  They all show up for that.  My only reliable helper is my dad.  Of course if I really need help, Clive or Joe might come over for a fee.     In my younger days it was all about getting together to work on cars.  Now, not so much.  Life takes us nuts, smashes us, and spreads us like peanut butter.

 

 

 

 

 

[ZR8ED]

I had a large group of Z guys to draw on. We used to rebuild and tune webers together, "tuning parties" if you can call getting all covered in gasoline a party...well there was beer, so that counts for something!

 

I was on the young side of the group, so I stayed at it the longest. I have one very good friend who had a Z, but owns a wicked MKII turbo Supra, and we get together at least once a week to either work on them or to clean them up and go for a coffee/cruise.

 

I think owning a Z that has been more or less completed, or at least is no longer on jackstands for any longer than the odd weekend, is a part of getting together that kind of winds down. I don't mind helping others work on their cars, but again, most of my friends are driving cars that have been put together, and are driving them. I don't know anyone starting from scratch. Funny how that works out. I work on the car for years with improper tools, on a gravel driveway, and now I don't work on it much, but I have a comfortable garage with plenty of "cool tools".

 

It has been almost 7yrs since I have been into a MAJOR project. Anything I do now is weekend stuff. Most of which I do "just because".

 

Ouch..do I sound old to you?

 

I wonder what will happen with my next Z?

[ModernS30]

I'm 17 and really have nobody that cares a damn thing about cars like I do. There was a kid that would help me but he ended up moving away. He was stupid anyway though. Had no idea what he was really doing.

[grumpyvette]

"grumpy,I have some local car buddies but it seems not many of them are around when I need them just when they need me."

 

 

 

unfortunately that attitude is far more common than it should be,

Ive always tried to make a point out of helping other guys with their projects, but its only a few guys that will return the effort expended, on their car, when you want some help or only someone to bounce ideas off of on your projects.

Ive build dozens of engines (at my cost, in parts and free labor) for close freinds, and many dozens more at very low profit margins, sometimes just to see the results and power they produced ,sometimes just to see if you can exceed 500 or 600 hp on a limited budget, and sometimes just to see the expression on the cars owners face when a car, that could barely spin the tires can now leave long smokey burn-out at will) but only a couple guys are likely to come over if I were to call up and request help with some project, so just realize that many guys won,t feel obligated to return the time and effort expended on their cars on yours and look at it as a learning experience, to some extent and pick your friends carefully, and you better enjoy working for lunch,beer, and conversation

 

 

http://forum.grumpysperformance.com/viewtopic.php?f=7&t=2709

 

http://forum.grumpysperformance.com/viewtopic.php?f=7&t=2834

Edited September 24, 2010 by grumpyvette

[MikeBZ]

It seems most of us are in the same boat. I'm the "go-to" guy for shade tree mechanic work and diagnosis. But most of my Z projects were a one man show. I have my dad who's an hour away if I need a 2nd pair of hands. But now that me and my circle of friends are in our 30's, the good ole days of working on cars all hours of the night and making "noise" after 8pm are over..

[madkaw]

I believe it is a rare breed anymore that hangs out and walks and talks cars and also be someone you can count on.First off it is hard to get anyone you can count on. A person that rememebers that favor or that knows that you will always reciprocate a good deed.I have a good friend for 30 years now and the basis of our friendship is cars. He just lives across town, but It might as well be 100 miles away before we ever get together becuase our schedules are so full. I'm lucky to get time to step out in my garage that's 10 feet away between work and family stuff and spending time with my wife-who works full time. It's a different era! My son doesn't want anything to do with working on a car and that's fine, but I believe it is the younger part of your life that you get the time to hang out with car buddies-on a regular basis. Ahhhhh--for the good ol days again!!

[AkumaNoZeta]

I'm 21 and single but my only friend that has the ability to help me with my car is 33 years old with a wife and 3 kids so it takes a while before we can get anything done. I also do 12 hour shifts of hard labor so after work all I do is go to bed and that makes Fridays/Thursdays (I work 3 days one week and 4 days the next) my rest day because I'm completely beat at work (I've very much out of shape) and I have no spirit on Sundays because I dread going to work the next day. A lot of people have told me that I'm already a grumpy old man and considering that my best friend is 33 and everybody else I know is over 40, it may be true.

[19762802+2]

I'm 17 and really have nobody that cares a damn thing about cars like I do. There was a kid that would help me but he ended up moving away. He was stupid anyway though. Had no idea what he was really doing.

 

I know exactly how you feel,I'm 17 also and I have moved a lot and really didn't have a chance to make many friends anyways but there is no one my age interested in cars like I am that at least knows what they are doing, most of the Z guys or car guys I know are older then me by ten or twenty years. It sucks sometimes, but I get along pretty well, I'm even more then a car guy then my dad is and he used to be pretty into cars but not to the extent that I am now. Hopefully with this new job I got today at Discount tire (woot!) will help expose me to some more car guys at my level of understanding and determination, Though there is one ricer kid that works there with a "decked out" honda

Edited September 25, 2010 by 19752802+2

[stravi757]

Unfortunately ive never had anyone to help me or stand by my side to tell me if I was doing something right or wrong, I would probably be much more knowledgeable to this date if I had known about hybridz and had someone to mentor me from the beginning, and had alot more fun/money. My good friend is into cars and is currently going to school for it and he has learned alot, so when he gets out, ill finally have someone to give me hand, plus he owes me for all the help with his car's. But for the past 3 years its just been you guys. Also, I recently made friends with a guy that does paint and body for a living he's mechanically retarded, but thats what im for lol.

[SportBikeMike]

This town is like the black hole of Z-car enthusiasts. I'm the only one! My closest Z-car buddy is in Chicago....200 miles away. Being a "ricer" and sportbike enthusiast, I'm a total outcast in this town. This town is all about American muscle and Harleys (gag...and double gag). For example, I have to go 60 miles for anyone to do any turbo work on my 280Z.....and another example, I was thinking about getting a WRX for a daily driver and went to look at one at the Subaru dealership and they didn't have any on the lot. The salesman said they don't carry them because there is "no market". God, this town sucks.

 

On the bright side, I just "snuck in" to a car cruise here in town with my 240Z (the only Japanese car I saw out of a billion Mustangs and Camaros)...however, I did get some cheers and people yelling "a Datsun!"...so maybe there is hope!

[datsun723]

I've got 240Z_Master and CJBrian to help me out when I need stuff but I usually pay them. My roommate is into cars but is lazy and doesn't even work on his own dd. He has it "serviced" at the family mechanic...such a waster of money. Kinda can tell the vibe of him just by that

[jasper]

I was watching The Barrett Jackson auction tonignt, 2nd night in a row, with my Buddy "Moose". Beers and chips everywhere.

 

BITCHING about how many cars had these HUGE ASS WHEELS, that killed the appeal of so many classic cars, and how much money they were going for.....Lot's of tears over the cars we used to have,and could have bought for peanuts .

 

We've been neighbors 25 years. Plowed lots of snow, swung engines, fixed houses, pulled up 300 foot well pumps, etc together. He's got a '41 Chevy pickup and a '40 Chevy Master DeLuxe 2 DOOR with a 348 tri power. I'm the guy with ALL the DATSUNS.

 

In the winter, he lights his old wood stove in the garage, and we have a beer and hotdog athon while bullshitting /screwing with cars and such. Even my 78 year old uncle Leon gets involved.

On Sundays ,my son and I work on His 260Z. So ......maybe 2 or 3 close guys.......I'm Lucky.

Every once and a while I see Clive and Dave,....it's been a while...I need to throw a DATSUN PARTY!!!!

Edited September 25, 2010 by jasper

[Leon]

Of course there is my dad, who has always worked on the family cars. I'm very lucky in that whenever I need help with something, I can call on my dad and he always has a solution, no matter what the problem. Plus, I get to use the garage and all the tools, which is nice being a broke 23-year-old, fresh out of college!

 

I'm also lucky to have a best friend nearby who has worked with his hands all his life and is in sheetmetal now. He's redone the downstairs in his house and I've helped him with projects, like concrete work in his yard. Whenever one of us needs help, the other is there. He's got a '65 F100 that he's been restoring as well.

 

Then there is my neighbor who's a serious car guy. He does all his family's DDs plus his Corvair, Mustang, and two VW Beetles (one done up nice and the other a '55 resto project). We loan each other tools and talk cars all the time. I can't say enough about how awesome it is to have a total gearhead as a neighbor!

 

And for the time when I need someone to "hold this," "screw-in that," or "shine the light here" there are always my siblings or the girly!

[MAG58]

This town is like the black hole of Z-car enthusiasts. I'm the only one! My closest Z-car buddy is in Chicago....200 miles away. Being a "ricer" and sportbike enthusiast, I'm a total outcast in this town. This town is all about American muscle and Harleys (gag...and double gag). For example, I have to go 60 miles for anyone to do any turbo work on my 280Z.....and another example, I was thinking about getting a WRX for a daily driver and went to look at one at the Subaru dealership and they didn't have any on the lot. The salesman said they don't carry them because there is "no market". God, this town sucks.

 

On the bright side, I just "snuck in" to a car cruise here in town with my 240Z (the only Japanese car I saw out of a billion Mustangs and Camaros)...however, I did get some cheers and people yelling "a Datsun!"...so maybe there is hope!

 

Where in IL? You're more than welcome to jump ship to come over to the 'neck state to your east. If you're close to bloomington, come for a drive! I need friends who don't have big, expensive audi's and bmw's that are hella...whatever they hella are...

 

 

My closest car friends are in Our-kansas. My working 40hrs/week on top of a more than full course load doesn't make that easy.

[kiwi303]

I just hit 30 a couple of weeks back, single, no kids and very rural. My car friend is in his mid 40's, married, 2 kids, a software engineer and lives 40 minutes away, then there's the local mechanic who's another 15 minutes past the other friend.

 

Both of them are talking Lotus 5 replicas with V8's while I've the '79 ZX in the hayshed and a 302 cleveland block sitting in the farm workshop to go in it sometime. different tastes in cars, but we'll do odd jobs for the other and swap parts. I've a Rover V8 I'm trading to one of them.

 

But really, theres no-one close enough to just walk over and sit in the garage on a weeknight after work and drink beer with while spinning spanners. It's just too far to go between each others place, unlike suburbia when friends would be most likely within a few blocks. Instead we'll spend a full day doing a major task that has been scheduled in and other things like mowing lawns and shifting cattle cleared up early or set to do late after getting back.

[SportBikeMike]

Where in IL? You're more than welcome to jump ship to come over to the 'neck state to your east. If you're close to bloomington, come for a drive! I need friends who don't have big, expensive audi's and bmw's that are hella...whatever they hella are...

 

 

My closest car friends are in Our-kansas. My working 40hrs/week on top of a more than full course load doesn't make that easy.

 

I'm in Springpatch....oops I mean Springfield. Very family-oriented town with ALOT of SUVs and minivans....which is fine, unless you are single or a gearhead. I'd love to make it over to Indiana sometime...have relatives in the Kokomo area, but haven't been there for awhile. Soon as I get some work done on my 280, maybe make a road trip over there.