how many guys still have several local car buddies
- Thread starter grumpyvette
- Start date
mathd
solid fixture here in the forum
OK....now that's a hell-of-alot-better!!! :lol: You have redeemed yourself....you are back in the fold again!mathd said:
sometimes I think I'm going a bit crazy ..or IM not keeping up with the times!
THIS IS JUST A SILLY RANT SKIP IF YOUR BUSY! BLOWING OFF A BIT OF FRUSTRATION!
Ive always gone out of my way to help anyone who asked for assistance.
.things have become totally different over the last few decades, years ago I spent several nights a week either helping friends with their car projects or having them over helping me build engines,and I almost always had several car guys over at my home or garage, working or at least talking about cars.
My wife and most of my friends wife's just expected (THE GUYS to be out in the shop several nights a week) Lately I,ve made arrangements several times to clear my schedule to help a couple guys over the last few weeks , only to have guys who called, asking for help with various car related issues (and they either call well past the time they were due to arrive,)CALL to say something ,came up and they won,t be available or they just never show up, yet for days ahead of time they have called making sure I,m still available .
Ive had guys call me about killer deals at yard sales on car parts and IVe done the same over the years when I see deals Im not going to jump on personally.
I especially find this is a P.I.T.A, if they more or less expect me to help them, on a moments notice, or if I need help and I was promised they would show up.
now I know they think I should drop everything at a moments notice to help them if they call, but Its becoming rather obvious that few people seem to think that working on their car or making time to do so is a priority, and many seem to think that once they have all their car related problems solved theres zero reason to show up to help anyone else.
, and its obviously a total waste of time to expect to get help on my projects , even if Ive spent days working on their cars for FREE.
have you ever have someone call and tell you they are stuck on the highway, need help and when you go find a neighbor with a pick-up to tow your car transport trailer and you get out there within the hour you find they paid some tow company well over $150 to get their car home, and you made the effort for nothing, "because they were not sure you would get there" even after you TOLD them you would be there in 45 minutes! (and yes you were!)
THIS IS JUST A SILLY RANT SKIP IF YOUR BUSY! BLOWING OFF A BIT OF FRUSTRATION!
Ive always gone out of my way to help anyone who asked for assistance.
.things have become totally different over the last few decades, years ago I spent several nights a week either helping friends with their car projects or having them over helping me build engines,and I almost always had several car guys over at my home or garage, working or at least talking about cars.
My wife and most of my friends wife's just expected (THE GUYS to be out in the shop several nights a week) Lately I,ve made arrangements several times to clear my schedule to help a couple guys over the last few weeks , only to have guys who called, asking for help with various car related issues (and they either call well past the time they were due to arrive,)CALL to say something ,came up and they won,t be available or they just never show up, yet for days ahead of time they have called making sure I,m still available .
Ive had guys call me about killer deals at yard sales on car parts and IVe done the same over the years when I see deals Im not going to jump on personally.
I especially find this is a P.I.T.A, if they more or less expect me to help them, on a moments notice, or if I need help and I was promised they would show up.
now I know they think I should drop everything at a moments notice to help them if they call, but Its becoming rather obvious that few people seem to think that working on their car or making time to do so is a priority, and many seem to think that once they have all their car related problems solved theres zero reason to show up to help anyone else.
, and its obviously a total waste of time to expect to get help on my projects , even if Ive spent days working on their cars for FREE.
have you ever have someone call and tell you they are stuck on the highway, need help and when you go find a neighbor with a pick-up to tow your car transport trailer and you get out there within the hour you find they paid some tow company well over $150 to get their car home, and you made the effort for nothing, "because they were not sure you would get there" even after you TOLD them you would be there in 45 minutes! (and yes you were!)
I can,t believe how few people really enjoy working on cars and solving problems, learning new skills and how few people get a sense of satisfaction from a job thats well accomplished.
I started working on my car yesterday and realized that a great deal of the problems I face are related to either not having a local friend that could help work on the car and someone to bounce ideas off or have them suggest things that I might other wise overlook, OR just not having a second pair of hands available to move, hold align parts, etc.
when I was younger there was about 5-7 guys in a loose group that were always more than willing to go over to each others homes or shops to help out on projects, in fact we all worked on each others cars and thought nothing about using our own tools, trading parts or swapping skills while helping each other.
If one guy had a MIG welder and some one else was good at painting or body work or chasing down electrical glitches, tuning a car, etc, we all worked together to build and fix up each others cars...but over the last 15 or so years most of my older friends either lost interest, moved out of the area, or died, so finding a local car guy to share the hobby with, has become more difficult. that and when I was younger wives seemed far less demanding of your time, even helping.
I started working on my car yesterday and realized that a great deal of the problems I face are related to either not having a local friend that could help work on the car and someone to bounce ideas off or have them suggest things that I might other wise overlook, OR just not having a second pair of hands available to move, hold align parts, etc.
when I was younger there was about 5-7 guys in a loose group that were always more than willing to go over to each others homes or shops to help out on projects, in fact we all worked on each others cars and thought nothing about using our own tools, trading parts or swapping skills while helping each other.
If one guy had a MIG welder and some one else was good at painting or body work or chasing down electrical glitches, tuning a car, etc, we all worked together to build and fix up each others cars...but over the last 15 or so years most of my older friends either lost interest, moved out of the area, or died, so finding a local car guy to share the hobby with, has become more difficult. that and when I was younger wives seemed far less demanding of your time, even helping.
now this will probable sound like Im bitching, but really its just an observation on human behavior,
something Ive seen rather consistently for 45 plus years, I read thru these threads and in many cases I think,
"damn, I wish I could drop over and help out because this guys struggling with something thats just not all that difficult"
or
"damn! I wish I know how to do that ! I wish I could watch that being done!"
I see it in my "FRIENDS" at times and very frequently among guys I meet as car club members.
and I have a hard time grasping the reason, because I find many of my friends have a similar attitude to mine, where if I have the time, I rarely pass up the opportunity to learn new skills or spend time working on cars or engines, I have a couple old guys I grew up with that still enjoy working on cars, but its rather obvious that having skills in the area of mechanics is not universal.
the fact is that the fastest way to make the contacts you,ll need and learn the skills and get the experience you,ll need is to offer to help, (and actually show up and help on) as many people,s project cars as you can , you gain a great deal of experience in the process with working on their projects.
(you usually find out who your real car guy friends are rather quickly, if you mention needing help on a project, simply because the real car guys seem to jump on a chance to learn new skills or just carry on a conversation while working on cars, and enjoy doing most things around cars.
I probably should not be surprised, yet,I constantly find it rather amazing that many people,Ive helped over many years, who have had zero issues with asking for help on their car project ,and who seem to be very appreciative if you were do drop what your doing to help them, who will consistently and conveniently find some reason NOT to be available when ever you want them to help out on a project your involved with.
Now this is hardly some new trend, but I know I and many of my friends have spent a good deal of time helping out other people with their cars, and its almost universal to find out that theres "CAR GUYS" who enjoy working on cars, and who enjoy learning and working on cars, guys who have no reservations in spending time helping other people, talking about and learning new skills related to cars, and then theres the guys that only work on cars because they really can,t afford to dump auto related problems in a dealership.
How many of you guys have joined car clubs just to locate and make friends with "CAR GUYS" and want too both help and be helped with car projects?
How many of you guys have found out that the majority of the guys you help, out on their cars are conveniently, never available if you need help?
darn! I really wish I lived in the same local area as many of the members on this site as Id love to be able to drop by and help out.
something Ive seen rather consistently for 45 plus years, I read thru these threads and in many cases I think,
"damn, I wish I could drop over and help out because this guys struggling with something thats just not all that difficult"
or
"damn! I wish I know how to do that ! I wish I could watch that being done!"
I see it in my "FRIENDS" at times and very frequently among guys I meet as car club members.
and I have a hard time grasping the reason, because I find many of my friends have a similar attitude to mine, where if I have the time, I rarely pass up the opportunity to learn new skills or spend time working on cars or engines, I have a couple old guys I grew up with that still enjoy working on cars, but its rather obvious that having skills in the area of mechanics is not universal.
the fact is that the fastest way to make the contacts you,ll need and learn the skills and get the experience you,ll need is to offer to help, (and actually show up and help on) as many people,s project cars as you can , you gain a great deal of experience in the process with working on their projects.
(you usually find out who your real car guy friends are rather quickly, if you mention needing help on a project, simply because the real car guys seem to jump on a chance to learn new skills or just carry on a conversation while working on cars, and enjoy doing most things around cars.
I probably should not be surprised, yet,I constantly find it rather amazing that many people,Ive helped over many years, who have had zero issues with asking for help on their car project ,and who seem to be very appreciative if you were do drop what your doing to help them, who will consistently and conveniently find some reason NOT to be available when ever you want them to help out on a project your involved with.
Now this is hardly some new trend, but I know I and many of my friends have spent a good deal of time helping out other people with their cars, and its almost universal to find out that theres "CAR GUYS" who enjoy working on cars, and who enjoy learning and working on cars, guys who have no reservations in spending time helping other people, talking about and learning new skills related to cars, and then theres the guys that only work on cars because they really can,t afford to dump auto related problems in a dealership.
How many of you guys have joined car clubs just to locate and make friends with "CAR GUYS" and want too both help and be helped with car projects?
How many of you guys have found out that the majority of the guys you help, out on their cars are conveniently, never available if you need help?
darn! I really wish I lived in the same local area as many of the members on this site as Id love to be able to drop by and help out.
8
87vette81big
Guest
Most of the car guys around me are some distance away I stay friends with.
Some are local. They sold thier cars or quit racing. Most often due to the poor economy.
Or divorce.
2 Close car friends near me.
Few 70 miles away in Joliet.
Lots of car forum Corvette friends.
Making friends on your Forum Grumpy & DC. just seems natural.
Yes I wish we all lived closer.
Someday we will meet and talk cars & engines in person.
Brian
Some are local. They sold thier cars or quit racing. Most often due to the poor economy.
Or divorce.
2 Close car friends near me.
Few 70 miles away in Joliet.
Lots of car forum Corvette friends.
Making friends on your Forum Grumpy & DC. just seems natural.
Yes I wish we all lived closer.
Someday we will meet and talk cars & engines in person.
Brian
8
87vette81big
Guest
I dont like the car clubs here in Illinois.
Too clicky.
Too many written And constant improvised rules.
Most don't race or never had a desire to do so.
Worry about silly things like number matching radiator hoses.
Ask them if they ever took thier hotrod down 1/4 mile ????
Look at you strange.........liberel........
Grumpy.......
:roll:
Too clicky.
Too many written And constant improvised rules.
Most don't race or never had a desire to do so.
Worry about silly things like number matching radiator hoses.
Ask them if they ever took thier hotrod down 1/4 mile ????
Look at you strange.........liberel........
Grumpy.......
:roll: