I'll tell you what impresses about all four of you "kids" right now more than anything else--all four of you know how to use PROPER ENGLISH. In other words, you don't type in jibberish with horrible "gramer and spellin and tell us how you seen a cool rat rod". You use proper English grammar with things like occasional capital letters, periods, punctuation marks, etc. Oh my!!! My faith in the youth of tomorrow has been restored. None of us are English professors, but some of the posts on this forum are completely unreadable sometimes.

 

I was born into a family with a love for old vehicles. I am the youngest at 30 of a family of six boys. My parents had kept several family vehicles from years ago and still used then regularly. They then started a tradition with my oldest brother of buying a classic truck as a first vehicle. That first truck was a 1958 gmc wide window long box, then a 1959 chevy short box, next a 1965 chevy short box fleet side, a 1964 ford long box came next, then a 1970 chevy short box. I am 12 years younger than my oldest brother and many things had changed by the time I was driving age. My parents financial situation went down hill and It became pretty clear that I was not going to be getting a classic truck. I was not about to be without wheels so I talked them into giving me the old family car that had been sitting for years at that point. So my first car was a 1972 Oldsmobile cutlass. I worked a job every summer starting in eighth grade and after school and on the weekends, and between that and a couple of FFA projects I made it a pretty cool ride! I've still got it to!
I bought my first ford pickup my senior year of high school, a 1979 f350 4x4. My current project, a 1956 f350 finally came about three years ago on Father's Day! So it took me awhile to get there but I finally got my classic truck!
I have three kids myself and they all enjoy spending time in my shop. I'm trying to pass on the joy that these old trucks can bring to the next generation!

 

congratulations to all the young "kids" out there for keeping this hobby going all of us are proud of you & thank you very much,my dad took me for my drivers test in his beautiful 51 ford f1 & i have loved them ever since i have a 51 f1 & it is special to me because of my dad i am 75 7 i drive mine every chance i get & every time i get in the truck i swear that my dad is in there too with me

 

Depends on what you consider young, as I'm 33, but I started with a '76 mini as my first car when I was 18. I was never much of a grease monkey when I was younger, but planes and trains kept me busy, so it wasn't long until I ventured into cars.
The Mini was my education. And like all good educations cost more than I thought but got a lot of knowledge out of it too.
2 engine rebuilds and a full frame off restoration. Upgraded it to Cooper S spec with a 1275cc engine and disc brakes. But had a full education with the prince of darkness himself, Sir Lucas. Rebuilt the wiring harness and upgraded it to avoid being stuck on the side of the road one dark night.
Honestly started getting into these trucks almost by chance. Living on a farm and looking to go ranching in a few years I was starting to look for a farm truck that could pull our tiny house alon on the journey. A standard one tonne just didn't appeal to me and started to look at a classic truck that might do the job. My issue was wanting a 4x4 for the winter weather and be able to work in the field without being stuck. Just did not seem possible until I stumbled across the F-5 Marmon Herrington that I'm in the process of getting. So I consider this my masters degree in classic cars now. Schools in session and I can't wait to get my hands dirty again.

 

I have a 28yr. old son who can't change his own windshield wipers, can't drive a car with a manual transmission, thought I was a god when he found out I changed my oil. I love him to death but he is helpless. Equal blame to spread between play, Nintendo, and me not forcing him to learn. I thought every young man was probably the same and I'm glad that I am wrong. You guys check up on this site often and help answer my questions.

 

I'm no longer a "young one", I'm 34. I grew up with old cars. I drove a 52 Ford sedan to high school in the 90s. I'm glad that there are more folks getting into this hobby, I don't want to be the last.

 

It is awesome to see the young ones with an interest in these old trucks on here.

 

My son Zack is 23 years old up at Baylor University. He's forever helping out the other kids with flats, cars that don't start, oil changes, etc. "Dad you won't believe how little these kids know about cars! They can't even change a windshield wiper!"

He loves working on the truck & he will own it full time as soon as he's able & set up on his own (soon I hope). In the meantime he's happy to change the family fleet's oil every college break.

Ben in Austin
1950 F1

 

Let me start by saying this is my first non-intro post on this forum. I've been a part of several other forums (for some of my other hobbies/projects), so I'm well-acquainted with the good, bad, and ugly of this stuff. So, first off, hello!

Hot Wheels, Legos, and GI Joe were my toys of choice growing up. The GI Joes don't really apply here, but the Legos and Hot Wheels are what started my love of cars and working with my hands. Now, I'm 28 (not as young as I thought -- when this thread started, I didn't realize I'd be seeing posts from teenagers) and I love working with my hands.

Fast forward to my teenage/early college years, and I was talking about project cars. My dad's latest fad (for the last 7-8 years or so) has been motorcycles. His logic: they're cheaper and take up less room than cars. We've both had an affinity for older cars and trucks (he prefers the '60s trucks), but we had never had a project. He talked about how he wished he had made the jump to work on cars earlier in his life.

So in 2012, I bought my first project -- a 1994 Mazda Miata. I hid the purchase from my dad. I was on my own and financially supporting myself, but he still wanted a say in how I spent my money. Fresh out of college, money was tight. But I always wanted a project car. The passion was there, but the knowledge and skills weren't. When he found out, he was a bit upset because I hid the purchase from him. Also... the Miata has a reputation of being a girl's car. Cheap to work on, strong aftermarket support, and fun as hell to drive. I did basic maintenance on it and sold it a couple years later for double what I paid to fund my next project.

The 2nd generation F100s have always been my dream trucks. Not sure where that particular fondness came from, but I think the curves of the 48-52 and 53-56 F-series trucks can't be beat. I love them. So I used the money from the Miata to buy my current pile of parts -- a 1953 F100, stake bed, Ford 400 motor, and C6 transmission. I'm not sure what all I have (it's literally a pile of parts -- I bought it on blind faith that everything advertised was included within the 10+ boxes it came in). As you can imagine, I'm overwhelmed with the project right now. It's consumed my entire 1.5-car garage, and (aside from taking inventory of by boxes of parts) I'm not sure where to start. I'll post pictures within a few days when I start a build thread...

Ugh. This guy gets me. Couldn't agree more.

Now that is a family tradition I can get behind!

Not all of us 28-year-olds are like that! But yes, the times they are a-changin'. I'm not nearly as capable as my dad, and he's not nearly as capable as his. As great as TV and the Internet are, I think they've really doomed a lot of the future. We're one of the smartest (or should I say "well-informed") generations, but we're also one of the laziest/incapable.

 

I am 18 and personally own 3 ford trucks. My daily driver is a 1992 F-350 crewcab dually with a 7.3 IDIT/ZF5. The truck has a Single Mass Flywheel, Champion aluminum radiator, coolant filter, upgraded ATS turbo housing and Mag-Hytec rear differential cover. The Injection pump is still set to stock at 240,000 miles. My next Ford is a 1977 F-350 with a 351M with a custom flatbed. The only mods to it are an aftermarket air cleaner and a dual oil filter relocation kit because I hated draining the oil all over the crossmember. Finally my latest purchase is a 1956 F-100. This truck will see a CV front IFS and retain the CV 4.6. Behind the 4.6 will be a T-45 5 speed from a Mustang followed by an 8.8 rear differential from an Explorer. For the body, a full tilt fiberglass hood with electric power, and 3 inch widened rear fenders. Other than that the body will only see repair where needed and will be otherwise original. I learned to like Ford trucks around the time I turned 15, I had been around our old farm trucks and just liked them.

 

'Teach a child in the way he should go'..... Not sure if this was my first Ford truck, but I know the '28 AA was my second real truck. I sold my '65 f100 to my older cousin in 1973 when I got the AA in running condition. I was 19 at that time. The '28 was my daily driver for 2 years, but I always had a motorcycle so I could get out of my own way when needed.

 

My father's first vehicle was a 1928 model A. Unfortunately, he let go of it in order to finance his way through college. (This ended up being for the better; he is now a college professor at his alma-mater)



Thank you sir. When you have a full blown English teacher as a grandmother, you learn how to speak and write VERY WELL. To be perfectly clear; this is one of the places I come when I have a "hankerin" (rest her soul, she's probably frowning from up there seeing how I just wrote a slang word) to express myself in improper English.

 

Grampa was a Ford man, I believe he had a T and model A, still have the Ford oil can, a few open end wrenches of his, and half a bar of Ivory soap that he kept in the glove box to wash his hands with after changing tires. Back in the day flat tires were very common.

In '38 Gramps took the family on vacation from Iowa to Florida. Roads were a lot different then, must have been quite a trip. When they got to Florida Gramps got stuck on the beach. Cocoa Beach. And then the tide came in.

It was a company car, btw. Doh!

 

I think the F1's still have a good mix of enthusiasts since they make great restoration projects and hot rod projects. I have a model A and it's a shame that most owners are "a little long in the tooth" (heck, my self included now I guess!) They're really fun cars, very mechanical. The resale value of an F1 compared to an A (or a T) is like night and day unless they're all hot-rodded.

Wally

 

This is my youngest of four kids. We had just picked up this '29 AA to replace the one that got away when I was 21. He is now 20 and can start and drive any of my old Fords.