Mr, Is That Your Roadster Outside?

[PA41]

I'm haunted by this 7-8 year old kid that came up to me in a Video store a few years back, and asked that about my 26 T. He was excited, but a little shy, and his mom had to coax him to ask.

It wouldn'ta took nuthin for me to talk to him a little, show him around the car and take him for a little spin around the parkin lot. It wouldn't have took NUTHIN!

I Blew the kid off.. Got crappy people reflexes--Just a gripy ol fart. Instead of a bright spot that coulda changed his life, he just bumped into another JERK.

Somboddy--GIVE THAT KID A RIDE!!

Give me some peace--need absolution.

Maybe next time I'll be ready... In the mean time tell me some good stuff ya did with these cars???

PA41

 

[hotrod preacher]

i know you feel bad over that-seein' it's still on your mind......i have issues w/leting go of mistakes as well...i think we all do to some degree.....

the thing i have found out to be true, most of the time, is the one we worry we have offended usually doesn't remember the incident at all, or isn't as offended as we THINK he/she was ........kids get over things better than adults do anyway, so that particular kid may remember the car-and not have felt the avoidance that you perceive you left him with.........

and, if that doesn't help, you always have the option of trying to find out who the kid is and make apologies--ask someone in the video store, or if somebody remembers who he is--i try to tell my church people that as long as people are breathing, it's not too late to make things right....

and for the last---remember to learn from our past-it helps us be better in the future

 

[Gearhead10]

Don't beat yourself up over it. Like preacher said. We all learn from our mistakes. I had that once when I was racin. Some little kid wanted to sit in my car and at the time (before I had kids) I blew him off, I wasn't much of a kid person. Later I realized that I should have and was able to get him back in my pit and let him "race" my car on the trailer. You'll get that chance again so don't worry, if not that kid maybe another one. Don't fret it man.

 

[goodlookin]

Amen to what the Preacher said. There will be many more chances to make your amends. (I was once was a kid) but still like to go for rides.

 

[earthman]

Lessons happen PA. It's what we are doing here.

 

[Sniper]

PA41 We all have a 'moment' we regret somewhere along the line. But then, we have the moments when we shine as well. I've never had the chance yet to give rides in a rod, simply because I've never finished one! But after I built my plane, I had a number of young passengers. After their flight I gave them a 'Certificate', and picture of them and plane. A few got a Girl Guide, or Boy Scout badge with it, for aviation. But the best one was a Sunday morning flight along the south shore of Lake Huron. At 500 ft up and 500 ft out from the shore I was just toolin along enjoying myself. At a place called Bluepoint the water is real shallow for a along way out, so the docks are long as well. At the end of one dock, is a 10 or 12 year old boy waving a paddle like crazy. Couldn't help but see him. Crossed the controls, and slide the plane up on the wing tip. As I was going by, I gave a wave and honked the horn!! (Yeah, I had a car horn hooked up, you can get away with that stuff on a homebuilt. Had a lot of fun with that horn!) He dropped the paddle and run down the dock toward an adult. (I'm guessing Dad) The whole time pointing and waving. I couldn't hear him, but I'm sure it was "Dad! Dad! He seen me!!" Relaxed the controls and levelled out, a quick look over my shoulder and they were both still waving. It was a spur of the moment thing, but it still makes me smile. You'll get your chance again, you'll be 'redeemed'. Sniper

 

[rustbuilder]

What a jerk,NO really don't let it happen again.Of coarse any self respecting mom would never let her child go for a ride in a strangers car!!!

 

[donsrods]

These are different times than in the 50's. We have had to teach our kids to be wary of strangers and we adults are afraid to get too chummy with some kid for fear someone will think the wrong things.

I have kids come up to my car all the time at shows, gas stations, etc.....I guess they relate to it because it is so low. I usually ask them if they like it and make small talk, but I try to include the Mom or Dad in the conversation so they know I'm on the up and up.

I used to ask kids if they wanted to sit in my 27 and if they said yes I would ask the Parent if it was ok. The look on their faces was priceless and I wish someone would have let me do that when I was their age. I don't do that in my 23 because it is shiny black and I don't need any more scratches than I already have. My 27 was in primer so it was bulletproof.

But there have been times I was rushing to get somewhere and I have had to be short with a conversation too, both with Kids and adults. So don't feel bad, we have all done it.

Don

 

[railroad]

At the cost of you feeling bad, you have sent a message to all who will read your thread. That message will help us. I believe every one of us will do a better job after reading it. Maybe that was the purpose of your encounter.

We have a local Boys Ranch. One of the ads goes something like this, " A man taking a youngster fishing, thought at the end of the day, "that's the worst day of fishing I ever had. The youngster's thoughts, "went fishing for the first time in my life, the best time I have ever had"

 

[Shea Laking]

PA,

There's this old, old, boneyard out in the hills, near where my parents live...Anyway, I tried to get in there from the time I was 16, until I was 24 or 25, when the "Ol' Fart" owner finally let me in....It turns out, all he wanted was to "shoot the poop" with me for awhile and get to know me a bit before he let me go out and wander around amongst his cars...

The moral of the story is, if that little boy really loves cars, I'm sure one little discouragement won't make him into, say, a ballerina-He'll just keep on lookin' and dreamin' until he's finally on the inside. Heck, I'm almost 39 years old and I'm still lookin', and dreamin'...

Regards,
Shea

 

[Sniper]

PA,

Heck, I'm almost 39 years old and I'm still ...

Regards,
Shea

Ya scared me for a second there Shea, thought you were going to say ballerina sorry about that. Whew You do make a good point though. Sniper

 

[Gregster]

I think everyone that reads this thread will remember how you feel now , we all make hasty decisions that we regret down the road . It's my guess you will remedy the mistake ten fold . Don't beat yourself up , you've taught us all a very valuable lesson . We all live and learn , life goes on !!

 

[moparcowboy]

Agree with preacher,and thanks for making the rest of us think!
maybe we won't make the same mistake.
my little brother use to stand next to my ride when I was in HS (1970) and tell every one that pasted by "this is my brothers car" he was about 10 yrs younger than me and proud of big brothers rod. I never knew he did that till few years back when he told me. gave me great feeling!

 

[Bonehead]

Let me tell you the other side of this story. My wife and I met a guy at a car show who owned a Shelby Cobra. We shot the breeze with this guy for two days. Nice guy.
During our conversations, he found out that we had named our son Shelby, and we had Mustangs at home, and were Shelby fans. He offered to come by the house next weekend and take our then 12 year old son for a ride in his Cobra. What an offer. we figured it would be something he would never forget. The next weekend he called and came by and took off with our son. After they drove out of sight, I looked over at my wife and asked, " do you that guys' last name?". ( or where he lives, or what kind of guy he really is, or if she thought he was an axe murderer) It was a long 30 minutes, but when they got back they were both grinnning ear to ear, and you can tell it turned out good, but I was a little worried there for a minute.

The guy told me he just needed more excuses to take the car out, because he does not drive it enough. My son said it was the first time he had ever seen 4th gear scratch on an on ramp to the interstate.

 

[moparcowboy]

Let me tell you the other side of this story. My wife and I met a guy at a car show who owned a Shelby Cobra. We shot the breeze with this guy for two days. Nice guy.
During our conversations, he found out that we had named our son Shelby, and we had Mustangs at home, and were Shelby fans. He offered to come by the house next weekend and take our then 12 year old son for a ride in his Cobra. What an offer. we figured it would be something he would never forget. The next weekend he called and came by and took off with our son. After they drove out of sight, I looked over at my wife and asked, " do you that guys' last name?". ( or where he lives, or what kind of guy he really is, or if she thought he was an axe murderer) It was a long 30 minutes, but when they got back they were both grinnning ear to ear, and you can tell it turned out good, but I was a little worried there for a minute.

The guy told me he just needed more excuses to take the car out, because he does not drive it enough. My son said it was the first time he had ever seen 4th gear scratch on an on ramp to the interstate.

cool story Bonehead.

 

[Wrinkles]

future rodders

Ive kinda changed from an old GRUMP to an old fart. last year we built our 28 A p/u RAT an took in 10 shows in the summer months. as I do love kids we open our rod to the kids, any one can crawl in an make crazy noises an hit the ooga horn. we take pics of them an send them to the parents. For us a park an wait is very busy an one heck of a lot of fun. and you meet people you would never had the chance to otherwise. gotta remember KIDS are US.

 

[Glocks&AKs]

I used to have a Kandy Blue 64 Impala with a VERY FAST air bag suspension. Well I was at a "curb-side" car show and this kid in his early teens is checking it out, and I notice he's developmentally challenged. His mom starts telling me how he seen my ride from down the street and headed straight for it. I asked her if it would be OK to let him hit the switches a few times, she said that would be great. So I showed him how to use the box and he bounced my car all over the place for about 3 minutes. It ran out my air tank AND my Nitrogen backup... cost me 25 bucks to refill the Nitrogen, but damn man, this kids smile was worth a lot more than that. I'm sure it wasnt something he quickly forgot. And it felt good to see someone enjoy themselves that much.

 

[moparcowboy]

I used to have a Kandy Blue 64 Impala with a VERY FAST air bag suspension. Well I was at a "curb-side" car show and this kid in his early teens is checking it out, and I notice he's developmentally challenged. His mom starts telling me how he seen my ride from down the street and headed straight for it. I asked her if it would be OK to let him hit the switches a few times, she said that would be great. So I showed him how to use the box and he bounced my car all over the place for about 3 minutes. It ran out my air tank AND my Nitrogen backup... cost me 25 bucks to refill the Nitrogen, but damn man, this kids smile was worth a lot more than that. I'm sure it wasnt something he quickly forgot. And it felt good to see someone enjoy themselves that much.

Good job thanks for doing that.

 

[PA41]

Thanks for All the good responses, It's refreshing to hear decency is amongst us.

I remember Jigs Emery on the NTBA board usta cruze kids around in his 23 T. Good guy - RIP Jigs. First guy I ever saw doing it at shows. He got tired of just sittin around and started givin rides. The NTBA does that often now, I was in Salem AR this summer with 20 or so of them, and they were crusing kids around the town square. Big grins all around. Good bunch. Good scheme to jazz up a carshow/show N shine thing.

Thanks again -- that kid HAS got a few rides..

PA41

 

[goose-em]

I have a neighbor boy who's step dad is as useless as an ape in a coffee shop. His real dad is a body man but lives several hours away.

This summer he went to visit his real dad and asked him to show him how to do body work.

When he got back he came right over to tell me all that he had learned and could he help me?

Killed me right there! Poor kid is only 10 and his step dad and real mom cuss at him all the time and basically treat him like dirt.

Now he comes over and gives me a hand whenever he can. I always have some little chore for him to do and no matter how insignificant he thinks it is a work of art.

I think he just likes being treated like a human being.