So if I fix my truck up and paint it....

[chalet2506]

Can my kids still do this?

Haven't been in here much because I'm spending my mechanicin time trying to get the Chalet running. Downloaded these pics from July 4th today and thought I'd share.

 

[Greg72]

Great pics!

Don't worry, by the time you'd get the truck completed the girls would be too large and heavy to sit on the hood without crinkling it anyway. These hoods are paper-thin.

By then you can simply turn the truck around backwards, drop the tailgate and fill the back with pillows and sleeping bags and let them relax and watch from back there. I took a few friends and their kids to a drive-in movie that way once and they thought it was the greatest thing ever..... good times.

 

[vtblazer]

When my kids were that age, we did the fire-works thing every year with the blazer, the kids still bring it up around the 4th and talk/reminisce about how fun it was.

 

[chalet2506]

They're at the age that its still cool to ride in and I get pretty good use out of it just tooling around town for stuff like this. Plus, I can let them climb all over it and not worry about anything getting broken or scratched. Hoping they'll have good memories one of these days too.

 

[gaspass]

if you paint it with a can like I did you won't have to worry about it.

 

[chalet2506]

if you paint it with a can like I did you won't have to worry about it.

I've thought about it, can't decide if I want to try and "restore" it one of these days or not. Good thing I'm not in a hurry.

 

[Greg72]

I've thought about it, can't decide if I want to try and "restore" it one of these days or not. Good thing I'm not in a hurry.

Replacement hoods aren't THAT expensive....just let kids be kids for now, and put a new hood one when they're grown up.

 

[chalet2506]

I hear you on the kids, they're only this age once. I got a one year old bringing up the rear as well, so should have some good years ahead of us. They keep asking me when the green truck is coming back home.

 

[gaspass]

Making memories

Memories like this are important for kids. Many of my memories of my dad involve his old 1956 Chevy pickup.When I was 11 he used to take me around on my paper route on cold Sunday mornings. I would put my stack of papers in the back and jump on and off the passenger side step as I delivered them. Afterwards he would take me to Bob's Cafe for a short stack of pancakes. Memories like that just cannot be replaced. I still own that old truck. It's just patiently waiting for me to finish playing with the Blazer so I'll have time to restore it.
As I got older my dad taught me everything I know about wrenching on that old truck. My wife is occasionally amazed at how much money I save us in repair bills now by doing my own brake work, fluids, alternators, water pumps, body work, cooling system, carb rebuilds, etc., etc. Some day I hope to pass some of these skills as well as these trucks to my sons. My 12 year old already has "dibs" on the Blazer.