mike brown

need some opinions on car situations...
my son just turned 13 and he wants to buy him a car now to work on and have ready by the time he can drive (permit @15, license @16).
this sounds like a good ideal - it would teach him about cars, develop his mechanical skills, give him pride and responsibity in having the car. at least that's some of the same reasons i used when i bought myself the camaro i thought it would turn into a father and son project, so I'm not going to bs myself this time. that never did happen and even though he's older and the car would be "ours" (not just his), i still know i would wind up doing all the work.
the thing is, he wants a vette. i like them and really have been looking at the 68-72 chrome bumper models (these are about the oldest year models i could afford), but I'm still thinking they are just too dangerous for a kid for his first car and the insurance would be astronomical.
i don't mean to make it sound like i am going to run out and buy a vette and hand him the keys, this is not the case. if i did buy a car now for us to work on it would be our car, not his (and if it turned out nice it may turn into MY car - have been known to be an indian giver). this would give him something to work on, something for dad to keep for him and something that would one day be his that hopefully he would want to keep forever.
this would not give him a daily driver when he would want one (3 yrs from now, but I'm thinking more like 4 yrs), guess we'd have to look at some cheap form of transportation then.
i think he should have to work for his daily driver as i bought my first car when 16 1/2 from bagging groceries at a job i had since i was 15. he plans to start work next summer with his grandfather and that should give him a taste of the real world.
I'll let him make the decision on his daily driver, because i do plan on him paying a portion of the price with his own money.
as far as the vette, it would be fun to go to shows together, but i know how it would turn out. I'd wind up doing all the work if we bought a project car, and just don't have the time. can't really afford to get a finished car, plus didn't want something that nice for his first car.
any suggestions from people that own them?

BSeery

I had to work for my car. Never did my parents give me a car or pay for the insurance or gas.

I believe this is best as I learned to respect my car and take care of it. And I also learned that anything worth having is worth working for.

73 LS-4

A chromed bumper shark, wouldn't exactly be what I would want to picture as a daily driver for 99% of the people out there much less someone just learning to fight traffic and the other loonies that could care less about a classic vette. Now if you wanted to build a weekend toy together, that would be a perfect project and I'm sure you would both enjoy working on it. Then when he gets old enough to drive he can get a hold of something mundane to get back and forth to school or work and drive the vette on sunny days and special occasions. Which is basically what I do with mine now since I couldn't afford to keep it in gas on a daily basis. I'd try to find a vette that you both would like, so whoever would end up with it would be happy, since you don't know how much he will help you with the car I would make working on the car a stipulation for using the car, after all you know 30+ year old cars always seem to need some sort of work :smash: .

:cheers:
Pat Kunz

bamavettes

When he works and earns the money...let him buy what he wants. I raised two sons and never bought them a car. They worked and saved and bought their own cars. Today, they are adults and better off for it.
When they were 13. I was teaching them to hunt, fish and taking them camping.

Good Luck in whatever you decide. Spend as much time as you can with him.

daniel77350

When I was 15 my dads 77 became "our" project car. He let it sit for so long, I had loved vettes since i was 12 but my dad is not much of a car guy, and I didn't even realize it was a vette(I was into the C4's) and there was no internet, so I just thought we had a really old car...plus it was under a car cover most of the time. Anyway, when I found out it was a vette I talked him into making it our project car. About a month in he started this whole thing about "now I remember why I stoped working on these cars" and so on and so forth, and how much he hated working on them because his hands where not small enough and he didn't have the paitents or something, so I took advantage of this and talked him into giving me the car. He is still interested in what I am doing with it, which is cool I guess, but when I tell him my plans he discourages them and tells me to "take it to a shop, they'll do it right" as to imply I will mess it up. But so far I have proved him wrong by getting it to start for one thing. I think he is somewhat impressed with my ability to track a problem down and fix it. But he still discourages all my plans with the car, I almost get the feeling he wants me to sell it...YA RIGHT!. One day when its show quality I will be able to show him that there is at least one thing I am good at :D .

All I can suggest from a kids point of view is, no matter how deep the cut is when the wrech slips, never yell at the car in front of him, and never walk away from it when he is there...he'll think "does he really want to do this?" at least thats what I did. But I turned out to be right, he didn't wanna do it. But he made the effort...I don't hate him for it, I just wish he'd be a bit more supportive. I do think its funny when he tries to help every now and then and cannot get something to go like it should(like a caliper piston to go in so he can put the new pads on), so he yelles and I walk up and, using a little patients, I get the pistons to go in, and the new pads on in just minutes. Maybe he could learn from me???(A little patients goes a long way).

Daniel

Steve Straus

My first car was a 1968 Camaro SS that I started building when I was 14. I had saved up for it and bought a good body with no engine tranny or rear end for 600 bucks. Found a POS 307 and started with that. I eventually dropped a 383 stroker with a TH-350 and a 10 bolt Chevy into it. Down the road I converted it to a Super T-10 4 speed and a Ford 9 inch rear.

You can start cheap and build a fun car together, and it doesn't have to be a perfectly restored museum piece. A good friend of mine's dad and her built a '56 Chevy Truck that was a GORGEOUS hot rod. This thing was so beautiful you couldn't really drive it. That's not much of a first car. She ended up riding the bus a lot.

Go find a car that's been sitting for a long time, but has a good interior and body, or whatever you want, and fix it up. You have 3 years. It could be a Chevelle, Nova, Camaro, GTO, Firebird, etc.

I don't think a Chrome Bumper Vette is a good idea. If he crashes, they are a lot more expensive to repair. I'd say something about the fiberglass body not being as safe, but I've seen some pretty gnarly crashes with C3's that people have just walked away from, so I'm not convinced.

And about this Indian giving thing, don't do that, that isn't cool.

Just remember, make him do all of the work but help him when he needs it, and if you have to spend money, make it under a condition that he pays you back, or even if he doesn't pay you back, it's not like you just went out and bought him a car.

Not many kids had to build their first car. I did. And I ended up doing it 3 more times just for fun.

He'll thank you one day...Trust me.

I still have the Camaro and will NEVER sell it. It is my most prized possesion. It's not worth much, but it's worth more to me than most will ever know.

Here it is:





[Modified by Steve Straus, 1:37 AM 8/13/2001]

78Vette-SA

First off, I see some pretty sweet looking Camaro's in the sig pic's above. Nice rides guys.

When I was 13 (that was 30 years ago, @#$%) I had gotten over the mini bike thing and bought a 62 Beetle with the engine in apple baskets in the back seat for $30 (including the tow to the house). My mom freaked out and so did the neighbor's.

I got a J. C. Whitney Catalog and proceed to order up some rebuild parts and a book with my paperboy money. I took the body off the car (that was fun rolling it off and upside down in the driveway while the neaibors looked on in horror). My dad helped me weld a roll-cage on it. It took a couple of months and a lot of frustration to finally get the engine going. I drove that buggy in the woods behind me for the next year or so. I still have a picture of it.

I learned so much from that experience. But man, if that could have been a Vette, I'd bet I would still have it today. And I wouldn't have driven it in the woods.

You're a nice dad. :cheers:

ddecart

THat sounds great to me. My son is only 6 now and I hope that when he gets to be old enough to care and have the desire (I've already infested him with the Corvette bug) that he'll want to tackle a project like that with me. I think we both would have a great time doing it and that's the kind of dad I want to be with him.

On the other side, I had some friends in high school. When the older one was like 15, their dad dragged home a '67 Camaro convertible. 250 six, 3 speed on the tree, and this car was in ROUGH shape. he thought they'd restore it and they would have this great car. Yeah, right. They weren't interested at ALL and that car sat for a few years before the dad sold it. I would have LOVED to have that car, btu i didn't have the parental support for a project like that. Go figure...

As for a chrome bumper car....go for it!! If he does the work on it, trust me, he'll be proud of what he's done and he'll be far more careful driving that car than any other teenager in some $30,000 car that mom & dad bought them.

Dave

AD2VET

I think it's a great idea to have a father and son "project" like that...but I don't think that the first car a teenager owns/drives should be a Vette.

ZD75blue

if yah think about it a 74-77 with 160 horsepower it should be alot less dangerous than say a new model Camaro

Just a thought

I like the idea

ZD :cheers:

stickboy

Sound like a great project, but if he is going to get the car make him work for it. I was given my first car (it was my dad's daily driver) and had no respect for it. That changed when it died and I had to buy a new one for myself. If you get your son to understand the cost and work that goes into having a nice car.

PatsLs1vette

I had to work for everything i did to my first car when i was 15 a 69 rs/ss indy 500 pacecar camaro.i put every penny into that car yeah my dad helped with the mechanical parts in the beginning but it was great father and son project..i think more people need to do these things when there kids are young enought to enjoy it..and about having a powerful car that young teach your kid how tp respect that power and hell be fine i had a 383 with 456 gears in it when i turned 17 my dad took it out with me he showed me how easy it was to get away from you i learned that day a lesson for life.i would go for it ,,it would make the kid learn about cars and money.

gearheadz

Agree w/BSeery. We (actually I) went temporarily insane & bought our 16 year old gifted program, honor student, athlete and generally very well behaved, responsible All-American son a mint '96 WS6 T/A as his first car. I thought he's smart, he gets great grades, he's polite, bla, bla, bla and its a sweet, modern day muscle car that we can work on together..he deserves it.

After a VERY short honeymoon where he cleaned the car daily, drove it like an old lady, tinkered with the car beside me, etc. etc., he went CRAZY. Found out he was street racing the car (I was tipped off by the previously brand new Firestone SZ50s that were soon to be bald after only 5K miles). In the span of six months, he got SIX traffic tickets and had a minor fender bender. A couple were bogus (we live in a town w/very aggressive officers) but none the less were tickets. His grades fell off, he all of a sudden became his own man, never was home, he let the car go to POOP and never wanted to work on the car just go out in it.

Don't get me wrong. In the big picture, he's still a GREAT kid and we thank God for him and his siblings, but as BSeery said, kids need to learn to appreciate what they have by working for it. Plus when things come more gradually, they're given more time to adapt to the responsibility. Although, we figured he had "worked" for it by getting good grades, he truly didn't appreciate or respect the car or the gesture by us because it came to easily.

Needless to say, the T/A is now in the garage waiting to be sold and he's driving a POS Dodge that burns oil and has dings and scratches all over it. He is a little bitter and semi-MISERABLE but I think hes slowly re-gaining his priorities. If we had to do it all over, we would have either bought him a POS in the first place or had him drive one of our cars until he had enough money to buy something on his own. That way he would have had to "work" for something which he would have appreciated more when he got it.

IMHO, its a mistake to get a young kid a flashy/muscle car TODAY because the temptation is too great and the world is alot different from when we were kids. When I was a kid, we all drove muscle cars because they were usually a few years old, more affordable and very plentiful. The roads were less congested and we had places to go that if we wanted to go fast we could without endangering our lives and the lives of others. Also cops weren't as **** so we were less likely to get tickets and/or thrown in jail. I think we also were a little more respecting of the power we had and either chose conservatism or learned how to drive the car semi-safely before letting it hang out.

Sorry for the overly long post but as father of a teenager, I feel very strongly having lived through it. I'm just glad we caught it before he killed himself or someone else.

Whatever you decide....Good Luck!

Mark

03whitecoupe

As much as I love Vettes and especially C3's, they are not the car for a 16 year old kid. They don't have the safety features of the newer cars and no matter how carefully he says he'll drive it, he'll end up showing off for his friends whenever one rides with him. Just my 2 cents.

randy72

I'll stay out the decision of if you buy/build/give him the car. However, I thought that I would drop a quick note on the horsepower of the 70's C3's....Most of them were in the neighborhood of 200 horsepower and ran high 15 to low 16 second 1/4 mile times...Not exactly danger level. They also turn and stop reasonably well. Most of today's econo-boxes can keep up with them in the 1/4.

UltimateAlternativeWaver

I'm not a father (and hope never to be one), but I *am* someone's son, and can speak from experience many fatherly-types may have long since forgotten.

My first car was a '92 Grand Am. It was the family beater, the car my mom liked to drive instead of her minivan because it got better mileage. I bought it from my parents for around $2000. Not a bad deal, but I began to treat the car much differently once it was *mine*...not only in title, but in the time and money I myself had invested in it.

High school was not a long time ago for me, and I remember vividly the guys whose parents bought their cars tended to beat the hell out of them, and never quite understood the value of the things. No matter what happened, daddy would fix it.

When my dad finally gave me a handout, it was in the form of his signature on the loan app. He felt buying the Vette was a good way to build credit, short of buying a house. In fact, he suggested I buy a house *first*, but conceded it was my paycheck and owning a house isn't going to help me if I decide to move before it beings to accrue equity.

But, I digress. Be extraordinarily careful in your ventures with teens and fast cars. As a primary car, your son's going to be staring down the barrel of some steep insurance rates (I literally saved about $2000 off my 6 month premium by buying another car to list as a daily driver, as well as a *lot* of shopping around), and of course that would be subject to whether you list it on your policy or if he gets his own.

Good luck in whatever you decide to do. Building a fast Camaro would likely be cheaper (both to build and to insure), and from what we've seen above, can still yield very impressive results.

Just beware of where you cast your pearls. ;)

Alwyn678

I think that I would not want a 16 or 17 year old driving around in a Vette...too much potential for trouble there....................I had a 68 droptop, which I promptly broke in Half racing when I was his age!!!! :eek: :eek: :eek: :eek:

UltimateAlternativeWaver

The mid to late-70's Vettes *do* have fewer horses under the hood, but the car itself screams to be driven too fast. Even 'today's econo-boxes' can be dangerous if driven irresponsibly. The power may not be there, but it's a CORVETTE, people. These cars are expected to go fast.

76Stinger

It is my humble opinion that it does not matter what "first" car a teenager drives. I have seen them showing off in everything from pick-ups to cadillacs. The safety factor of a C3 vs a newer car is a legitimate issue. There are no air bags or side impact beams or even working seat belts in my 76 at the moment. Do I let me 18 y/o drive it? Yes! Why? Because I trust him and know he is as good as they get for his age. Will he be hot rodding the vette? I doubt it because with an L-48 Auto, there aren't too many other cars they wouldn't beat it anyway!

I think everyone has to make a personal decision about whether they will buy their kids a car, make them help buy it, or just tell them to go get their own. My Dad gave me my first car, a 64 VW Bug. Will I do whatever I can to get my kids their first car? Yes! Why? Because I can and want to help them in any way. My kids are all great students, work hard around the house, and absolutely not into anything that they shouldn't be. I'm proud of them and guess I will spoil them to the breaking point. My parents did that to me and I think it really reinforced my "family" feelings, something that it seems we all forget about in this day of 2 income families, microwave quickie dinners, and day timers / Palm V's "scheduling" every aspect of our lives.

OK - I'm off my soapbox. Don't even know if I answered the question but I am feeling a little melancholy talking about Dad's and such. Lost mine last year and I suppose this brought up a lot of memories.

STW
Robert
76Stinger

davds96

have him help with the purchase like the others have said but don't lose out on the opportunity to do something long term with your son not many 13 year old want to do anything with their dad you have a great chance to teach him more than car stuff working together