brownwho63 Posted November 30, 2007 Report Share Posted November 30, 2007 Today would have been Dad's 95th birthday. Although he didn't make it past the age of 69 due to heart problems, I still think about and miss him. Dad was my hero and the smartest person I have ever personally known. He was the kind of guy who could build a rocket ship from a ball bearing, repair a hole in the atmosphere, and write a novel all in the same day. Realistically, Dad wore lots of hats including farmer, car salesman, auto mechanic, and minister. (Yeah, I'm a PK.) But he could fix anything and he always had just exactly the right advice whenever I asked. He taught me to drive a car early on by letting me sit on his lap, steer the '41 Olds (or whatever), and shift the manual tranny with him pushing the clutch. I graduated to actual driving at about age 13, got an official permit and my very own '41 Olds coupe at 15 and have been cruisin' blue highways ever since. He taught me (insisted upon, actually) how to shoot a jump shot in 8th grade when other kids my age were still shooting "set" shots. He taught me how to throw a curve ball, swing a bat properly, and how to field a ground ball. He taught me how to drive a tractor, plow a field, and harvest the corn crop pulling a one-row corn picker. He fabricated copper gas line tubes to better feed the twin carbs on my '52 Vicky and created an electrical bypass switch for overdrive activation so that the old Ford could be put into overdrive mode as low as 5 miles per hour if desired. He insisted that I stay in college when I wanted to drop out and join the Army. We had several 3:00 AM discussions about me staying in college. I stayed - he was right - and I was, well, young. There's lots more but I've rambled on this OT subject long enough. Happy Birthday, Dad....Bliss Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Keep the Show on the Road! Posted November 30, 2007 Report Share Posted November 30, 2007 Today would have been Dad's 95th birthday. Although he didn't make it past the age of 69 due to heart problems, I still think about and miss him. Dad was my hero and the smartest person I have ever personally known. He was the kind of guy who could build a rocket ship from a ball bearing, repair a hole in the atmosphere, and write a novel all in the same day. Realistically, Dad wore lots of hats including farmer, car salesman, auto mechanic, and minister. (Yeah, I'm a PK.) But he could fix anything and he always had just exactly the right advice whenever I asked. He taught me to drive a car early on by letting me sit on his lap, steer the '41 Olds (or whatever), and shift the manual tranny with him pushing the clutch. I graduated to actual driving at about age 13, got an official permit and my very own '41 Olds coupe at 15 and have been cruisin' blue highways ever since. He taught me (insisted upon, actually) how to shoot a jump shot in 8th grade when other kids my age were still shooting "set" shots. He taught me how to throw a curve ball, swing a bat properly, and how to field a ground ball. He taught me how to drive a tractor, plow a field, and harvest the corn crop pulling a one-row corn picker. He fabricated copper gas line tubes to better feed the twin carbs on my '52 Vicky and created an electrical bypass switch for overdrive activation so that the old Ford could be put into overdrive mode as low as 5 miles per hour if desired. He insisted that I stay in college when I wanted to drop out and join the Army. We had several 3:00 AM discussions about me staying in college. I stayed - he was right - and I was, well, young. There's lots more but I've rambled on this OT subject long enough. Happy Birthday, Dad....Bliss Bliss, A worthy post. Keep Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DennyG Posted November 30, 2007 Report Share Posted November 30, 2007 Happy Birthday, Dad....BlissGood thoughts and great memories. My Dad turned 83 this year and he has slowed quite a bit. I try to cover a few chores when I visit but I know I'll never get him repaid. Dads are like that. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dave Reese Posted December 1, 2007 Report Share Posted December 1, 2007 You and your Dad are in my thoughts. My Dad would have turned 92 this coming Friday. He was called overseas on his birthday, December 19, 1941, while celebrating his 26th birthday in Jackson Mississippi. We lost him over 15 years ago, but he is still in our thoughts as well. They were the greatest generation, and there are fewer of them still here each day. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alex Burr - hester_nec Posted December 2, 2007 Report Share Posted December 2, 2007 Mine would be coming up to age 99, the 1st of January. He left us for that better world 5 days short of his 80th. It's a long story, but my oldest daughter and her son had come to Maine from Memphis for Christmas that Dec 1988 - I've always said Dad waited for her to arrive so he could see the grand-daughter he'd last seen when she was a baby in 1959. Hudsonly, Alex Burr Memphis, TN Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
roadmaven Posted December 3, 2007 Report Share Posted December 3, 2007 Great memories, Bliss. Sounds like our dads were cut from the same cloth. No matter how something wouldn't work, he'd find a way to make it work, and so far he's come through every time. We've been spending a lot of time together since Thanksgiving weekend working on my "Ole Blue" to alleviate some pesky oil leaks that got much worse during the Cool Roads Cruise (lost nearly a quart of oil that weekend). Pop's 77 & still going strong, as he stays on top of his game by playing with his fleet of 6 vehicles: '04 Chevy Pickem-up truck, '96 Impala SS, '29 Model A Ford Town Sedan, '31 Model A Ford Tudor, '64 Corvair Monza, and his '64 Corvair Spyder Turbo.....not to mention he's my chief mechanic for "ole blue". Makin' Memories Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
brownwho63 Posted December 3, 2007 Author Report Share Posted December 3, 2007 Great memories, Bliss. Sounds like our dad's were cut from the same cloth. No matter how something wouldn't work, he'd find a way to make it work, and so far he's come through every time. We've been spending a lot of time together since Thanksgiving weekend working on my "Ole Blue" to alleviate some pesky oil leaks that got much worse during the Cool Roads Cruise (lost nearly a quart of oil that weekend). Pop's 77 & still going strong, as he stays on top of his game by playing with his fleet of 6 vehicles: '04 Chevy Pickem-up truck, '96 Impala SS, '29 Model A Ford Town Sedan, '31 Model A Ford Tudor, '64 Corvair Monza, and his '64 Corvair Spyder Turbo.....not to mention he's my chief mechanic for "ole blue". Makin' Memories Yeah, Dad was my chief mechanic as well. We (read "mostly Dad") removed the entire front end of my '52 Vicky after I wrecked it and replaced it with a salvaged '53 bolt-up job. Then he showed me how to use plastic filler rather than lead to "shave" the nose and he rewired the electric doors so the pushbuttons were hidden behind the grill. He also replaced the clutch on the same car with another "3:00" job, only to discover the old flathead motor was blown as well. He always preferred Chevys to Fords and we debated this on several occasions. This was before Chevy dropped in the small block V8 in '55 and I couldn't understand why he liked the in-line blue flame 6 more than the flathead V8. Durability and dependability were the answers. I always thought that Ford, though, had the edge in styling - right up until the shoe box design appeared in '55 through '57. Lots of the old Chevy sixes are still cruisin' around; while it's unusual to run across one of the flathead Fords. Right again! Your dad's '96 Impala is surely a very cool ride. Not to say the others in the stable aren't but this particular Impala still turns heads and holds its value....Bliss Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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