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Working on cars alone VS having a buddy over...

Alone here too. I wish I had some cool neighbors. They’re alright but boring and quiet. One neighbor hates me and I love that.
 
I always work better with someone looking over my shoulder. Maybe I'm thinking out loud more by having someone to chat with while I wrench? Maybe I need some supervision while I wrench?
My car club in California was a great hobbyist club and part of being social was hanging out and helping out wrenching on each other cars. It was great camaraderie.
Here in Tucson it seems most car club guys like to work alone, BUT I volunteer to troubleshoot electrical issues and get to enjoy that camaraderie.
 
One of the things that I like about construction is that there is often a sense of camaraderie among the guys. It is sort of like a sports team or the military in that you have several men working together toward a common goal.
Many times, I prefer to work on my cars alone. Distractions from others can cloud my thought process and lead to screw-ups.
Other times though, I like having friends around. The jokes, the stories and sometimes pranks make it a lot of fun.
I joined a car club in 2004 for this very reason. I figured that guys that joined a Mopar club might be the type I'd like to do car projects with.
It has not worked out that way. While they are nice people, most of the members never do anything. No car shows, no junkyard crawls, no interest in car movies and IF they have a classic, it never shows any progress.
That is very disappointing.
One friend of mine here has all but lost interest in cars since he sold his Challenger to fund the purchase of property. I've reached out to the car club guys but as stated, most of them are nowhere near as car crazy as I am. I do know of a couple more though.
Sometimes if I commit to the guys coming over, it motivates me to get up and moving. If it is up to me (And it is cloudy or cold) it is easy to just stay inside.
Do you enjoy having the guys over or do you prefer to work and tinker alone?
But sometimes you need some brainstorming? "Yep"

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I had one car club guy that would say..."Give me a call when you want to go to the junkyards..."
I did. He then said he can't be outside when it is over 85 degrees.
W T F ???
Another is a black hole of time and sadness.....always wanting help while having zero value to help anyone else since he knows hardly anything.
Several are just nice old people that sold off their cars and have nothing to work on.
 
I like to work alone because my car is my relief from life. Turn on the music box and ice tea then I'm ready to go.
 
I even keep soft drinks and ice cream sandwiches in the garage refrigerator and offer lunch and still can't get guys to come over and watch me wrench. Having a lift has brought a few guys over to use it, but to hang out and wrench it just does not happen.
 
The guy who owns the yellow 70 GTX always hangs out when I do stuff to his car. He was amazed when I got out a piece of cardboard and cut it into shapes so that I could make that bracket for his electric powered Airgrabber. He said to me. Dude I thought you were going crazy but you came up with that in like 10 minutes. Then I proceeded to make it out of metal. He was amazed, thats fun stuff to me.

 
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If I go to scrap yard alone? It's for something small and specific. (Although our best yard closed this year.)
I had one car club guy that would say..."Give me a call when you want to go to the junkyards..."
I did. He then said he can't be outside when it is over 85 degrees.
W T F ???
Another is a black hole of time and sadness.....always wanting help while having zero value to help anyone else since he knows hardly anything.
Several are just nice old people that sold off their cars and have nothing to work on.
I have 2 sons. They are not alot into cars. But they like scrap yards. And are decent with wrench and support for some small racing efforts. What gets me? They won't drive on a track? If my dad had muscle era cars that need pilots? I would still be living in his basement?

Times are changing.
 
If I go to scrap yard alone? It's for something small and specific. (Although our best yard closed this year.)

I have 2 sons. They are not alot into cars. But they like scrap yards. And are decent with wrench and support for some small racing efforts. What gets me? They won't drive on a track? If my dad had muscle era cars that need pilots? I would still be living in his basement?

Times are changing.
Its the age of cell phones and Participation trophies...
 
Its the age of cell phones and Participation trophies...
A little bit. Every generation calls the next generation lazy and unfocused. My dad hated my Muscle cars. In his world? If the car is not the size of an aircraft carrier? It's not an automobile.

He would say. "You just like noise! Like your music! Your GTO 389 wouldn fit in my carburetor!" And I of course looked at him. "You're old!"
 
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I moved from Oregon to Florida ten years ago...All of my car buddies are 3300 miles away now.... Just having ONE for those 3 handed jobs would be great occasionally
 
Most of my old "hot rodder" buddies have moved/married/died or just plain lost interest, but I do have one good friend that I still work on car stuff with. Right now I'm spending more time in his shop than mine helping with his '35 truck project. Sometimes he'll just stop by and hang out while I work on something, or vice-versa...I suppose it's the "garage culture" so many of us were raised around. The picture above of the King of the Hill guys nails it!
Sometimes though I just wanna get coffeed up, turn on some tunes, and get into a project without having to interact with anyone. I consider it somewhat therapeutic even if I'm a little sore and dirty afterwards.
One-a these days though I need to get up there and bug you and check out your Mopar farm!
 
I moved from Oregon to Florida ten years ago...All of my car buddies are 3300 miles away now.... Just having ONE for those 3 handed jobs would be great occasionally
I am losing some to life. One is a drunk and has become somewhat useless. Another with health issues. Others typically need my property and resources more than my actual wrench time. But that means move my stuff so they can work on their's? Errrr. Lol. But is what it is.
 
I work alone. Don't have many friends. Haven't made many since I moved to Ohio. Couple friends I do have hang out when I'm working on their cars. Just recently moved and these neighbors seem to be better. We moved Thankgiving weekend so I'll find out how the new neighbors are when good weather comes around.
 
Was thinking about this whole topic. Its because I am the car guy in my neighborhood that I have friends like Mike. The guy who owns the Roadrunner in my avatar. I put this car together in 9 months from a shell with an engine to what it is now. He gave me my own set of keys to it. So If I want to run out and get a burger its mine for the taking. But when people see you working on everything from a Honda to a Mopar muscle car they really think you are the go to guy.

Hell, I have had cops drive past and stop when I had the Roadrunner, GTX and that Black 71 Satellite in my yard at the same time.. Cop says damn nice rides lol. So you gain some sort of notoriety within the neighborhood. But then that extends to when the people you know, know more people and they send them your way. Not bragging but I bet in the 23 years I have lived here there have been well over 1000 cars worked on and repaired.
 
It's has been fun to work on projects with other people, especially racing. These days though I'm mostly solo. It seems that everyone else is either too busy with life or moving into the slow lane.
 
Started out me and my son, he's gone. Then it was a friend of my daughters, they broke up. Then another friend of my daughter, they broke up. I have one friend that runs with these outlaw guys, yes he knows cars, to much for my liking. It was suppose to be fun, not **** show. I sold the car and bought this one and will never build another car again.
 
Depends on what the job is. If I'm building motors, its by myself with no distractions. When your fabbing something it can be good to bounce your ideas off someone else. General repair or assembly is usually alone. But if someone is here its nice to talk. Many of my friends that hang out are pretty sharp. They can grab a wrench and jump in. You should see us all jump in together at the track to get some ones stuff fixed. Organized chaos.
Doug
 
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