New drivers cars

[wedgehead]

How many of you guys have or plan to build you new drivers a car? I am in the process of building two for my twin sons. The closer we get to them driving the more nervous I get. it seems I might have gotten a little carried away building the cars. One is a 68 Mustang fastback building from shell we bought at the unique auction. It will have a EFI 302 AOD trans, cobra 4w disc, minitub and a complete suspension revamp. The other is a 78 T/A that will have a LS series engine 200R4, ZO6 brakes and minitubbed. My biggest concern is them driving them to school and parking them in the lot. I will be a nervous wreck with them sitting there at the mercy of all those kids walking by. But these are the cars they want to drive so be it. How did you guys survive or plan to?

[DaleLee]

Hey there, I drove my Nova to high school for a year and a half. Never had a problem with ANY kids at school. The car was never touched. Everyone at my high school no matter race, gang, or social group respected it because they knew what I put into it. The same goes for my little sister and her El Camino. Same respect from everyone. One of her friend's "joking around" pretended as though he was going to key the car. My loving little sister decided to punch the guy in the stomach and knock the wind out of him. Our experiences revealed nothing but respect. To this day I still here stuff around town about "that kid that went to high school with the white nova".

So I feel that your kids wont have a problem as long as they aren't out to start trouble.

Good luck... By the way both cars were magazine feature cars. And on a side note, my youngest brother is 15 and we will be finishing his 70 Chevelle which includes a 454, 18 and 20's, custom interior, custom paint, etc, etc. This will be driven his senior year.

[Damon777]

We're a long ways off on this one (oldest is 5), but I plan to do one of two things.
1. Have them build their cars with me. They choose the car and do a bunch of the work.

2. 401 Damon program, where we will match what they save for their cars. (Dave Ramsey fans will recognize this one.)

Either way, my plan is for them to have a vested interest in what happens to their cars to they may respect them a bit.

[shep]

I drove mine to school too. At the time it was one of the nicest cars in the lot. I did way more too it than anybody else. Just have them park beside each other so only one side of each of them is exposed.

[Mark Smith]

There is a kid locally that has a nice duster he and his dad have been working on.my daughter brought home her year book and there it was.much respect from fellow students.had a complete write up about it.

[wedgehead]

My kids also are on the I match whatever they contribute and they are helping build the cars so they have a vested interest. My biggest concern is to put killer paint on them or not.

[bigvegan]

I wouldn't put "killer" paint on.

While it's pretty unlikely the cars will get keyed/defaced/etc., a really shiny paint job on a car driven by new drivers who still think they're immortal seems like needlessly tempting fate.

Also, MAKE SURE the kids do a few autocrosses in their cars ASAP after they get them, so they understand how their cars handle at speed, in fast cornering, under heavy braking, etc. The cars WILL most likely be driven at speed, and it's better for them to know what they're doing rather than finding out about throttle steering halfway through a turn. (If someone had explained to me the concept of the "friction circle" http://sportcompactcar.automotive.co...rms/index.html when I started driving, there would be one less totaled car in my past.)

(I just don't ever want to see a repeat of this thread - http://www.m5board.com/vbulletin/e60...-5-killed.html - on this forum).

[icebird84]

cool dad , it would be fun for us to see project thread on both car

[shmoov69]

We're a long ways off on this one (oldest is 5), but I plan to do one of two things.
1. Have them build their cars with me. They choose the car and do a bunch of the work.

2. 401 Damon program, where we will match what they save for their cars. (Dave Ramsey fans will recognize this one.)

Either way, my plan is for them to have a vested interest in what happens to their cars to they may respect them a bit.

don't forget to do the other part of the plan......a limit!!
also, don't totaly make up their minds for them in the process. An DO be very tame on power, they are still stoopid kids!! LOL
Too cool!

[Damon777]

don't forget to do the other part of the plan......a limit!!
also, don't totaly make up their minds for them in the process. An DO be very tame on power, they are still stoopid kids!! LOL
Too cool!

If they can save it, I'll match it at this point. I'm sure that'll change when the second one is sitting on 15k.

Tame on power, yes. Not be able to get out of it's own way, no.

[Mr.VENGEANCE]

what a great dad..

[wedgehead]

both cars are going to be limited on power? the mustang will have a stock 5.0 explorer engine, the T/A a stock 5.3 out of a late GM truck.