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What movies or TV shows influenced your gearheadedness?

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  • mitchntx

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    My oldest daughter and I were talking this evening and comparing what movies and TV shows influenced us as kids ... or at least the most memorable.

    I was born in '58, so shows in the late 60s and 70s are mostly what I recall.

    Then Came Bronson ... I was glued to the TV when it came on ... I think it was Wednesday @ 9pm IIRC ... Long time ago.

    Vanishing Point ... it was R rated and my mom took me to see it. She hated it, but I loved it.

    Dirty Mary, Crazy Larry ... was there ever a Peter Fonda movie where he didn't die at the end?

    Wide World of Sports and Evel Knievel ... the movie was OK.


    Those are the ones high on my list for that era. I didn't see On Any Sunday till I was in my 40s, IIRC.

    It'll be fun to see what warped your sense of being and the era.
    Lynx Defense
     

    baboon

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    Watching my older brother piss away money with his gearheaded habit fixed me of wanting to be a gearhead. Most importantly was when he wrapped the old mans first brand new car around a bridge racing. The old man told me right after hearing of it that I would never drive any of his vehicles because of my brother!
     

    Axxe55

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    Watching my older brother piss away money with his gearheaded habit fixed me of wanting to be a gearhead. Most importantly was when he wrapped the old mans first brand new car around a bridge racing. The old man told me right after hearing of it that I would never drive any of his vehicles because of my brother!


    Back in high school, my father had a really hopped up 1960 Thunderbird that we took to town on Friday and Saturday nights.

    Loaded with a fully hopped up 428 Cobra Jet engine and a C6 automatic. I don't think Dad knows to this day how many races that Thunderbird won on Friday and Saturday nights!
     

    baboon

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    One of my buddies parents owned a big garage & towing company. He was a gearhead from hell. I was with him when he wrecked his Porshe & his Bullet Mustang. Walked away from both. He also blew up a motor in another Mustang passing out warming it up after the bars close. Fell asleep with his foot on the gas. So drunk nobody could wake him up beating on the widows. His gearheadedness moved into bikes.
     

    Axxe55

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    One of my buddies parents owned a big garage & towing company. He was a gearhead from hell. I was with him when he wrecked his Porshe & his Bullet Mustang. Walked away from both. He also blew up a motor in another Mustang passing out warming it up after the bars close. Fell asleep with his foot on the gas. So drunk nobody could wake him up beating on the widows. His gearheadedness moved into bikes.

    I did go through the hopping up bikes as well. Had quite a few guys I hung around that were into them as well. I just didn't have the nerve like they did to go as fast on two wheels as I did on four!

    Had one bike, a 1978 Kawasaki KZ1000 that was scary fast. The speedometer went to 160 mph. I pegged it and some once. Once! I sold it not too long after that.

    I don't own or mess with fast bikes, dirt bikes, or ATV's anymore, because I have a stupid gene that doesn't know when to back off!
     

    benenglish

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    Watching my older brother piss away money with his gearheaded habit fixed me of wanting to be a gearhead.
    It's odd but true that single experiences can have far-reaching influence. I was sort of into cars as a kid. I helped my dad do all the work on our cars.

    To encourage me, Dad and his brother found a fixer-upper car to gift to me when I turned 16. It was a Rambler sedan (a Classic 660?) and I got used to doing the maintenance and trying to improve some minor things. Later in life, when I had money, I was certain I'd have some kind of car I built myself, a hot rod or kit car. I read and memorized every word printed in Car and Driver and Hot Rod.

    The summer after I graduated high school, as I was about to drive to Houston to go to college, the car overheated. That happened occasionally and it was no big deal. I'd just put fresh water in the radiator and everything was fine. This time was different. Trying to get ahead on maintenance and not have to do car repairs while I should be going to classes, I had been fixing up the vehicle. One of the things I did was drain the water and replaced it with proper coolant.

    This time, when I did what I always do, remove the radiator cap, the coolant exploded out of the opening. I was leaning right over it. I lost all the skin on my chest and much of my face. At the hospital, I remember watching a sort of green foam just grow out of my chest as we waiting for the doctor. I went into shock and, well, there's a lot more to that story but in the interest of brevity, I'll stop there.

    Bottom line? Since that time, I've never felt any joy from fixing cars. I've done it. I've replaced a couple of water pumps in the driveway and changed oil and done plenty of small tasks but I don't like it and I don't get any real sense of accomplishment from it. Further, while I have always appreciated cool cars and bikes, no matter how you define "cool", I feel no serious desire to own one.

    tl;dr - Hot Rod magazine was the major media influence on my gearheadedness. That influence was wiped away in a heartbeat.
     

    Axxe55

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    It's odd but true that single experiences can have far-reaching influence. I was sort of into cars as a kid. I helped my dad do all the work on our cars.

    To encourage me, Dad and his brother found a fixer-upper car to gift to me when I turned 16. It was a Rambler sedan (a Classic 660?) and I got used to doing the maintenance and trying to improve some minor things. Later in life, when I had money, I was certain I'd have some kind of car I built myself, a hot rod or kit car. I read and memorized every word printed in Car and Driver and Hot Rod.

    The summer after I graduated high school, as I was about to drive to Houston to go to college, the car overheated. That happened occasionally and it was no big deal. I'd just put fresh water in the radiator and everything was fine. This time was different. Trying to get ahead on maintenance and not have to do car repairs while I should be going to classes, I had been fixing up the vehicle. One of the things I did was drain the water and replaced it with proper coolant.

    This time, when I did what I always do, remove the radiator cap, the coolant exploded out of the opening. I was leaning right over it. I lost all the skin on my chest and much of my face. At the hospital, I remember watching a sort of green foam just grow out of my chest as we waiting for the doctor. I went into shock and, well, there's a lot more to that story but in the interest of brevity, I'll stop there.

    Bottom line? Since that time, I've never felt any joy from fixing cars. I've done it. I've replaced a couple of water pumps in the driveway and changed oil and done plenty of small tasks but I don't like it and I don't get any real sense of accomplishment from it. Further, while I have always appreciated cool cars and bikes, no matter how you define "cool", I feel no serious desire to own one.

    tl;dr - Hot Rod magazine was the major media influence on my gearheadedness. That influence was wiped away in a heartbeat.

    Sad and unfortunate, but I do understand. I think a similar incident that happened to my grandfather influenced him to some degree. My grandfather did his own maintenance and repairs on his vehicles, and farm equipment, but looking back, I don't think he derived any pleasure or satisfaction from it, just something that needed doing and nothing more.

    When he was younger, his youngest brother was working on one of their log trucks, and somehow some gasoline caught on fire, and he suffered lots of third degree burns, and died about two weeks later, and I would guess probably from infections, as it was in the early 1930's when that happened.

    It could be that incident was why he felt the way about working on cars the way he did.
     

    Moonpie

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    My gearhead experiences were due to necessity. We lived out in BFE. My noble steed was a dilapidated old beat up 1964 Chevy pick-up. One of those memorable machines that required maintenance at every red light or stop sign going into or returning from town. LoL.
    The A/C was the double 60 model.
    looking back............it sucked.
     

    Axxe55

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    Evel Kneivel and my father were my influences as my path to motorcycles! As a youngster I can remember watching Evel on TV making his jumps over all sorts of things. I even had all of the Evel Kneivel toys as a kid too. As I got close to being a teenager and wanting to graduate from a bicycle to something motorized on two wheels, a school buddy had an old dirt bike that I wanted to buy, but my father forbid us to have a motorcycle. He told my brother and I as long as we lived under his roof, we would never own a motorcycle. I was a bit confused as when my father was younger, and we were very young, our father always had motorcycles he rode, and even took us for rides on them with him.

    So when I left home at the tender age of 16, one of the first things I bought was a used motorcycle! It was one of those dual-purpose on and off-road motorcycles. I rode that thing just about everywhere. About a year later, I bought my first motocross motorcycles, which led to a path of becoming somewhat of an adrenaline junky! For a few years, I even raced amateur motocross, and that was something I enjoyed so much. After the last accident on the track, I fractured my neck, my hips, a wrist, several ribs and my ankle, I had to give up the dirt bikes which was quite a disappointment. It was about that time, I ended up selling and trading all my dirt bikes for a couple of street bikes, that I started doing work on. But that lasted less than about two years, and decided it just wasn't what I was looking for. I wanted another Harley! So I sold and traded all the current bikes, and saved my money for about a year to put a down payment on a slightly used 1998 Softail Custom. That was in 2000, and it was the last motorcycle I owned and rode.
     

    etmo

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    Closer to the Ben English side of things -- I had seen my uncle work on many of his cars and motorcycles. He was a decent mechanic, but swore quite a bit, and his huge hands meant many simple things in cramped spaces became challenging.

    One day, he got frustrated trying to fix something, and forced his hand into a small space, and it got burned by a still-hot part. Since it was jammed in, he had trouble extracting his hand and that obviously made the burn worse. Ouch.

    So as a young child I decided right there that fixing cars did not appear to be a rewarding experience. I'd be swearing a lot and getting injured -- no thanks. What did I know?

    Many years later, a good friend volunteers to help me with some simple maintenance on a truck I owned at the time. It went so smoothly and easily that I was amazed, but the biggest surprise was the sense of satisfaction -- to do something with my own hands! It was a powerful feeling. So I compromised -- no car maintenance, but I did get pick up a different hobby which has stuck with me all these years, and I am far less reluctant to do things with my hands.
     

    baboon

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    My dad & oder brother did more things together then my dad & myself. They built model cars, They built from scratch balsa wood planes. I remember trying to be interested in the plane building, but the glue & air plane dope just got me high. There is 6 years between my brother & myself. Flying control line planes got me sick.

    At one point my dad put a motor a bicycle for my brother & he was the coolest old boy on the block. I believe my mom put a stop to the motor bike. Never had a mini bike growing up, rather my brother had a small Honda motorcycle. He lost interest when he bought his Nova. I ended up knocking things of riding in the woods.

    My dad helped my brother on replacing blown transmissions & what ever else my brother tore up on his car. My first car was my uncles junk station wagon, with a broke motor mount. My dad tried getting me interested in working on it. I remember I was suppose to help my dad work on it one Saturday morning. While mom tried to wake me up, dad knocked over my vodka filled bong backing the car out to work on it.

    My real interests played in the outdoors. I had a 6 man surplus raft that took forever to fill up with air. Then a jon boat, when I wanted to be a fisherman. Next came a Winchester model 37 shotgun. When both my older siblings failed to get a dog, I got a Brittany Spaniel. When I wanted to upgrade guns to a pump & found my Winchester was worth more in trade I was hooked.

    Growing up I pretty much felt I was the black sheep. Wrong friends, stupid choices. When I got into shit the judge offered up military or county. I went the military route, figuring it be easier to get out of then jail. When I came home it was dead end jobs & lots of unemployment.
     

    Brains

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    My Dad crewed for Norm Nelson (old school stock car racer), raced snowmobiles, drove a 'Vette, rode a motorcycle, etc. Mom drove a Vista Cruiser wagon with a SD455. Guess it's in my blood.
     

    Ozzman

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    YouTube actually.
    I have always liked working on my cars whether it be changing the oil, replacing the breaks, troubleshooting the "check engine" light, etc. I don't like dropping off any of my cars, truck, or van at a mechanic because I don't know if the work was done properly or even done at all. When I do it myself, at least I will always know what was done because I did it, and I will have the assurance it was done right.

    I have become accustomed to researching how to fix a problem on YouTube before I get started on the work and/or order the parts that I think I will need. One show that comes to mind is the ChrisFIX channel and the various other shows scattered throughout YouTube showing you how to make repairs using common tools.
     

    FireInTheWire

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    A lot of the old gearhead shows sucked. It was basically a bunch of high dollar parts laying around that was a breeze to install. Like the Bob Villa shows. Remodel a whole bathroom in one weekend.

    Not realistic. Same could be said for the hunting shows. Hunting shows of old sucked.

    I wasn't a gearhead growing up. All my experience was with helping dad do maintenance and repairs. But, that taught me to not be afraid of DIY. Grab a manual, some tools and get after it.

    I maintain everything other than oil changes in my truck and wife's SUV.

    Hands down, On Any Sunday & Take it to the Limit had the biggest impact on me.
     

    EZ-E

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    When i was a little kid about 3 or 4, my dad had an 70 something Olds Cutlass with a 455. My mom worked nights at the Intercontinental airport & we would drop her off. I remember many of nights on the way back home on 59, people would want to race him.... and he would happily stomp on it & sling my head back in seat. Fun times & great memories .... i would say that was my start.

    Hot Wheels were also an influence for me. I still think the Red Barron car is the coolest made. I wish i still had all my red lines from a kid.
    NhCrNvcuzeHmm4SJGxUKsw.jpg
     

    mitchntx

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    I grew up in rural parts of Texas and many times had to repair equipment in the field ... or pasture ... no manual, no interwebs.

    It taught me that everything is just nuts and bolts and it'll fix if i break it.
     

    EZ-E

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    A lot of the old gearhead shows sucked. It was basically a bunch of high dollar parts laying around that was a breeze to install. Like the Bob Villa shows. Remodel a whole bathroom in one weekend.

    Not realistic. Same could be said for the hunting shows. Hunting shows of old sucked.


    All the fishing shows were like that back in the 80s 2000 too. We'll be throwing this new lure & show you all the fish you can catch with it............. in a stocked pond
     
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