If the kid has a lot of time and at least some of his own money invested in the car then I wouldn’t worry too much about it. If he has some skin in the game he’s going to be much more likely to be responsible with it. I know a guy that had a hopped up 88 Mustang in high school, nice car, 408W stroker, about 450 HP, flawless body, $5000 paint job, 4 wheel disc brake upgrade, Saleen suspension bits, nice wheels, interior restored to better than new condition, nice audio system, but nothing gaudy, aside from the aftermarket hood (necessary for the added height of the 351W-based 408. ) it look pretty much stock. Everything on that car was fairly high end, twisted wedge heads, comp cam, edlebrock intake manifold,etc.
Now one would think that putting such a car in the hands of a 16 year old wouldn’t be such a great idea, but thing was that the guy had been saving up for 3 years to get the car how he wanted it, he had about $10k of his own money tied up in that car ( his parents did put in a fair amount as well). But that car has never been in an accident, the guy never got so much a parking ticket, and he still has the car today, some 12 years later, and it’s still in immaculate shape, it’s kept in a heated garage under a car cover. Generally speaking a kid that has a financial or emotional stake in a car will usually be pretty careful with it.
I agree with a lot of what is being said about how such a project will be a way to get him a sense of investment, literally and figuratively, in the car. I am not doing this to save money. I would be doing it to have a way for us to have something to do together. Conversations occur. Questions come up. Just a way to keep a foot in the door of his life. That kind of thing.
Teaching a child to drve and work on a car should be a great bonding process. But I would never let the child assume ownership of the car. It will always be a family car while they live at home. Their use of it is totally dependent on their behavior.
We told ours that when that doesn’t work for them, it’s a good indicator they should be out on their own, buying and maintaining their own car and paying their own board.
Let your kids begin preparing to drive as soon as possible and the control potential you have for good behavior often begins right along with it.
I think it’s a great idea too. In addition to learning about cars, he’ll also learn about earning money and spending it wisely (assuming he’s going to support the project). And it’ll keep him away from other less honorable activities.
How about a 1950 Chevy? Preferably one that has no wheels, no engine, and so much rust that it can’t be salvaged. It’ll cost very little for gas (other than the gallon you use to burn it), insurance won’t go up, and no girl will get in the back seat with him, so no surprise bundles of joy!
Okay, so it ain’t the ideal answer, but like my idea to lock my 13 year-old daughter in the closet until she was 35, it has some good points!!! Good luck!
When I was driving age, my dad was quite busy and didn’t have a lot of spare time. He turned the maintenance of the family cars over to me. If I could do the maintenance or repairs myself, that was fine. Otherwise, he had an arrangement with the service department at the DeSoto/Plymouth dealer where I was to take the car. They would then mail the bill to my dad. It was a small dealership and the service manager was also the head mechanic. Sometimes the service manager would say “Don’t waste our time and your dad’s money. You are smart enough to fix this yourself”. He would then explain what I needed to do and what parts to purchase. When I would leave, he would yell “I’m going to make a mechanic out of you yet, boy!” Other times he would tell me that the repair involved special equipment or knowledge and that I had better leave the car.
My dad’s system worked too well with my younger brother. When I went off to college and my brother assumed the responsibility for keeping the cars maintained, he became so fussy about the cars that a person had to dust off the seat of his pants before he could even get in the cars.
In this day and age, you need special equipment and or a place to deposits your used oil for a fee, just to do an oil change. As far as dusting off your pants, your bro. was a smart man. It pretty much depends on where you were sitting before you got into the car…
One final thought on buying cars for your teenage kids. My wife and I had three cars in the family. They were in our name. Our kids had none and only got to borrow them when they played by the rules, got good grades and showed everyone respect.
In the words of Bill Cosby when one of his kids commented on how rich the family was. ( paraphrase)
" son, your mom and I are rich; you’re poor "
Cars Purchased For My Teen Aged Children Were Titled In Their Name Only, But Joint Insured In Their Name And My Name. They Understand That It Was “My” Car.
Following the advice of my insurance agent the cars were:
-Tilted in the child’s name only for insurance liability reasons.
-Insured in both names to take advantage of all of my insurance discounts (longevity, multi-line, good record, etcetera).
Do you have assets to protect ? I have maxed out liability coverage and also maintain an additional multi-million dollar liability umbrella policy.
Have the child take advantage of any good school grades discount or safe driver program discounts offered by your insurer. My kids’ discounts continue to age 25.
" In this day and age, you need special equipment and or a place to deposits your used oil for a fee, just to do an oil change. "
I change oil on a couple of cars per month. I don’t need special tools, but I did make flat 12" board “ramps” and made up a second rolling tool box with all tools, towels, spouts, etcetera, necessary for oil changes so I don’t have to use my regular tools. I’ve even got a card that tells oil filter wrench size, plug wrench size, filter part number, and oil capacity for each vehicle. Each vehicle gets changed on any odometer reading ending in a 5,000 increment - 15,000, 40,000, 65,000 85,000, etcetera - and all maintenance is recorded in each car’s log in the glove compartment.
Oil is bottled and returned to Advance or Wal-Mart as I buy oil from each place. They recycle for free.
I find oil changes to be fast, easy, and more convenient than going somewhere and I put far less wear and tear on the cars and do it right on my schedule.
When I was 14, my dad bought an outboard motor for my younger brother and me. It was a Montgomery Ward Sea King of about 2 1/2 horsepower. My dad, brother, and I loved to go fishing, but one of us had to row. The motor came from an auction sale and my dad had the winning bid of $12. My brother and I were given the job of making it run if we didn’t want to row. We had some frustrating moments trying to make it run, but finally after $7 worth of parts including a water pump impeller, spark plug and carburetor gasket kit, we had it running. It really beat rowing and the knowledge we gained and the satisfaction of making something run was priceless.
About the same time as the boat motor, my mother went back to work and our family needed two cars. I was 14 at the time and had definite ideas as to what was a “cool” car. A cool car definitely wasn’t the 1947 DeSoto coupe my dad bought with faded maroon paint. As a typical young teen-ager, I made some derogatory remarks about my dad’s purchase of the DeSoto. A couple of days later, he came home with rubbing compound, polish, and wax and I was informed that I should make the car look “cool”. After hours of what I thought was hard work, it was amazing how goood the car looked and how my attitude about the car changed. I loved that car. The DeSoto also had a radio that didn’t work and my parents’ other car didn’t even have a radio. I dropped the radio down out of the dash, replaced a tube and the vibrator and then the car had a working radio. That made the car really “cool”.
Triedaq …
You mentioned a 2.5 hp outboard and it makes me wish summer were here and fast. Other then my sailboats, my favorite boat is a 17 foot canoe with a 2.5 hp motor. Two of my grandchildren love it more then the big motor boat I take them tubing on. I wouldn’t mind if all lakes were limited to those small motors. Easy on gas and maintenance and you don’t need to be a guerilla to take inside for the winter.
@dagosa–This 2.5 horsepower Montgomery Ward SeaKing was really crude. It didn’t have a recoil starter–you wrapped a rope around the flywheel. It didn’t have a conventional choke. There was a little pin you pushed in the bottom of the float bowl of the carburetor. It held the float open and when gasoline dribbled down on your finger, the engine was primed. You wrapped the rope around the flywheel and hoped it would start. However, we had a lot of fun with that motor. Several years later, my dad purchased an Evinrude 3 horsepower twin cylinder outboard motor. It was a real improvement. My dad bought that motor in 1958 (it was a used 1957 model and he paid $75 for the motor) and my brother still has that motor today.
Interesting. I’ve got my Dad’s 3.5 Mercury outboard that he bought back in 1965 to replace the used Scott Atwater. I’m gonna try and get it running again but I’ve never worked on an outboard before so a little afraid of it. It was always serviced but been sitting for over 15 years now. I need a gas tank though so to even try to fire it up will cost close to $100. Then of course I’d need a boat.
Outboard Motors Last A Long Time. I’ve Got A Bunch Of Boats And A Collection Of Various Outboards, Three Of Them Are Evinrudes. One’s A 60s -70s 4HP Twin And One Is A 1958 15HP Fast Twin And One Is A 90s 70HP 3 Cylinder. They All Run Just Fine.
Bing, those motors are pretty simple. I haven’t worked on Mercury Outboards, But I’ve Done Some Work On OMCs. Check For Spark. If there’s a problem then you’ll probably need to pop off the flywheel and You’ll probably need a puller (like a motorcycle harmonic balancer puller) that pulls from close to the center with a few bolts screwed into threaded holes in the flywheel. Make sure the flywheel nut is loosened before pulling. Points and coils live under there.
The carb is probably very simple with few parts.
After making sure you’ve got spark, put it in water and start it and make sure it’s discharging water from the pump right away. OMCs at least, don’t know Mercs, have a rubber vaned water pump impeller that can deteriorate.
The old OMCs develop cracks in the coils (in the epoxy or whatever the stuff is surrounding the windings - you can see a telltale carbon spot) and they start cutting out intermittently before they give it up. It’s not hard to replace them.
@triedaq
I had 2.5 Merc 2 stroke, , made by Tahatsu that was a real gem for twenty years. Because the grandchildren were going to use it, I though it was time to replace it with something with gears so the boat didn’t start going when the motor started. Did a lot of review reading and ended up with Yamaha 2.5 4 stroke. That’s a gem too. But a must with these little motors is that the last gas you run through it before storage, is aviation type fuel with additives and NO ETHANOL. Otherwise, these little carbs are in for perpetual cleaning.
" There was a little pin you pushed in the bottom of the float bowl of the carburetor. It held the float open and when gasoline dribbled down on your finger, the engine was primed"
On a motorcycle that’s called a ‘tickler’, so one ‘tickled’ the carbs, then kicked away. My brother much preferred a choke, didn’t make your hand stink.
" Then of course I’d need a boat". @Bing–At most of the lakes we fished, there was a place where we could rent a boat very cheaply. These places also rented motors, but but there was an extra charge.
At any rate, you need to start working on that 3.5 Mercury outboard and get it running. If you can’t rent a boat, then by all means buy a boat. After all, 75% of the earth’s surface is water, so a man should spend 3/4 of his time fishing.
A boat ? We’re up to seven…still well short of the average shore dwelling water people down the shore line from us, but enough to survive by helping us make it to safety as the waters rise because of global warming. A man( women) without a boat is a person without access to 3/4 of the world. Our motto is , " over, on and under the water at least once every day". Fishing doesn’t count. That you do for a break.
