Long term planning, father/daughter first car build
I would really appreciate any idea & every scrap of input my family here on FABO has on picking/setup/building my daughter's first car.
She is just a toddler now. She loves cars & I want a focus that we can bond over.
She could turn her interests to other things, but eventually she will want to drive.
My thought process is that besides a rev limiter & the best brakes/tires I can afford, if she builds the car for several years, she will be more careful in how she drives & appreciate earning her real big taste in freedom vice letting some boy drive her car.
I will let her pick something down the road (within Mopar if I can help it-most likely Duster/Demon) & move forward from there. I can look for some parts now though as prices & parts availability change.
225? 318? Transmission? Rear gears? Roll cage?
Any ideas, any input is greatly appreciated, so thank you.
Shoulder harness seat belts, head rests, third brake light, disc brakes (up front), P/S, P/B, A/C (if needed). Make a reliable car because you won't be around forever (at least, that's what I did). In my case my daughter wanted a 59 Studebaker Silver hawk. The manufacturer didn't matter as much as the car, had to have fins. My daughter turned 16 about 6 months ago and can't wait to start driving her car.
Now don't get me wrong, my wife and I wanted her to have a new car. We wanted the air bags, wi fi, along with everything else. We took her to numerous new car lots and let her drive whatever she liked (under 30K). She drove numerous cars and enjoyed the experience but in the end she didn't want any of them. She wanted an old classic car, I have no idea why?? Of course her older brother drives a '46 Chevy coupe and I drive a '69 Barracuda but I never, ever tried to influence her decision. I wanted her to have a new, super safe, dependable car.
So, in the end, I bought her this Silver Hawk, put a mustang II front end on it with power disc brakes and power rack, installed a new Chevy 350 with serpentine belt system, P/S, P/B and AC. I put a 2004R overdrive in the car and I'm in the process of installing a stereo system.
She actually wanted "Christine"!!! But the '58 Plymouth Fury was so large I didn't think she would be able to drive it to school and park very easily, so she settled on the Silver hawk.
My point is that you're not going to know what your daughter is going to want/like until she gets old enough and all you can do is make the car as safe and as reliable as possible so that she can enjoy the car and also be protected in an accident.
Safety and reliability!!!
treblig