Originally Posted by Ws6
1993 P71 crown vic, bought at auction, built from junkyard parts (including the motor). My father, grandfather, and I built it in the driveway. This was right about the time low economic, high-crime parts of town were saturated with them. I was ashamed of it because I was 17, image mattered, and all of my better off friends made fun of me/it, but it worked. I bought a 1995 Trans Am 1.5 years later, and gave it back to my Dad. It's been 15 years ago. My grandfather has died. The car is who knows where. I don't want that car back, but I want the memories back, and they rolled off into the sunset with that car. We really don't know what we have when we have it, sometimes, and sometimes what we miss, isn't even what we thought we had. I wish I had been "less 17" when I was 17, but such is life. I now cherish all the memories I have with my father, and go out of my way to make more, when he visits. I purposefully let certain projects around the house slide, so that he can "fix them" when he visits (EX: Not installing a vent hood over the stove, even though it's 15 minutes work). He might well suspect it, but he plays his part, and I'm grateful to that, because one day, that vent hood is going to be so much more than a vent hood to me, I'm sad to acknowledge.
I have a similar situation with my grandfather.
He's still alive at 82, but his health isn't the best. He does ok, but I live with him 4 days a week to help him out. My aunt is there 3 days a week.
I have so many memories with him in my 96' Jeep. He bought it in 2007 when I was 12 years old. He owns a gold mine in Western Arizona and for many years it was our desert exploration vehicle. In 2016 I bought it from him, and I will never get rid of it. I only drive it once every week or two at the most. I will literally be an old man and still have this Jeep. Even if I can't drive, [censored], even if I can't walk, I'll still have it.