About 4 months ago, friends of ours approached Randy with the idea of making a homeschool project out of their 45 year old go cart. We have several friends with boys our age, and they’re all best buds…and, Joy was anxious to see her childhood go cart run again. Randy has a good knowledge of making broken things work again (he’s a very hands-on kind ‘a guy, can fix just about anything you give him…yes, ladies, you can be jealous). So, it all just fell into place…the boys and Randy met up at Dirk and Joy’s house just about every Saturday this summer to work on it. Randy taught them about engines and how they work. They took it apart, sanded, primed, painted, repaired the fiberglass, etc. In Randy’s words, they did a “frame off restoration”. Sounds like auto shop language to me. :)Â
They took the engine almost completely apart, replaced the broken parts, and put it all back together. They had to get a little assistance and one extra part from an outside source, but the bulk of the work was done by the guys.Â
This past Saturday, our boys and two of their friends got together to take it for a spin.  All that work sure paid off.Â
Unfortunately, the day had an abrupt ending. Ethan was driving it, and the steering locked up. He hit a fence. He’s fine, but the go cart body didn’t handle it as well. Randy said it can be repaired, so no worries.
I guess go cart class isn’t quite over yet.Â
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October 15th, 2008 at 3:01 pm
So cool. I want one too.
October 16th, 2008 at 1:20 pm
They look like they are having so much fun. I love that Randy spent time with them and also was teaching them about taking care of things and how to repair older things and still use them. A lesson in economics. Hate they banged it up, but they can fix it. This is giving them some of the lessons that they will need in driving a real car one day.
October 16th, 2008 at 8:20 pm
What a wonderful story…just makes ya feel fuzzy all over! What bonding that was for the boys and their dads, not to mention the memories will last forever! Sounds like they all learned quite a bit during the summer, about how cars run, are put together, painted, etc. It’s a cute little thing, isn’t it?!! Sorry it got a “boo boo”, but now they can have another project and get it back on it’s wheels! We’re proud of our grandsons and especially proud of our son-in-law for taking such an interest in this project and for teaching the boys so much during the summer!! :) Love, Mom & Dad