Bobby,
That's pretty similar to what my father did for me when I was about that age. We had a shop and I was always working on stuff with him. As an incentive for me to keep my grades up, my parents decided they would help buy a car that my father and I would restore so I would have something nice when I was in high school. Well, after a few months of searching and researching, we decided on a '69 mach1 that needed some work. It was a daily driven car with the factory 351W (2V), FMX auto, AC, PB and PS. (Half the fun was driving around with my dad every weekend looking for potential candidates!) We bought it and ended up going through the whole car. It was the first engine I rebuilt and I learned a LOT. But most importanly, I learned to respect the car, having put so much time and $ into it. That respect kept me from doing something stupid with it while attending high school and I still have it to this day:
I think you and your family have made a wonderful decision. The older I get the more I treasure what my parents did for me. The whole project gave us a great reason to spend a lot of time with each other and that brought our family closer than you can imagine. I for one know that I couldn't have respected any nice car that my parents just threw me the keys to--not at that young and impressive age! So two thumbs up for putting your kids and family first. You won't be sorry! You and Nick will have a lot of fun working together. The
only downside is you two will never want to sell the car
!
Mike
PS Did I mention that my grades were never an issue after we bought the mustang
? Haha!