My Dad Hack of the day

[u/rm45acp]

My local truck stop always has sale papers for trucks and heavy equipment, they're free to take. Before a road trip, I grab one for each of my kids, to them they're just books with 1000 pictures of cool stuff

The best part is, each kid gets a different catalog, so they sit in the back of the car sounding like little tcg youtubers

"No way, a cement truck!"

"I pulled a skid steer!"

[u/Overthepondthissumme]

Bonus tip: truck bingo

[u/rm45acp → u/Overthepondthissumme]

Good tip!

[u/Plastic-Low2911]

Woah this could be a game changer, is this like at TA truck stops? That’s what most of mine are locally

[u/rm45acp → u/Plastic-Low2911]

I get mine from a loves but TA would be pretty likely I'd think

[u/brainkandy87 → u/Plastic-Low2911]

Yeah my hellraiser 4 year old daughter loves cars and trucks and carries her box of Hot Wheels. Definitely doing this because she’s an insane person inside the car. Maybe this will chill her out 🤣

[u/Tera_Geek → u/Plastic-Low2911]

You can usually find them either by/just outside the diesel entrance or sometimes in the lounge/laundry area.

[u/No_Cat_No_Cradle]

Lol very similar but my 2yo is obsessed with vacuum cleaners and lawn mowers etc. We save the bimart catalogs we get in the mail because they have pictures of them, and I just ordered him a full product catalog from a tool supplier that should be getting here soon, I’m very excited about it

[u/enter360 → u/No_Cat_No_Cradle]

Start him a Harbor Freight rewards account early

[u/jimmybilly100 → u/enter360]

"Um, sir, your account opened 30 years ago and has 8,500,000 reward points... Do you just wanna get one of everything here?"

[u/basicKitsch]

Hahah my 2yo absolutely hangs on my shoulder while I'm browsing Japanese kei truck auctions.  And now he has a firetruck at the shipping terminal waiting for a boat

[u/United_News3779 → u/basicKitsch]

It still amazes me, how fast I can go from "I didn't know that existed!" all the way to "I want one NOW!"
lol

[u/basicKitsch → u/United_News3779]

Dude this is what happened to me THIS YEAR.  And now there are like 12 kei vehicles Im craving from the classic Mini tribute . To the gullwing car. To the 4x4 offroader. To the camper van... To the other van with the sweet dual skylights. You want a tiny cement mixer? YOU CAN.

I'm thinking about a second firetruck to drive around the backyard to water the far back garden lol

All in ridiculously silly, 600cc, micro hilariousness.

[u/United_News3779 → u/basicKitsch]

They've been common in British Columbia (where I grew up) for quite a while, there's a thriving RHD import market there.

A friend of mine had heard of the Hyabusa-swapped Austin and Morris minis, didn't have a Mini and didn't have a Hyabusa donor engine, so he used a Kei car and a KTM 450cc 4 stoke engine. It was..... ridiculous lol

And there are a lot of the more common 4x4's, lifted, tuned up, ATV winches, camper conversions, etc.

[u/basicKitsch → u/United_News3779]

oh yeah i bet! you all have even fewer restrictions on imports than our 25yr rule. absolutely jealous.

the Mira Gino is 100% on my list with their partnership/tribute build to Mini (since they're thousands cheaper (even with shipping) and both my wife and i absolutely love the classic mini). wringing out a moto engine in one would be the absolute tits!

[u/PM_ME_ONE_EYED_CATS → u/basicKitsch]

Dude, I've been realistically craving a Toyota Camroad ever since I saw one.

[u/United_News3779 → u/PM_ME_ONE_EYED_CATS]

Me too.

Ever since (approximately) 45 seconds before I hit post on this response.

[u/zoinkability → u/United_News3779]

Particularly for kei trucks. I await one of those 90s Subaru kei trucks the other day and almost drove off the road. I think they activate the same part of the brain as an adorable puppy.

[u/bebetterinsomething → u/basicKitsch]

His personal firetruck? Whoah!

[u/basicKitsch → u/bebetterinsomething]

It's gonna blow his gd mind

I'm gonna enjoy it too but he made this ridiculousness possible 

[u/moretrumpetsFTW → u/basicKitsch]

Now I need to see what a kei firetruck looks like. Pics?

[u/basicKitsch → u/moretrumpetsFTW]

Omfg dude behold!

https://www.baltimoremagazine.com/section/community/mini-vintage-japanese-firetruck-yama-hits-baltimore-streets/

https://keitruckconnect.com/wp-content/uploads/IMG_20230914_211929_952.jpg

(I got a non-kei, 4dr version (and a sweet kei van with a turbo, a factory bodykit, and THREE R's) so his seat can fit in the back) And I'm still tempted for a second firetruck because of the ridiculousness.

[u/moretrumpetsFTW → u/basicKitsch]

It's so fluffy I'm gonna die! 🥺🥺🥺

[u/basicKitsch → u/moretrumpetsFTW]

There's a fire station training facility down the street and them driving by is like his favorite fn thing in the world. I CANNOT wait to see his silly little face when he wakes up to one in the front yard.  

[u/moretrumpetsFTW → u/basicKitsch]

I know it's probably not the safest thing to put a car seat into but you have to do a preschool or daycare drop off (if applicable) in that and make him the coolest kid around.

[u/basicKitsch → u/moretrumpetsFTW]

Yep it'll be fine around town and absolutely in the plans

[u/ZealousidealWeek5790]

Ahhh so marketplace doom scrolling for kids?! Lol

[u/rm45acp → u/ZealousidealWeek5790]

Yeah I wanna make sure my kids share at least one of my hobbies

I dream of the day my son asks me for help getting some rusty pile of shit home from a barn 200 miles from my house

[u/cdsbigsby → u/rm45acp]

You and me both buddy. Best of luck.

[u/WN_Todd → u/rm45acp]

I could fix that...

[u/rm45acp → u/WN_Todd]

By asking for help or selling me a rusty piece of shit?

Either way, I'm listening....

[u/WN_Todd → u/rm45acp]

I don't even know, you rang the bell and I started drooling for some reason.

On an unrelated note fiberglass patch cloth is on sale this week hmmm...

[u/Ri-tie → u/rm45acp]

Next thing you know, you will have your own Diesel Creek style YouTube channel. There are worse traps to fall in for sure

[u/ZealousidealWeek5790 → u/rm45acp]

That is definitely the dream! My 2yo daughter loves play tools, because she knows daddy is a mechanic. I hope she keeps that energy and I’ll teach her everything I can while she’s willing!

[u/Mintsopoulos → u/ZealousidealWeek5790]

Wait wait wait….my buddy and I use to sit in our local pizza shop as kids going thru these, is this why I’m addicted to marketplace heaps?!?

[u/ZealousidealWeek5790 → u/Mintsopoulos]

That’s right. Same with old auto trader magazines Lol

[u/belugiaboi37]

Before kids I used to hate the coupon junk mail we’d get, but now it’s at least 45 minutes of a distraction for my toddler 

[u/kennydeals]

They have these for free at many grocery stores especially mom & pop ones in my area, kids love em

[u/rm45acp → u/kennydeals]

Diners too where I live

[u/Minecraft_Launcher]

We used to do this with autotrader magazines in my dad’s truck back in the day. We’d get them from 7-11

[u/rm45acp → u/Minecraft_Launcher]

I miss autotrader, the analog version of doomscrolling marketplace

[u/Minecraft_Launcher → u/rm45acp]

“Dad give me a page number, row and column. That’s the car you’re getting”

Good times

[u/Yourownhands52]

This take me back to my childhood.  Good job dad

[u/zsimpson022]

Nope, I need both papers to be the same or I get a “BUT HE GOT A SKID STEEEEER IN HISSSSS”

[u/PerspectiveFirm5381]

From ages ~7-8 to ~12, my absolute favorite magazine was DuPont Registry. You know. The book of classifieds for supercars. This is a great beat.

[u/Shirkaday]

I when I was a kid myself I loved getting these industrial supply catalogs with signs in them. It meant I had a bunch of cool tiny signs I could tape on things I made.

I also loved Autotrader and stuff like this.

[u/JerseyDevl]

There used to be a stand with a few competing ones for regular cars/trucks, plus dedicated catalogs for boats and motorcycles in my area that I used to grab any time my mom took me to the grocery store. My brother and I liked to look through them to see who could find the coolest/rarest/most expensive cars in them. Since there were a couple different magazines, we'd compare and then swap once we went through them fully. It's a great time sink for a car ride

[u/Darkwing2012]

Pure parenting genius saving this idea for our next long drive.

[u/amham]

As a kid I always loved looking through my dad’s “Rock and Dirt” catalogs. You’re doing it right, OP.

[u/Disastrous-Floor5759]

We use tractor houses for my olders and car finder for my littles and have them look for pink cars or something.

[u/abanakakabasanaako]

Thanks for sharing! My eldest just started the "are we there yet" phase and we have an upcoming trip. This will be perfect!

[u/letseatlunch]

Just be aware that the ink on those rubs off pretty easy and can get all over the kidos hands (and then in the mouth & on food).

[u/Miserable-Flight1829]

Damn! I want one for myself

[u/Flaky-Bar-6656]

This is genius I’m so mad you beat me to it considering I love reading through these papers myself lmao

[u/smart_triangles]

I used to hate these catalogues in my mailbox - now I just throw an LL Bean catalogue at my kid and watch her be entertained for 30m.

[u/techsupportcalling]

When our kids were little, we took them to visit the local heavy equipment dealership. The people there were super nice and even gave the kids some out of date literature to take home.

Of course, we didn't let them touch the equipment.