Joe Biden and Son Talk Fast Cars and Family

Father's Day is still a few weeks away, but that didn't stop Joe Biden and his son Hunter from waxing about father-son relationships and other family-themed topics for Popular Mechanics. The exclusive interview, titled "Things My Father Taught Me," touched on everything from how they bond to the VP's 1967 Corvette. Some nuggets:

• Joe stresses the sanctity of family, noting that if an employee of his ever showed up for work instead of attending an important event for a loved one, he would say: "Don't work for me." "We have an expression in our family: If you have to ask for help, it's too late," he adds.

• The VP's tight relationship with Hunter and his late son, Beau, has been well documented. "One of the reasons for the special, incredible bond that Beau and Hunt and I had is that any loss that I had was their deep loss as well," he says, noting that he and the boys all looked after each other after Joe's first wife (Hunter and Beau's mom) and young daughter died in 1972.
• Joe's best memory of driving in his '67 Vette, a wedding gift from his own dad: cruising with 3-year-old Hunter down a rural country road. "A beautiful day like today, and he's sitting on my lap, and he turns around and puts his hand on my face and he says, 'Daddy? Daddy? I love you more than the whole sky.'"
• As for Hunter, he comes full circle to Joe's statements and reveals the best lesson he ever took from his father. "Family comes first," he says. "Over everything. I can't think of anything that has been more pervasive and played a larger part in my life than that simple lesson."

For more on the Bidens (including what used to happen to Hunter's friends when they'd show up at the Biden house), check out Popular Mechanics. (More Joe Biden stories.)