When did you "know" you were a car guy?

I’d have to say it was back in the late fifties, ten years old and got the bug. A teenager who live down the street was always working on his hotrod in the driveway. I would go over and watch him work on the engine every day.

Back then you tried to get as much horsepower out of a small V-8 as possible. He was always tune it, rebuilding the carb, adjusting the valves. I was fascinated with what he was doing and payed attention. I was hooked.

Couldn’t wait to buy my first one to start working on. Saving as much money as I could, mowing lawns and odd job I could find. My first car cost me $50, with a bad cylinder, but I didn’t care it was a car and it was all mine!

School of hard knocks, trial and error was the only way to go back then. After getting into it, wasn’t long before I found an old Motors book. Replaced one piston and rings without honing and without pulling the motor, oh boy! Couldn’t get it started to save my life. Who knew that a distributor could be 180 out? She used some oil but at 50 cents a quart was cheap and gas was 37 cents a gallon.

Still it was a lot of fun, thanks to my neighbor allowing me to use space in her garage too. Those were the days.