Reflecting back, a cheep car and a random website.

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Cope

Cope

Fusing with fire
Joined
Oct 20, 2009
Messages
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Location
San Jose, Ca.
With some of the threads that have popped up lately it got me thinking.

This site and a cheep car pretty much changed my life.

Lets roll the clock back to 2008. Im in a good job just bought a house in my dream location, about to get married.

Life is good. Over night everything changed. I got in an argument with a coworker. Things went south, i lost my job, lost the love of my life, the housing market crashed and im broke. No job, no women and no idea what to do.

I owned one nice thing, a Toyota truck "rock crawler". I sold the truck to make the first payment on the house. The buyer a friend of mine is short 500 bucks of what im asking so he says. "You like projects right? I got a 71 dart, will you take it in trade for the 500?"

I agreed that if it would make it to my house id consider it.

Well it did. I had a big empty hole in the garage where my baby use to live so i took the car. I was before it all went bad a welder. I spent 500 bucks on a TIG off craigslist and went to work on the car.

I worked lots of shity jobs for low pay to keep the house, no one would hire me because of my past and it being a small town. I did my best to keep working on the car and not loose the house. Years go by and my pops needs help down in the bay area. I drive the dart (my only car) to the bay and take up a job doing carpentry while working on the dart and my dads 26T.

A few more years go by and a few car shows, im working on other people's cars and mine and pops cars.

The next thing you know, im telling my boss i need time off to work on cars.

Now im running my own fab shop.

Ive met lots of great folks and learned so much about mopars it crazy.

And to think back it all started with me getting some car i knew nothing about so i searched out websites and ended up here. In 2008....

I cant thank everyone enough for all the help over the years and it jist goes to show, you never know what life will bring.

Im not sure what the take away from this is but it blows my mind when i look back.

Thanks again to everyone and thank you for a great site that very well changed my life for the better.
 
Cope said:
With some of the threads that have popped up lately it got me thinking.

This site and a cheep car pretty much changed my life.

Lets roll the clock back to 2008. Im in a good job just bought a house in my dream location, about to get married.

Life is good. Over night everything changed. I got in an argument with a coworker. Things went south, i lost my job, lost the love of my life, the housing market crashed and im broke. No job, no women and no idea what to do.

I owned one nice thing, a Toyota truck "rock crawler". I sold the truck to make the first payment on the house. The buyer a friend of mine is short 500 bucks of what im asking so he says. "You like projects right? I got a 71 dart, will you take it in trade for the 500?"

I agreed that if it would make it to my house id consider it.

Well it did. I had a big empty hole in the garage where my baby use to live so i took the car. I was before it all went bad a welder. I spent 500 bucks on a TIG off craigslist and went to work on the car.

I worked lots of shity jobs for low pay to keep the house, no one would hire me because of my past and it being a small town. I did my best to keep working on the car and not loose the house. Years go by and my pops needs help down in the bay area. I drive the dart (my only car) to the bay and take up a job doing carpentry while working on the dart and my dads 26T.

A few more years go by and a few car shows, im working on other people's cars and mine and pops cars.

The next thing you know, im telling my boss i need time off to work on cars.

Now im running my own fab shop.

Ive met lots of great folks and learned so much about mopars it crazy.

And to think back it all started with me getting some car i knew nothing about so i searched out websites and ended up here. In 2008....

I cant thank everyone enough for all the help over the years and it jist goes to show, you never know what life will bring.

Im not sure what the take away from this is but it blows my mind when i look back.

Thanks again to everyone and thank you for a great site that very well changed my life for the better.
Click to expand...
Awesome story, all the best to you in your future endevers:thumbsup:
 
Cope said:
With some of the threads that have popped up lately it got me thinking.

This site and a cheep car pretty much changed my life.

Lets roll the clock back to 2008. Im in a good job just bought a house in my dream location, about to get married.

Life is good. Over night everything changed. I got in an argument with a coworker. Things went south, i lost my job, lost the love of my life, the housing market crashed and im broke. No job, no women and no idea what to do.

I owned one nice thing, a Toyota truck "rock crawler". I sold the truck to make the first payment on the house. The buyer a friend of mine is short 500 bucks of what im asking so he says. "You like projects right? I got a 71 dart, will you take it in trade for the 500?"

I agreed that if it would make it to my house id consider it.

Well it did. I had a big empty hole in the garage where my baby use to live so i took the car. I was before it all went bad a welder. I spent 500 bucks on a TIG off craigslist and went to work on the car.

I worked lots of shity jobs for low pay to keep the house, no one would hire me because of my past and it being a small town. I did my best to keep working on the car and not loose the house. Years go by and my pops needs help down in the bay area. I drive the dart (my only car) to the bay and take up a job doing carpentry while working on the dart and my dads 26T.

A few more years go by and a few car shows, im working on other people's cars and mine and pops cars.

The next thing you know, im telling my boss i need time off to work on cars.

Now im running my own fab shop.

Ive met lots of great folks and learned so much about mopars it crazy.

And to think back it all started with me getting some car i knew nothing about so i searched out websites and ended up here. In 2008....

I cant thank everyone enough for all the help over the years and it jist goes to show, you never know what life will bring.

Im not sure what the take away from this is but it blows my mind when i look back.

Thanks again to everyone and thank you for a great site that very well changed my life for the better.
Click to expand...
Absolutely amazing.
 
Thanks but its not really amazing, its just life.

I can remember the day my ex boss had to drive me home. I had a work truck and when i got fired i had no way home. My ex boss drove me home, me and him had been friends for 10 years, he said, "Ya know some times you just need a good kick in the ***, no offense bit this could be a good thing."

I wanted to work at that job for the rest of my life and he knew that. We are still friends to this day but i will never forget the look on his face as he looked back and drove away. He was disappointed in me and it hurt me to the core.

I think thats why i strive so hard to do good now.
 
That is a cool story! Its funny how the small things in life can lead you in a completely different direction. It makes you wonder how one different decision would have changed things?
Just curious what happened to the wedding? Why did you and what I'm assuming is your ex split?
 
So the kick in the pants worked! One take away I see here is if you want something, you have to work for it. Don’t expect handouts or participation trophies! Get out and work your tail off! Great story and glad things are working out for ya!
 
Sometimes everything has to fall apart before you truly find your footing. I keep trying to get my kids to understand that. Thanks for sharing something that's a good read.
 
Way to hang in there and turn it into a positive. Lots of people would spiral down into more problems or just make excuses. Stay focused brother.
 
Awesome story, glad to hear it all worked out for you.
This site has helped me a lot too over the years........
 
NOT wanting to try to outdo COPE, but evidently a lot of us struggle, grew up with a dad that was an Alcoholic, and a mother who worked double shifts and 30 and forty days without a day off to keep a roof over our head, i went to work at 15, and bought all my school closes and suit for prom, class ring and meals on away games to play basketball, graduated at 18, went to work for Firestone as assist. manager, got married at 21, and owner sold out to a bank so the Firestone was torn down for a bank, so no job, wife was pregnant, had a TANK, (69 MERCURY MONTCLAIR ) and a 76 dodge dart that the brakes went bad, drove 3 weeks metal on metal ,no income, wife was a teachers aide , that winter it snowed during kids Christmas vacation, and they only had school 1 1/2 day from Jan. 1st until last day of FEB. ,so my wife only got paid for days she worked, and it had been an cold winter, had a $300 electric bill and a 175 dollar trailer payment, i was drawing $110 a week unemployment, so how we scrimped thru, i have no ideal, i finally got a job at AT&t making $14.50 an hour to start, my wife got a masters degree in finance, got a job as Branch manager at a bank, everything seemed rosey, then years later our son that graduated high school as an honor student, played in band,played football, basketball, and all around great kid went away to college, 2nd semester ,1st year , he flunked out, A 9 year run doing drugs from pain pills,cocaine,morphine ,to meth, after losing his house anf truck , a 31 day in detox and 11 month ,29 day jail sentence , he finally saw the light, got married to the nurse that had brought him off the hard drugs, has been clean now 11 years and just celebrated his 10th wedding anniversary. L said all this, to make a point, sometimes life throws you a curve ball, sometimes a fast ball, but every now and again if you wait on the right pitch you can get a home run if you will hang in there and not wait for a walk to 1st base. COPE, i'm talking experience for a 65 year old, don't think you are the only one out there fighting this thing called life, we all face our ups and downs,so do your best, thats all anyone can expect !
 
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An old adage: “Don’t tell God how big your problems are, tell your problems how big your God is”!
 
Great story Cope, congratulations on your perseverance and hard work. Thanks for sharing something so personal.

My Dad was a WW2 vet. He taught me almost everything about life that has turned out to be important... although when he was trying to teach me things, mostly I wasn't listening. I got tangled up with the wrong woman very early in life, and my blind love/lust for her made me make a few really bad decisions that had lasting implications. Dad watched it all happen, pretty much as he warned me it would, but he never said I told you so. When it all fell apart and I had thrown away a scholarship and other opportunities, he didn't lecture me and tell me how I should have listened. Instead, he wrote me a note and told me to read it later and think about it. Then he smiled, clapped me on the back and said, "This too shall pass." That was in 1977. Dad passed away in 1990.
I still have the note. This is what he wrote.
"Think about life like a train ride. We are merely passengers on the train of life. We didn't buy the ticket, so we don't really know where the train is going, or when our ride will end. All we can do is enjoy the ride, and if there are bumps along the way, we hope the shock absorbers work. When they don't, just try to land on your feet, that will make the bumps easier to manage.
Always remember that no matter how rough today might have been, you should go to bed each night knowing that you gave your best that day, and tomorrow is a new beginning, with a complete set of new rules and rewards.
And if you live every single day the very best way you know how, and if in all your endeavors you gave all you had to give in every way you knew how, then no man nor any God can pass judgement on you, or condemn you if it wasn't enough. For by doing the very best you can regardless of what befalls you, you will have paid the "dues of life" in full."
 
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