Once Años

Eleven years ago today I was sitting in my parents living room in Midland, TX – home from college for my Christmas break. With me was a stack of traditional hot rod bibles, a shitty old laptop, a Geocities account, and a notion that I needed to find help. Not computer help mind you, but help figuring and learning the art of the traditional car. Pictures could only get me so far…

So I started The Jalopy Journal with the sole intention of recruiting poor saps of like mind, but more knowledge. In doing so, I found a passion like no other in my life. I learned about the love behind Ford’s flathead. I learned about the whine of a Culver City quickchange. I learned about the reasoning of proportion, the functionality of speed, and the creativity of form. You guys taught me everything.

And while you guys taught me, you also built one hell of a community. The H.A.M.B. was never the doing of one. The H.A.M.B. has worked and works because of thousands of people putting in and expecting returns. I still don’t fathom what it has become.

Or what it is becoming… It seems like every passing month brings me closer to my dream of serving you fellas full time. The chances of that happening are no more real at times than they were eleven years ago and then at other times it seems to be just a micro-distance away. Only time will tell what becomes of us, but isn’t that the fun part? Everything gets better with time.

Thanks for eleven years fellas. Here’s to looking foward to the next eleven.