TheEngineer

My first car ride was in a '69 GTO and I've been in love with Pontiac ever since. When I got home that day there was a '68 or '69 (it's hard to remember that far back) Mustang California Special sitting in the driveway. As far back as I can remember, my fondest memories were spent in the garage with Dad. Bringing home cars and gutting them for parts on whatever he was building. In the house building model cars. I had a pretty extensive collection and we would buy a couple at a time build custom cars at the dinner table. I remember taking everything apart just to see how it works and my mom flipping out and making sit there and put it back together. I usually had no problem doing it.

We rebuilt my first engine when I was 8. Who knows how many I've done since then.

I got my first car, a '63 Volvo 544 Sport, when I was 10. I had four cars before I was able to drive.

I always wanted to put the 383 out of the Plymouth Fury into the Volvo but growing up, girls, sports and a lack of money got in the way. When I started driving in the early '90s I spent a lot of time keeping the old cars and trucks that I drove running. It was years before I realized that you could pay someone else to do your mechanic work and I still don't believe in it.

In college, I got tired of adjusting points and valves and carburators all the time and swapping engines on the weekend so I could have something to drive on Monday morning. I picked up a little import and put 360,000 miles on it with almost no maintenance. I was so impressed that when I graduated college, I bought another.

About a year ago, my wife's vehicle needed some engine repairs and I did my first engine work in years. I was hooked again.

I looked for a long time for the right car and found a '48 Pontiac. We'll most of one. It's just a body and a rolling chassis. This will be my first frame off build. If all goes well, this will be first of many. It should be easier now that I have some money and I'm not trying to fix up my daily driver.

The best part is getting to relive the garage days with my dad and passing those memories on to my son.