Newbie from Metro Detroit Hey all, I thought I would make my first post and introduce myself. I’m a gearhead living in (where else?) Metro Detroit. Born in 1974 and raised in a musclecar family (my dad was into Olds 442s and Pontiac GTOs), I grew up going to car shows and learning musclecars. My dad is great with numbers, colors, options, etc. but is very mechanically challenged. In college I decided it was time to expand my car knowledge with hands-on experience and bought a 1971 Volkswagen Super Beetle. Over a couple years (as my tight budget would allow) I built it into a Cal-Looker, complete with lowered stance, vintage wheels, 1776cc engine, and safety upgrades like 4-wheel disc brakes and 3-point retractable seat belts. During this time I worked as an engineering intern at a machine design & fabrication company and gained a large respect for custom fabrication. This grew into my appreciation for hot rods. I graduated from Ohio State in 1998, moved to Michigan to work as a product design engineer for General Motors, bought a house, etc. I bought and sold a few old fixer-upper cars and thought about building a hot rod, but was turned off by the high cost of the “magazine” cars and figured one would be financially out of reach. This was my mindset UNTIL I attended Billetproof 2004 in Michigan. THIS was the hot rod scene I was looking for! Since then I’ve been learning more about “traditional” rodding and thinking about what I want to build. I’m leaning towards a 1950-55 Buick, ’55-’56 Olds or Pontiac, or a ’61-’66 Chevy truck. I currently own my ’71 Super Beetle, a ’99 Corvette and a ’90 Cutlass Supreme (bad-weather driver). I’m out of garage space, so I won’t be starting another project until I have more space. However, I am helping a friend build a traditional-style ’65 Ford F100 fleetside shortbed. It’ll be pretty traditional with a mild 289ci, 3-speed manual, mild-custom interior and suede red paint. This winter we will be replacing the floor pans, converting it to front disc brakes and cleaning up the wiring. I’ll post pictures of the truck once it looks ½ presentable!
Nice intro. There are quite a few HAMB folks in the Metro Detroit Area. Watch for posts with the term GMB in it. The next GMB get-together will be on Sunday Dec 10th at my place in Livonia. Love to have you join us. Welcome to the HAMB
Just an update on me and my current projects. My friend's '65 Ford shortbed pickup project got stalled as he worked on his house (roof, siding, finishing second floor, landscaping) and another friend offered me free storage in his newly-built garage, so I picked up a rough-but-running 1964 Oldsmobile Dynamic 88 convertible last November from a H.AM.B. forum member. The car is a sad story: originally red with white interior and was re-done in the late 1980s in black with custom white interior. Then the car was parked outside, under a cover until about 2005. Needless to day, the paint is shot and the top rotted away, which let water get into the new interior and ruined it as well. It has changed hands several times since then (with one owner stripping the hood and decklid of paint, then letting it sit outside again for months), but I am determined to get it put back together and back on the road. It is in better condition in person than shows up in pictures: the body is really straight, I have all the trim (although most is pitted/crazed) and the car is complete except for the back bumper. I'll post updates as it comes together.
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