I am often asked why I decided to fix cars for a living or how I got into the business. It started at an early age when my uncle let me run his small bulldozer. I later moved up to the tractors he had on his farm. When I was in junior high school we studied the internal combustion engine in science class. When I discovered the basic principle of how it worked I was fascinated. I thought that this was really cool! You could take metals and fluids and electricity and combine them to carry yourself around. I was hooked. I had to get a car! I remember back in the mid sixties there was an abundance of old vehicles around that could be had for a reasonable price. I had to have one! 

At the time I spent a lot of time on my bicycle or walking a lot back and forth to my uncle's farm. One day as I was walking down the road, I noticed my neighbor had taken a 1956 Buick Special off the road. I went to the door and asked what they had in mind for the car. They asked me, "Do you want it?" I said, "Sure! How much?" They knew how bad I wanted that car and handed me the keys and said, "Here. Take it!" I was in heaven! 

I had already owned a field car before that. For those of you who don't know what a field car is, that is one that was not road worthy and was run to its demise in the local fields and woods. Much to my Mother's dismay I promptly drove the car home and parked it in the driveway and washed it and admired it. After all, this was not a field car, this was a driver! At the time I was only fourteen and although I had big plans, we all know that at fourteen years old you are basically full of dreams more than anything else. I used to sleep in that car in the summer months at night while listening to the radio. What good memories! I knew that cars were going to be a big part of my life from then on. I soon got a job at one of the local gas stations after school and my career had begun.

I was fortunate to get into the business at that particular time, because there were only five popular makes of cars on the road at the time: General Motors, Ford, Chrysler, and American Motors, with Volkswagen being the only major import. Now there are dozens of makes and models with more being introduced each year. 

Over the years I have had the good fortune of working with some of the best in the business and I have learned a lot from watching them. Some guys were born with a wrench in their hand and oil in their veins. I was not one of them. I was just a small town kid who fell in love with cars and made it my living. Every day is a learning experience and no one knows it all. We do the best we can with what we know. Every car I had ever owned at that time of my life was an education on wheels. I learned on my own vehicles by trial and error. When anyone asked my family where to find me, they would say "go look under the hood." As for the 1956 Buick, it ended up in the demolition derby. No regrets here. I learned from it. Someday the time will come to hang up my wrenches for good, but at least I can look back and say that I enjoyed most of it. But I sometimes wonder if it was dissecting in science class instead of engines, or taking frog eggs home in a jar instead of a car, would I be a brain surgeon now? Hmmmm??