Thread: How young did you start, and did it result in obsession?

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I don't know if I am unusual, or if others have a similar story.

Started building model cars in grade school, and went to my first U.S.Nationals in '62 at age 13. I was hooked!!! I would be a "car guy"! :-)

Got my first car, a '53 Chevy 2-door, at 15... immediately had to repair the babbited rods, then swapped in a '58 235 by making my own mounts. Added black rims and baby moons

I repainted it at 15 (looked like crap, but I was proud)... took off the front bumper and filled the springs with spacers. Drove it in my senior year of high school.

That year a friend started a 33 Plymouth coupe street rod ...from the frame rails up ...which I helped to build. In junior college I spent a couple years helping to build an Austin B/Gasser, while I built and drove my '57 Bel Air... then my '57 Vette... on the street.

After that it was a blur of Chevrolet projects...Corvettes, Novas, Camaros, 409 cars, etc. I built motors, trans, third members, wiring, fiberglass parts, paint, etc.

I started custom painting for others in '72, at age 23, and decided to dump my drag racing career plans. Went full time in '86. Eventually stopped building my own stuff, and made it a career, so I could be hands-on 7 days a week! (It beats a "real job"!)

No regrets! (except my first wife, who didn't understand my passion for performance and custom cars.) :-) She is long gone, and now I can brag of hundreds of completed custom paint projects.

Anyone else this "obsessive-complusive"???