So something about me and how I relate to this site. My dad owned a garage in upstate NY west of Albany. He was an amazing mechanic. Could tell you what was wrong with a car with a good listen, a large screwdriver and a dart with a small jumper wire. I started “working” down at the garage when I was 12 years old. Cleaning customer’s cars for a quarter and to keep me out of trouble. Back in 1965 $1 to $2 a day was a lot of money for a 12 year old. That’s when I picked up the bug to work on cars. Back when cars were cars and gasoline was 28 cents a gallon. Soon I got to pump gas, check oil and put air into the tires. As time went on I was taught more and more about engine repair. Oil changes and tune ups were common repairs and changing alternators and batteries were now easy, everyday repairs.

I learned to drive in my back yard in a replica Stutz Bearcat go-cart my father built for me. Later out in the open fields with junk cars… I got to run. About the time puberty set in I also felt the need for fast cars. The quicker the better. The older brothers of my friends had the hot cars. The 55-57 Chevys, the Fords and Mercs even the older Roadsters with all the chrome and glass pak mufflers.

So I bought my first street car in 1967, a 1960 Chevrolet Biscayne 2 door with a blown 6 cylinder engine and an automatic transmission for $50.00. I spent 2 years fixing up that car and buying up parts for it. The car ended up with a rebuilt 283 engine and a 3 speed standard transmission, dual exhaust with glass pak mufflers, and a new teal paint job with a sprayed on vinyl top. I jacked it up with spacers in the springs and bought some OEM mag wheels from a friend and a while after my sixteenth birthday it was on the road.

In 1968 I fell in love. I fell in love with the new Plymouth muscle car, the 1968 Road Runner. Yep, the bird with the helmet and the funny horn. Some Hot Rod magazine had a road test with several of the great classic cars of 1968 and the Road Runner came out on top. I wanted it. I got it. In 1970 I was working at the garage and the owner of the local Chrysler/Plymouth dealership pulled in for gas and guess what he was driving? A 1968 medium metallic green Road Runner with a 383 engine. He had just taken it in on trade for a new car. The next day I owned it. It needed a little engine work and within a week it replaced the ‘60 Chevy.

After that I went to college, (Auto Tech.), then I got married, then I had a child, then I got a mortgage. So in 1977 the Road Runner got put aside, inside a barn where it waits patiently for me. In the mean time I have been a volunteer firefighter/EMT for 33 years. I’ve been an officer both firematically and administratively but now I mostly drive the trucks and run the pumps, even on our new 48 foot long, 38 ton, 85 foot tower. Very exciting!

In 1977 I stopped running a small gas station and started selling auto parts from a large truck going from garage to garage. In 1986 I sold that business and bought a travel agency. That was an exciting business to be in at the time, as it afforded me the opportunity to travel the country and the Caribbean. I met many interesting people of all walks of life. The travel business hit a rough spot and many agencies were going out of business so I decided to sell mine and try something new. I now work dispatching fire, police and EMS for the Sheriff’s office 911 center. It is very rewarding work and I like it, but I’m starting to get the feeling it may be time to try something new.