CSIROC - was your car in the readers section a few months back? that story sounds familiar.

either way, my story starts out in 1996 with a slightly less than exciting car. our family car (a POS 83ish BMW 318)started to finally let go. my mom took it to our mechanic and he said he would patch it together enough for us to sell it. Mom got into it and we went to the Ford dealer to look at cars. after the salesman suggested a new Taurus, new Contours and Escorts, mom decides she would rather have a Mustang if shes going to spend new car kind of money.

My mom's first car was a 74 Mustang II. She loved the car and sold it off after the divorce in order to carry us children around with more ease. The car that replaced it was a Dodge Aries. (woot! K car madness!) She remembers the old Mustang as a car that never let her down, so that was her reasoning for checking out the new ones. Not buying anything that day we left, but i had taken a few brochures that day to drool over. Being 15 at the time, the license was around the corner and thoughts of being able to borrow mom's new Mustang were on my mind. Hey, even though she was only looking at the V6/Auto it didnt matter. Up to this point, i wasnt much of a car fanatic. I didnt understand it. Even at this point though, i knew that the domestic cars were something special. i mean, even the V6 Mustang was better than the foreign cars right? most Hondas only had 4 cylinders. so pssh. no brainer.

She took off one day and to my suprise, she brought home that Laser Red 1996 V6/Auto Mustang. it was beautiful. i would wash the car and detail it even before i could drive. From that point, it was Fords all the way. I have alot of memories in that car even. The saddest for me is the moment when i wrecked in on the 5 freeway here in LA in '04 and totalled it. One of the first things i said to the others involved in the accident was "This was my Mom's first new car.... and now its gone".

She took the accident well though. Glad that i was ok more than anything. Insurance came through and i was out only the $1000 for the deductable. what replaced the Mustang? an '02 Black Mustang. V6/auto of course.

Yup...that was my baby in the readers ride section.  Its supposed to be 50 and sunny tomorrow...it might be time for little drive.  

My Grandpa got into hot rods when he got back from WW2, and my dad was into street racing and muscle cars when he was growing up in Elmhurst. I vaguely remember looking through old hot rod magazines belonging to my dad before i could even read! I could read Hemi long before gradeschool. My dad told me about racing out on North Avenue, About Carroll Shelby and some of the old drag racers like Don Garlits for as long as i can remember. Around here (Chicagoland area) cars and racing are extremely common, so of course i used to beat on my first car ('89 LeSabre sedan POS). when it broke, i had to fix it myself, but it held together untill i got rid of it. I then bought a '92 S10 that was my pride and joy for $2300 in pretty good shape, and had a lot of fun adding cheapo speed parts to it, and doing all the basic work a vehicle needs when it get up into the 120,000 mile range. I still have that truck and am trying to make something pretty insane with it. After i bought the S10, i really got into old cars, hot rods, modern muscle, and street racing (never anything real serious). When i started with the railroad, i was making lots of money and wanted an old muscle car. I saved up my money, and tried to buy a POS '70 Roadrunner from a kid down the street from my aunt in El Cajon, CA. But he wouldn't sell. Right about that time, the 2005 Mustang was revealed, and i fell in love. So by March '05 i had enough money saved up to put a decent down payment on a Satin Silver Mustang GT. That car got me into racing at the dragstrip. Now i am trading the Mustang in for a used Lightning F150 to use as a chase truck/parts hauler/dragstrip toy untill the S10 is ready. Plus i still want something old with too much power and old, scary brakes. I think the gearhead bug has bitten me, and this hobby is worse than heroin. the more i learn, the more i get hooked, and the more money i spend! I went from trying to replace an alternator on an old Buick to looking for a used NASCAR motor for an S10 to run at Bonneville in M/MP, and running straight pipes on a dialy driver $30,000 Mustang in only 6 years!

for me it all started in the early 90s before i was in school and as long as i can remember these are some of the cars we had when i was little a 79 malibu a 78 cougar a 75 carger se(with the cool 2 tone paint job) a 79 lemans wagon an 84 cutlass a 72 f350 a 70ford van a 77 l600 (big ass flatbead) amoung other junk even where i grew up there was a 73 cougar down the street an 84 elky by a bar amoung 73-83 chevy pick ups  

for me it all started in the early 90s before i was in school and as long as i can remember these are some of the cars we had when i was little a 79 malibu a 78 cougar a 75 charger se(with the cool 2 tone paint job) a 79 lemans wagon an 84 cutlass a 72 f350 a 70ford van a 77 l600 (big ass flatbead) amoung other junk even where i grew up there was a 73 cougar down the street an 84 elky by a bar amoung 73-83 chevy pick ups  

ignore top one charger is spelled wrong  

1975 my mother moved us in with her b/f who is now my step-dad (best father a person could ever have by the way) he had  a dual quad 283 he raced in the stock class before we moved in.he sold it due to the new family.i used to play in the thing.when i got a bit older he thought a go-kart would be fun,well after that we never looked back.i have gone through maybe 30 cars since i was 14,we now have 39,55,57 chevy 2 dr sedans and a 71 camaro! yeah yeah!!  

well from what i have been told my first fix was at about the age of 3 when  i would stand out on the side porch mezmerized by the traffic on the main street (i think the lead paint that i was sucking on had somthing to do with the lasting effect) ever since i remember i have taken apart everything i could get my hands on and when i was 6 years old this guy came to our door looking to buy my dads old 60's chevy pick for parts for his hot rod. i dont remeber much but i remember that he talked REALLY loud(as i do now) and he said that he would love to have me help him work on his cars. By the age of 7 i no longer hung out with kids my age, only gearhead 3x my age. talking apart 55 chevys playing with the jacks, looking at the boobie pics on the walls, and then the final hook... Ed took me up to the New England Dragway for a Night of Thrills. now he had brought me to the circle track for amiture stuff, but this, this straight lenght of track with races not even 1/2 a minute long... I was hooked for LIFE. Theres nothing better than the sound of pure V8 power roaring down a track at WOT (but dont tell the misses)unfortunaly when i was about 11 Ed lost the garage. and i was left with nuthin. Not many friends my age, no cars to work on, nuthin. so i started building bikes, then R/c that run off of 20% nirtomethane, Then the biggest break of my life i got THE WAGON!  yup an 87' Chevy Caprice Wagon. shes no ordinary wagon now but sure lookes like it. But lucky for me i found out that Ed moved back into town. So now i get to return the favor. I do any electrical work for him, lift heavy stuff, take care of his gearhead buddys, and the only thing i ask in return is to still be his wrench boy. and ya know what... it still kicks ass.  

Lets see. I have been a car nut since the day I was born according to my parents. Always been fascinating by them. Mostly, wonder how fun a certain car would be to drive.

I was fifteen when and taking drivers ed through my school system. We had a 83 Nissan Stanza five door hatchback. To say it was slow would be kind. It was a slug. It also had a governor on it to prevent it from going over 55 mph. It would only go 53. On the last day, the teacher, Mr Muma ask me to check the fluids in the car. I saw the governor and it's adjusting screw. I adjusted it for more speed until the screw fell out altogether.

Twenty minutes later, I got pulled over for doing 87 in a 55 by a Nebraska State Police. I got a speech by the cops, Mr Muma who was reading the newspaper at the time got in alot of trouble. I never got an A in PE because of this, but I was hooked on speed and the rush of it.

The high school rumor mill blew it way out of porportion, "Oh, I heard he did this.." and got saddled with my nickname, Wild Man. My street racing in high school only helped to fuel the flames.  

I GREW UP WITH MY FAMILY NOT HAVIN THE MONEY TO DRIVE NICE CARS. SO AS YOU GUESSED IT FROM ABOUT 8 I HELPED DAD WITH EVERY THING FROM BARKES TO ENGIN AND TRANNY REBUILDS. WELL AT 15 ON A MCDONALDS SALARY 5.50 AN HOUR I SAVE UP TEH 1200 TO GET MY FIRST CAR A 79 CRYSLER CORDOBA 360 WITH T TOPS (HATE MY SELF FOR LETTIN IT GO FOR *** NEER NOTHIN). NOW AT 21 I GOT A HOUSE A 68 LINCOLN CONTINENTAL, 72 F250 CAMPER SPECIAL, 79 TRANS AM, LOWERED 03 DURANGO, AND I HATE TO SAY IT BUT A 04 CAVILEAR 4 BANGER BUT THE GAS GOES A LONG WAY ID SAY IM A ADDICT WOULDNT YOU  

Subliminaly I think it was that my dad and step brother used to do demolition derbys....always hanging out around open headers and 5.14 geared station wagons was fun.

Ok...it all started when my twin brother and I decided to sell our fully functional and reliable car for a few POS's.

but really...the first car was a corsica with chronic overheating problems ....Picture us driving around in Indiana heat(99*) with the heat full blast just trying not to overheat the motor.

Anyways...i sold that pile of crap and bought my 81 stepside chevy with 4 on the floor and learned how to drive a stick while my brother got an 84 caprice with a 305 in which we learned how to do rockford's...hehe

Man I dont know how many times we got stuck sideways on snow drifts in that things...

then he sold that and got a 68 caprice hardtop with a 350, shiftkit and 4.10 gears and we learned how to change a motor after throwing a rod on the interstate.

From there we learned how to change starters before school at 6am in the snow and how to "bypass" every piece of safety or emissions equipment on the car just to make it run and start.

Ive been hooked on pro-street stuff ever since and ben building the "Monzter" out of second hand parts and fabricated do-dads
Between part time jobs and school and marriage.

from there its been nothing but sweet dreams of free shopping sprees from Jegs every night.

God bless
-Shred  

I certainly wasn't born into it, my dad was a pastor and my mom a nurse (we had a Toyota Tercell wagon when I was born, and later a pair of Ford Escorts), so I suppose I got addicted when a neighbor brought home a '70 Monte Carlo. I didn't know what it was at that point, just that it was big, loud, and flat black. Later I found out it was powered by a junkyard 396 and was used mostly to do illegal things, but I still lust after that car, even today. I really got into it doing work on my own cars, though. What really did it was hearing my first car ('79 ford econoline w/a straight six) fire up after I put a glasspack on it. It fell apart like 3 days later, but it was great while it lasted.  

For me, I guess it started at a very young age. My dad kept his 1980 Z28 in the garage of the house we moved into shortly after I was born in '86. So, for about 14 years, I got to look at it everyday, as it just sat there in its low mileage, showroom state. Eventually we needed the space in the garage for another vehicle for my mom, so we moved the Camaro to my grandparents house. Its over 20 years now since that car has been on the road, and now, I am convinced it is THE lowest mileage 2nd gen Camaro on earth... and I won't say how many miles either, but damned low miles...

Now, at 20 years old, I have a 1989 Caprice, which will be recieving the 350 small block a friend of mine from the car club I belong to helped me build, along w/a TH350 and a 8.5" 10 bolt w/3.73's. I have to say thanks to everyone at South Side Street cars, whom, without, this wouldn't have been a reality....

Now, to get that Camaro back on the road.....  

It all started for me when I was a wee lad back in the 80s. My dad had a 75 Chrysler Cordoba with a 360 and a 4bbl that he used to tinker around with and I would help him. That car really sparked my interest. He sold that car and from then on only owned boring cars. When I turned 15 I found a rusty yellow 1970 Buick with a 455 and a 4 spd down the street from my house for sale. It was beat but it still ran (kinda) and drove. I pulled it into the driveway and i thought my parents were going to have kittens. I pulled the engine with the help of some friends and we managed to rebuild it as best we could with our limited budget. Even though the car had a bazillion miles on it and looked like it had been sittining in the ocean since 1972 it would still fry the tires and was fun to cruise around in. I sold that car and bought a 2001 GT Mustang 5 speed brand new right off the showroom floor. That car was pretty fun but I wanted something older. I have since turned into an all Mopar guy. I have owned:1972 dodge dart, 1963 Plymouth Belvedere, 1977 Dodge D200, 1961 Dodge Phoenix, three 1957 DeSoto Firesweeps, a 1960 AMC Rambler Super Cross Country Station Wagon, and a 99 Dodge 3500 dually.  

well first it started with the fisher price toys, ya know the gateway drug. then i moved on to the tonkas just on the weekends nothing serious. then came the occasional hot wheels, but there were so many i just had to have more and more next thing you know i had draws full of them. FULL of em. i couldn't go anywhere with out one... or twelve. but that wasn't even the start.
next thing you know i got into R/c cars, just the electric i didn't wanna touch the nirtos... at first. soon i was spending $60 bucks a week on uncut 20% nitro. and then it hit, and hit hard. i needed louder, faster, bigger, better, MORE.
my old time friend introduced me to the all america cast iron V8.  i havent looked back since. now the $60 habit is upward of $120, not including parts, tune-up, tools speeding tickets.  i was blowing $200 a week on tires JUST to smok'em for 2 Minutes. i got in a fight with a cop cuz he said i was only going 124mph when i was clearly doing 136mph. but that was when i relized....

i need a bigger motor>