I knew from a young age that I was passionate about cars.  Specifically performance cars.  Matchbox cars were just arriving on the scene when I was about 5 years old.  I collected as many as my parents would buy for me.  In 1963 when I was 5 years old I discovered the existence of the Corvette Stingray.  I could not get enough of seeing them and trying to get close to one to inspect it.  In late 1966 when the new model ’67 Mustang came out, I got in trouble at school for going out into the parking lot during lunch time to look over a teacher’s new Mustang.  Whatever the punishment was, it was well worth it! Over the years I collected as many Matchbox Cars and Hot Wheels I could.  When I was 15 years old the Meyers Manx kits came out for the VW Bug to convert them to Dune Buggies.  I really wanted one!  I bought a ’65 Bug and built a dune buggy but not with the Manx Kit, it was out of my price range. 

Over the years I sold and traded “up” trying to reach a real high performance car which for me was Corvette.  When I sold the Buggy, I bought a ’66 Chevelle SS.  The Chevelle sounds a lot nicer than it really was.  It was a worn out car that barely ran, but it was an authentic SS.  I sold the Chevelle and bought a ’68 Camaro.  The Camaro ended up being my ‘mule’ for trying different performance setups.  I had a lot of fun with that car and wish I still had it.  I sold it for $800. 

During the years I had the Camaro my brothers had an assortment of cool cars I could drive from time to time.  My older brother had a ’66 Chevelle SS that was pretty wild.  It was the fastest car I drove to that point in my life.  He also had a ’69 Chevelle SS that remained stock but could “Blow the doors off any Ford out there” He later got a ’69 Camaro which was fun to drive.  My younger brother dropped a 350 small block in a ’73 Vega and later had a ’85 V8 Monza.

After the Camaro I got a ’77 Monte Carlo which ended up being my college car. I did not do any modification to the Monte but drove the wheels off of it.  My heart was still set on getting a Corvette one day. I finally got my Corvette when I bought a ’78 Vette in 1985 when I still had the Monte Carlo.    After the Monte Carlo I got a ’79 Grand Prix. The Grand Prix was what I call a sleeper in that it had the big block Pontiac motor.  It looked like a family car but ran like a performance car.  I got married while I had the Grand Prix so it was time to get something more economical.  I traded the Grand Prix in for a 1988 GMC S15 Pickup Truck.  The S15 had a 4 cylinder with a 5 speed manual with over drive.  I drove that truck as my daily driver for almost 300,000 miles when I gave it to my Nephew.  During this time I kept the Corvette.  My family was growing so all my aspirations of hot rodding was put on the back burner. I was fortunate to have Jennifer as my wife since she is also a car person too.  She said she would never tell me to sell the Corvette and supported my long range plans to build it into a street hot rod.  The Corvette sat in the backyard under tarps for many years until we could afford to add onto the garage.

Once the garage was built I slowly took the Vette apart and bought parts for it as I could afford it.  The plan for the Vette is to build it with a Big Block Street Bruiser.  The ’78 Vette on its own is pretty anemic so it has to be modified.  In the meantime I picked up some more projects, a 1953 Chevy Wagon, a 1973 VW Super Beetle and two vintage Honda CT-70 Trail Bikes.

As the kids grew up, they needed cars of their own and education.  Money that was planned for the Corvette build was re-allocated mostly to their education.  I started the Corvette build in 2002 and I consider it about half way complete.  I finally get to where I make good progress until hurricanes or other financial needs come along.  The latest setback is the Flood from Hurricane Harvey.  I was ready to drop the Corvette body back on the frame until the flood delayed those plans.

Even through all the delays and set-backs, I look forward to continuing the Corvette build and other projects.

Every once in a while someone will stop to ask about the ’53 Chevy or Bug and I tell them that they are not for sale, I will build them.  I know that is a common thing heard for cars that are just sitting, but in my case, the plans are real, just waiting to save up the money to complete them.