I say gear head becuase thats what guys I work with say I am. My opinion is that the guy calling me that couldnt wrench his way out of a paper bag.
Anyhow, back to the topic. Who or what sparked that part of your brain that made you want to work on stuff yourself and make things work faster / better? Made you want to have a faster car than the other guy and do the work yourself becuase you didnt trust anyone else?
For me, it started with my dad. When I was a kid he always talked about the cool cars he had and how fast they were. He glorified it in story telling. Chevelles, 396 El Camino, 55 - 57 Chev's with 327's, couple of Ford Galaxie verts, 340 Challenger with pistol grip shifter(I do remember that one, ugly green color) and many more.
My dad never paid a mechanic to work on the cars, he always did it himself. He would try and recruit me our one of my brothers to help do the grunt work so we picked up wrenching at an early age.
The hook was my first day in HS. As I was riding my Redline into the parking lot I heard a couple of cars match revs then go at it on the street in front of the school.There were hundreds of people watching this take place.
One was a primered 72 Camaro with a BBC, Hurst shifter mounted to a Muncie 4sp and 12 bolt with a chrome diff cover. This car was owned by the biggest stoners in school, dont remember his name.
The other car was a late 60's lime green GTX with a 426 hemi and 4 speed. It was owned by Frank Bogan, his dad owned American River Auto Wreckers. Frank was a yuppie, class King and screwed half the senior girls that year. But he was really into fast cars.
How about you? What got you into cars?
Anyhow, back to the topic. Who or what sparked that part of your brain that made you want to work on stuff yourself and make things work faster / better? Made you want to have a faster car than the other guy and do the work yourself becuase you didnt trust anyone else?
For me, it started with my dad. When I was a kid he always talked about the cool cars he had and how fast they were. He glorified it in story telling. Chevelles, 396 El Camino, 55 - 57 Chev's with 327's, couple of Ford Galaxie verts, 340 Challenger with pistol grip shifter(I do remember that one, ugly green color) and many more.
My dad never paid a mechanic to work on the cars, he always did it himself. He would try and recruit me our one of my brothers to help do the grunt work so we picked up wrenching at an early age.
The hook was my first day in HS. As I was riding my Redline into the parking lot I heard a couple of cars match revs then go at it on the street in front of the school.There were hundreds of people watching this take place.
One was a primered 72 Camaro with a BBC, Hurst shifter mounted to a Muncie 4sp and 12 bolt with a chrome diff cover. This car was owned by the biggest stoners in school, dont remember his name.
The other car was a late 60's lime green GTX with a 426 hemi and 4 speed. It was owned by Frank Bogan, his dad owned American River Auto Wreckers. Frank was a yuppie, class King and screwed half the senior girls that year. But he was really into fast cars.
How about you? What got you into cars?
) I bought every eBay product known to man. I was a complete ricer. Eventually I slowly grew out of it due to the influence of my friends with nicer cars. They basically set me straight. To keep up with their knowledge, I had to teach myself how a car worked just so I could participate in their conversations hahaha. Fast forward a bit and here I am now! I do all my own work but I've still yet to take apart an engine. I'm waiting for one of my cars to blow up so I can learn that on my own as well. I just hope it isn't the Viper! (knock on wood) 
