S.Sutherland

I'm a 30 year old teacher and have a two year old daughter. I am married. As a child my father was alwas working on something, although not necessarily rods or customs. He built a number of toys in the garage for us at various times of the year, the most known being a pedal powered roadster built with plans from popular mechanics. My sister had a pedal car built by him for her as well. In any event dad eventually accquired and restored a 70 Torino GT and 68 Cougar, which led to the acquisition of another 68 Cougar. This was mine and got me intersted in the "old car scene." We went on Hot Rod magazine's Power Tour in it twice, drove it every where as my daily transportation for five years and eventually sold it. Somewhere along the line I bought a 57 Chevy pickup and began building with a 'traditional' flair. I hopped up the six, had my dad's buddy stitch up a tuck-n-roll bench seat for it and have been driving it like that ever since. Hop-up, Rod-n-Custom and a slew of other traditional publications influence my approach to building cars and aiding friends in customization of them. I would have to say the work of the Kenedy Brothers, the Choppers, and of course...Jimmy Shine are all builders I respect and admire.