Re visting your influences of youth.

I usually don't post much here, but I thought i would share a little story.

For some background I went through High School in Michigan and moved shortly after graduation. I have always been into "cars" since I was a little kid and when I lived in MI there was a gentleman down the road that had a shop and built Hot Rods. Through Friends I finally met him and his Kids and started hanging out over there and it really had a long term effect on what I liked.

When I was just one of the "kids" who hung around and watched and helped if I could he had the following vehicles. He had a yellow 41 ford pickup that was completed and he drove and was building a 57 Chevy during the time I was around. I always wanted to sit in the pickup and would just watch him build the 57.

After I moved I came back about 4 years after and he was in the midst of building a 28 Sedan and the 57 was done and absolutely awesome.

Flash forward now 20 years and I just visited him over the weekend. He is in the midst of rebuilding the 57 and had redone the 41 a few years back and had built himself a hauler out of a 38 ford COE. I had seen the COE when I had returned at the 10 year mark and it was just the beginnings. Now I got to see it completed.

We talked for a while about various "Hot Rod" stuff and I started remembering how his shop used to be and what car was where and in what stage of completion when I had visited. I wa sjust amazed and I swear I could almost smell the air that I smelled when I was there the first time.

As we were talking I started to realize how much this one individual had influenced me in my teen years. He had never heard of the HAMB or Jalopy Journal so I showed him my HAMB shirt I was wearing and told him about the site. I also gave him my copy of the January 07 Street Rod Builder Magazine because there was a picture of his Hauler with his 41 visible behind it at a show he a had attended.

So Paul, if you get to the HAMB and read this. Thank You.

Sorry for the long winded rambling post. I'm sitting in the airport waiting for my flight and just had to say Thanks.

 

Nice tribute. Everyone of us has someone who influenced our path. You're lucky you got to tell him so.

Tucker

 

In my case it would be returning to the scene of the crime. I did really stupid stuff in 1972 when I graduated High School.