Birth of a Gearhead

[barron64]

Anybody have a moment in their past/youth that set them on the path to forever being a gearhead? Mine was kind of an odd one...I was probably 12yrs old back in the 70's and my dad had hired a guy to tune up the family RV, a Winnebago Brave, before we went on a summer vacation trip. The mechanic had removed the engine cover and done some tune up work to the engine and asked if I would like to ride along for a test run, with the engine cover still off and the air filter lid still off as well! I had never seen the engine under the cover much less rode along with engine fully exposed. It was amazing to see the engine running right there next to you...The sound, the moving parts...Then the mechanic stuck his foot into it...At that moment my path of a gear head was born! I was introduced to a Dodge 440 with a big 4 barrel carburetor just a couple of feet away from me! That 4 barrel induction moan was awesome! Sure it wasn't fast but it sounded incredible! I spent a lot of time on future vacations trying to get my dad to stick his foot in it and get that 4 barrel induction sound but it was the 70's and gas was expensive and he spent most of the time trying to squeeze every last mpg out of that thing.
When I turned 16 my first car was a 68 T-Bird with a 429 and a 4 barrel carburetor...I found my fix! Worked my ass off to keep gas in that thing but man it was fun!

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[Shifting_Gears]

Yep. Definitely.

Between my dad telling me stories about his dad’s body shop and learning to fix cars, to my brother being a diehard gearhead and always having a cool call when I was a kid, I was cursed.

I latched onto Mustangs at age 7 and haven’t looked back, lol. My brother had Camaro’s or T/A’s growing up so of course I had to pick the rival car.

My parents would take me to a desolate area and let me lap drive from about age 7-8 and I probably got the wheel by myself around 9-10 (with them in the car). Learned to drive a manual around 14 (the basics anyway) prior to getting my permit at 15, my license at 15.5 (thank you South Carolina). Started off with a 4x4 and got into a Mustang at HS graduation but had literally been looking for one since I got my license.

I’ve wasted a lot of $ on cars and parts but the memories are priceless. Fully plan to pass it on one day.