At What Moment In Your Life Did You Realize You're A Car Guy / Gal?

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I was probably in 3rd or 4th grade. My brother and myself took a pair of roller skates apart. We attached one half of each skate to the ends of a three foot wide 2x4. We attached the 2x4 to a piece of plywood on the back with nails and a single bolt on the front 2x4. This made it like a front axel that we could steer. We hauled it about 5 or 6 blocks from the house way up a long hilly street. At the top of Bluehill rd my brother chickened out. I got on the crate and he gave me a push. Down hill for about 4 blocks flying low I came to Janet Rd a hard right turn. With my feet on the front 2x4 and holding the rope I gave it all I could and slid around the turn. I went thru 3 intersections on Bluehill with no worries. When I made the turn onto Janet a beautiful Jag 120 or. 140 was coming down the road. He saw me coming and abruptly stopped, I flew down the road. The driver was so mad he chased me down the hill for another 2 or 3 blocks honking his horn all the way. I finally ran out of hill and came to a stop. The driver got out of the car ranting at me just as “mom” came out our front door to check on us. She asked him what was going on and he told her “this crazy kid just came down this road doing 30 miles an hour on this contraption and I damn near hit him”. 

Mom was not happy and made me apologize for scaring the man. Then I asked him if I could get a ride in his little car because it looked really fast. He said no I had gone fast enough that day. Mom took the roller skates away but when dad got home he gave them back to me and said “don’t tell mom or go down Bluehill Rd again”. I just kept finding ways to go faster. 

I’m sure that Jag was the start of my love affair with sports cars and speed. 

Dave S 

[zipdang]

Easy - taking the $1.00 my grandpa always gave each of us kids when we visited and then walking to Jane and Sandy's toy store and buying a Matchbox car. Always like the Models of Yesteryear the best!

 

[Robert G. Smits]

Growing up on a Iowa farm I started driving tractors about age 9.  At age 12 I was grounded for practicing drifting with our 47 Ford PU.  That same summer I changed the engine in the Alice Chalmers WD.  Moving to cars came naturally.  I enhanced my 53 OLDS by installing a used  57 J-2 engine mated to a 37 LaSalle 3 speed transmission.  Unfortunately I didn't change the rear end ratio so it was a little slow off the line but you didn't have to make the 2-3 shift  until around 90mph. In College and Medical SchooI I had neither the time or money to persue the hobby.  Shortly after moving to Des Moines I became friends Al Edmond and Howard Scotland.  It has been downhill ever since.  As I reflect back it is the friends not the cars that are important.  Bob Smits