Car Story

My Dad says I loved cars before I even knew what they were. When I was 3 or 4 I climbed out of bed and went out to our detached garage. Dad found me fast asleep with my blanket in the cubby area behind the seats of his 1977 Corvette. Dad is a car guy, so we had a lot of cool cars as I grew up. My first memories are of my Mothers 1971 Mustang Mach 1, my Dads K-series Blazers, and our Corvette. My Dads best friend had a Porsche 911 that he kept in our garage, and we had a 1970 or so MGB at one point. We had a lot of "3rd cars" as I grew up because Dad was in sales and was given company cars to drive on his routes throughout Western Pennsylvania, Ohio, Indiana and Michigan. We actually "owned" 2 cars, and the third would be a company vehicle. Dad sure took care of those though, I remember he used to pull the wire wheel covers off the company cars, and take all the spokes out in order to run them through our dishwasher, then he would polish all the spokes as he put the hub caps back together. He is the real deal when it comes to detailing, and our NSX is just further proof of how far he will go. Dad has always worked in sales of industrial lubricants, hydraulic fluids, and coolants for the Tool and Die industry for as long as I can remember. It was pretty cool to go along with him on his trips. I got to tour all kinds of cool factories all over the midwest. When we would go out on the road I would bide my time on the highway by identifying cars, and badging. I am observant by nature so I quickly began to note the subtle differences in tail light configurations, paint schemes, wheels, and exhaust. Somewhere in my mind I began cataloging all that data. I can't look at a car today without analyzing it to determine what year and model I am looking at.
I mowed lawns from the time I was 13, and my Dad used to have my customers pay by check. He would take my checks and deposit them, and then give me part of the money to spend, along with my tips. I also got a decent allowance for household chores- which included washing the family cars once a week- even in the dead of a Cleveland winter. At that time my Stepmother had a gorgeous deep blue 1988 BMW 325i coupe. The car had a 5-speed, so Dad taught me 2 gears. Reverse to back out of the garage, and 1st to pull back in. In Winter I would back a car out of the garage and then maneuver the other into the middle and wash / wax the car in the heated garage. At that time we had a 2 and a half car garage, the Bimmer, a Suzuki 750 motorcycle from the early 70's, and a Lincoln Mark VII with a Paxton S/C (I used to call it the executive fighter jet- that car had a button for everything) I honed my skills detailing those cars.
My Stepmother was an exec with Blue Coral Inc. (car wax) and the company owner Mr. Adelman had a decent collection of cars. On many occasions My stepmother would bring home Mr. Adelman's cars and Dad and I would go to work on them. I recall a Mercedes 600 AMG- a huge white monster with AMG Hammer wheels, he had an assortment of Mercedes 500 convertibles over the years, a Porsche 928, and a Ferrari Mondial Convertible. I worked on all of these, and they were generally pretty rough- Mr. Adelman's wife was a 2-footed driver, so brake dust in the wheels was pretty thick, but my smaller fingers could get inside the small slots in the wheels to clean them.
In Jr. High I developed a fascination with Corvettes. I was captivated by the subtle differences in the mid-year models. The ways you could tell a 64 from a 65, or a 66, (63's and 67's were always obvious) The powertrain options, FI, Dual Quads, and Tri-Power- The Bill Mitchell history, and Zora Arkus-Duntov. In interesting bit of trivia- as much as I love, and respect the Corvette- I have never driven one. I had the opportunity to drive a C6 once at a GM Drive event in Houston- I drove the Cadillac CTS-V instead. A month later I was driving home from work and I came upon a C6 in traffic. It dawned on me that I had NEVER driven a Corvette, and that I was an idiot for passing on that opportunity. I called Dad immediatly and we had a laugh, and agreed I should definitly drive one, and I should make it a point to do so. I still haven't done it- but I am always looking for an opportunity.
When I turned 16 my Dad produced the deposit book for my bank account and I had just shy of $5k to use to buy a car. We had a deal that Dad would either match me dollar for dollar for a car, and I would pay all of my own insurance, or I could buy a car and he would pay half my insurance. I immeadiatly set my heart on a 1968 Camaro hotrod for sale up the street. The car was just beyond my reach financially, so I would need to invoke the dollar matching agreement- so we priced insurance. 16yr old + 1968 Camaro SS (the car had a non original 396 and Muncie 4-speed in it). The insurance man squashed my dreams. Dad and I came to terms on a 1988 Honda Accord LXi cpe, and my recently divorced Dad came to terms with the cars female owner. They actaully got married about 5 months later, and are still married today. Cathy is a big Honda fan, and it quickly rubbed off on Dad- He hasn't bought anything but Hondas in the 16 years they have been married, and the garage currently houses an 05 MDX, and 06 RL and our 94 NSX (our second NSX- the first was a 91).We then moved from Cleveland to Chicago, and our relationship was strained to the point where I left my car and moved to Pennsylvania to live with my Mom. I promptly aquired a 1979 Pontiac Firebird (affectionatly referred to as "The Chicken") I got my V8, and liability insurance. i had a few misadventures in that car, and eventually blew the Pontiac 301. I replaced it with a Chevy 350 (BLASPHEME!) out of an old police cruiser. My Mom's boyfriend at the time owned a cab company, and he bought up old cop cars to convert into cabs. I worked in the maintainence garage with his mechanic repainting the black and white cruisers yellow, and doing brake jobs, tune-ups, and gas tank replacements. He gave me the engine for free, and we did the swap in the garage. I think the engine had 200k on it when I got it, but it got the job done. On a school snowday 3 of my friends and i were out in the chicken drifting (literally) and the 350 sucked a valve. I was able to hobble the car home, but it was never "right" again. I sold it for what I paid for it and moved on. I bought an 5-speed Ford Tempo Cpe we called "The Bud Mobile"- and I drove that until graduation. I sold the Tempo, and Dad helped me buy another 88 Honda Accord LXi Cpe to take to college.
I elected to take a semester off first, and then sold the car when I went away to school in January- I was going to college and wanted to focus on the important things rather than work to pay auto insurance. So I went to school, and promptly partied my way right out.After a year and a half, the university kindly asked me to move on, so i went home to Pittsburgh and got a job as security supervisor in my Mom's office building. I bought her 1991 Ford Escort LX- which I named "Milk"- I had already flogged that poor car relentlessly while in highschool, and that little Mazda motor kept on winding away. I took Milk back to school with me, where I promptly flunked out again, but I DID meet my future wife.
This time I got all responsible, and got a job selling Volkwagens. I came into VW at the "right time" the New Beetle was in it's second year, and the New Jettas were selling as fast as we could get them. I was making really good money, and my new wife was a Registered Nurse, so she was doing well too. I promptly leased a brand new 99 Honda Accord sedan.
Things were going well, but the owner of my dealership decided to sell the VW franchise to another dealer. I ended up getting shuffled over to his new Hyundai franchise, the victim of a non-compete agreement that prevented me from leaving to go with VW.I left and went to Honda. At Honda I was the young gun in the showroom the "Wiz Kid". People like dealing with me, and i did a decent volume. I mainly sold Accords, Civics, and Odyssey's, but that picture on the wall of my (now EX) Wife and the 1991 NSX always got peoples attention that i was interested in the less mundane autos. To fill my need I focused on the Civic Si, the Prelude SH, and the beautiful Honda Accord Coupe from 1998-2002. You can imagine- when the S2000 came out it was love at first site. I poured over the technical specs, absorbing every detail about the suspension, the high X-bone chassis, and the 240hp 2.0 4 cylinder with a 9000 RPM redline. When the first one arrived at our dealership, I drove it from the truck back to storage. I helped our lead car-prep unwrap it, and I took it to PDI. I subsequently sold 4 of our 5 car allocation for sticker price (no gauging).
I wanted to go back to school, the owner of the dealership wanted me to stay. He made me a finance manager for the autogroup, and my income nearly doubled.
I still wanted to go back to school, so I paid my bills off, and I went. I also got rid of my wifes aweful Dodge Neon, and bought my Integra GSR.
The decision to leave a blossoming career has haunted me a few times, and it ultimately cost me my marriage, but I did go back and this time I graduated with a 3.0 GPA. a year or so after graduation I sold the integra and bought a used Lexus. After a year and a half with the Lexus I was rear ended by a jack ass in a Lincoln Aviator. I was stopped in traffic and he rear-ended me going 65 mph. all those safety design elements I had pitched so often to my car sales customers- crumplezones, and safety glass did their work, and I stepped from my ruined ES300 nearly unscathed.
Irony? I was on my way to take the Texas Insurance Licensing exam at the time of the collision.
Dad found me my 99 Accord Coupe near his home in Houston. The insurance settlement from the Lexus paid for the Accord, and then some. 6 months later i got the job offer that put me where I am today. Making the same money I was making in the car biz.
Now I am looking for a BMW E36 M3, or an S2000 to make my own...

To be continued..