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Archive for the ‘ Pontiac ’ Category

Theme Tuesdays: Fellow BMX Riders

August 10, 2010 | 5 Comments | Bagged, Chevy, Dropped, Honda, Mazda, Message Board Finds, Pontiac, volkswagen

I like cars, this info is not new to any of you,  I also really like to ride BMX and if for whatever reason I had to pick between the two I would probably chose the latter.

However, I don’t see having to choose anytime soon so I have decided for this Theme Tuesday to combine my two interests and post cars owned by fellow riders.

Most of these have been found on bmx message board but a few have been found on car message board with bmx threads.

Last time I posted this car I had no idea it was a BMXers ride

Pontiac Fiero

This bikeguide member has one of the cleanest Fieros I have ever seen, these cars rarely show up on message boards anymore

Probably the cleanest Fiero I've seen

Thats lots of dish

Minitrucks

A lot of BMX riders are minitruckers as well, suicide doors was started by a BMXer who used to work at Dans competion.

Matt's a local and we used to shred the hell out of our local park together

Love this truck

Mini project by a fellow s10forum/bikeguide member

Honda’s

Honda’s are cheap and reliable exactly what we need to get from spot to spot.

This Civic is super clean and the photography is top notch

Same civic different kicks

One of the cleanest bodied and styled tegs I have seen in awhile

The same car on rpf1s (I'm jealous)

VW’s

VW’s are popular with everyone why not riders?

Rider from the UK with a Lupo

That sky looks evil

Straight to the point

Great looking murdered golf

Durks car is legit

Drifters

The BMX mentality lends itself quite well to drifting…

Dorrriii

Logans Legacy is well known for good reason it's very unique

Puuuurrrrppple

Flush

Gettin loose

Real loose

If you ride and read this blog and I didn’t post your car this time around don’t worry. I already have half of a part 2 started.

Feel free to email me at stanceiseverything@gmail.com you want to make sure I include you in the next one

Event Coverage: Street Classics July 31st

August 2, 2010 | 3 Comments | Blog Finds, Chevy, Event Coverage, Featured, Ford, Mini, Pontiac

After last weeks Theme Tuesday on muscle cars I was in the mood to check some out in person once again so I made my way out to the local Street Classics cruise in on Saturday Night.

Unfortunately soon after I arrived it started to rail lightly which put a quick end to things, but, I was able to fire off some shots and get something for WTF Friday.

I also meet a real down to earth s-10 owner in the process, good times.

Ford GT

Clarkson’s GT turned out to be lemon and he had to return it right? This one seems to be doing better.

Drew quite the crowd being fairly uncommon

Nice interior, more so for a Ford

I seem to recall this motor being from one of Fords trucks originally

Oddballs

Unique cars that caught my attention for one reason or another.

Jr. Draggster, anyone else with their parents got them into this?

Ollie this is for you buddy

To anyone who has driven one are they as fun as they look?

Corvair's are such odd little cars, being rear engine and American made but not all that fast

Sparse engine bay nothing unessecary except maybe the spare

Can't recall the last time I saw a Ventura at a show

This one was very, very clean

Lead Kings

No matter how dangerous and unhealthy it is working with lead is still and art form as much as these Lead Sleds are.

Wonder if there is a lead kings meet?

Matte colors always suit these cars so well

I'd love to drive this around low and slow all summer long

Beauty job on the interior

This Fairlane has seen some miles but still looks great

Shout out to all the people keeping pin striping alive

Muscle and Classics

Got to see what I set out to see.

I've got killer soft sport for all fox bodys, still

This truck had immaculate paint and airbrushing all over it

Shaved clean body

I like the use of green on these colors, makes the details pop

Caddy tails, side pipes, color accented rims

Thunder birds sure were unique

Clever plate!

Beautiful example of classic SS

Nice Bel Air Wag promoting Dukes appraisals

Hard to see in this picture but this Nova was packing serious drag radials

Clean 66 Nova

Two years in Lompoc. I'll die before I go back.

Beautiful Yenko Nova

If you still don't think classics have stance this picture should help...

Day & Nite

I’m ending today’s coverage with this s10. The owner, James, and myself talked for quite awhile in the light rain about trucks (remember I had an s10 Blazer), shows, clubs and just automobiles in general and it’s always nice to come across someone who just loves cars and shows as much as yourself and doesn’t hold any of the ego that is often associated with the various scenes.

James has put a lot of work in this truck, which is the first vehicle he ever owned, and talking with him I could tell that he did it for himself first, real enthusiasts second, and show recognition a distant third.

I look forward to seeing James and his truck at other events around the GTA.

A Canadian truck now made up of southern and clean oem panels

Jame's 2 link setup at full lift, the compressors were nicely hidden under the bed

Lots of work done under hood cleaning things up. Tons of custom bolts, pullies, and shaved pieces

Closer look at the air brushing under the hood

Air brushing continue onto the filler door

Close up of the custom engraved, polished, battery cover

Dark lit city scape in the sub box behind the seats, this blew me away never seen anything like it before

Hopefully I can make it out to one or two more of these before summers all said and done.

Event Coverage: Scrape By The Lake Part 3

July 22, 2010 | 3 Comments | BMW, Cadillac, Chevy, Dropped, Event Coverage, Ford, Honda, Makes, Mazda, Mopar, Nissan, Pontiac, volkswagen

The third and final part of the automotive coverage from Scrape By The Lake are the type of cars you would expect at your average car show.

Actually if you think about it this section was the size or a normal car show making Scrape kind of like three car shows in one…

Anyway, quite a few unique rides here as well.

Random stuff

Stickers, bikes, whatever

I think anyone with a bags are for groceries sticker at Scrape got hurt

Amazing, and true

The car the sticker above was on

This made me chuckle

This US Army truck was pretty cool I must say

Salute to any who has enlisted in any sort of military, get back safe

Bagged Saturn Ion? That's a new one to me

Hardcore show cars

Going all out for trophies

So... on to the next one?

I see this car all the time at shows, but only just noticed the tv

I think this started as a Honda, at one point, maybe?

This car is always changing but I think the blower is new

Smart move with the tent this year as the weather was iffy at points

Chevy/BMW

Odd pairing but I have one shot of each brand…

Nice looking Cobalt SS. These > Cavaliers

One of the handful of BMWs that were at scrape

Division R

Sam and a few other guys from Division R made the trek to Scrape

Sam has done a few things since his feature the new hood I noticed right away

and this sticker was also new to me

Division R's Jetta on Keskins

Ford

Boosted Probe

Erock from Nine O Five rides brought his fitted Probe out

I can't recall the last SVT Contour I've seen, and this is no doubt the lowest

Mazda’s

Exclusive Tire's Mazda 3

Rare to see an MX-6 done so well

RX-8 on Gramlights

Fun looking boosted Miata

Honda/Acura

Dudes from New York love this paint effect, they are the only guys I ever see with it

I took a picture of this car at T.A.S.R but this one is a little better

Nice, clean, mostly original RHD CRX

K swapped CRX

Repping for Street Outlawz

I had never seen this kit before, from what I am told it's 12pcs and very rare

Clean looking shaved bay

Under hood close up showing the charger and home made dampener

Classics and Muscle

1/4 mile demon

Patina done perfect

Beautiful

Dirty Lincoln

Nice Impala with a more modern approach

I will never get sick of this front end

Amazing Caddy

When I saw the Chevy on the valve cover I was ready to scream sacrilege

Then I took a closer look and I was ok with it, bet she moves

Event Coverage: T.A.S.R 2010

July 13, 2010 | 5 Comments | Bagged, Chevy, Dropped, Event Coverage, Featured, Ford, Honda, Lexus, Mazda, Pontiac, volkswagen

On Sunday July 11th I attended the charity Tuners Against Street Racing show and shine for the third year in a row. This year to switch things up a bit I entered with Team JH instead of Team Toronto Mazda 3 and we were able to take home best team award which was pretty cool.

Like previous years the event went off fairly well considering mother nature decided to cool us down in the middle of the day with a quick thunderstorm.

I got to catch up and shoot the breeze with a bunch of old/new friends which is pretty much all I ask for from an event.

Amusing things

Cheap laughs are sometimes the best type…

This was on a heavily modified Solstice

What if you do both?

I.C.E

This Audiobahn wall was in a Nitro from New York

The back end of the Nitro, DJ hero anyone?

OG Nintendo power pistol > Those

This was hard to shoot, but this MR2 hd a nice clean A/V setup hiding in there

Superlite Coupe

Never seen one of these before so I had to do some research online to learn a bit more about it. I like what I learned sounds like a fun kit to build and drive.

Looks like it belongs on a race track

One of 2 cars sitting on CCWs at the show

A little disappointed I never got to see it run

JRP Jetta

This Jetta may or may not have changed from last year but I noticed a few things this year that I had not before, mainly the sub placment

I really didn't mind the sponsor sticker placement

I liked what they did with the CF hood also

I wonder how imaging is with a set up like this

Minitrucks

I took it easy on the Mini Truck pictures at T.A.S.R since I will be at Scrape By The Lake this weekend and will be coming back with lots of mini truck photos

Body dropped first gen s10

This second gen s10 was also very clean

Nissans

Small showing of Nissan’s but quality none the less

The Sentra SE-R was on my car short list for awhile the 6 speed is enticing

This Skyline took home some hardware

One of the awards he took home was best motor

Subaru’s

Small but competitive Subaru class this year

This WRX owner was reppin Team JH as well

This car took home elite Subaru and won a photo shoot with Elle Marie Photography sponsored by myself

His engine bay was freshly redone and included polished components along with a tuck and shave

So nice.

905 Rides

The 905 rides crew came out pretty hard to T.A.S.R and took home a bunch of awards, and for good reason here are two rides they brought out that really caught my eye

This Infiniti had some pretty nice fitment along with a clean exterior

Here's a closer look at the tuck and the dish

This Probe blew me away, I've not seen one in years and never have I seen one this clean

The owner said he couldn't find anyone else rocking wheels this wide on a Probe

Mazda’s

Mazda 3′s pretty well dominated the Mazda portion of the show thanks to Team JH and Team Toronto Mazda 3 but there were a few others as well.

Nice lookin 2nd gen, they are so happy

I hadn't seen John in over a year so it was good to see him out

Custom647.ca brought out their flagship ride

Dave is a fellow Seche Media Customer

You might recognize this car from the Mazda 3 photoshoot not to long ago

After climbing up this ladder I found stickers I didn't even know Ryan had

Ami was rocking new wheels and stripes this year creating a very Subaru-eque color scheme

Thanu's sedan looking clean

Mark is a Mississauga car show regular

Mike brought out his RX-8 on Works VS-XX wheels

Honda’s and Acuras

Even though ImportExpo/I Love Honda was the same weekend a few guys skipped the 1.5 hour drive and hung out at T.A.S.R

Del Sol rockin one of my stickers :)

The Shinzo 6th gen

If I recall this Acura scored pretty decent in his category

I need two of the big bottles

One clean Accord

I think this car placed in best JDM themed ride category

The orgainzers s2k

People kept telling me to go check out this car and I was not disappointed once I did

Massive 285s out back and blacked out CCWs, I dig

Toyota/Lexus

Another small class that had a great cars

Full shot of the MR2 I mentioned in the I.C.E. section

The dudes from Nocturnal made it out again

Sic Ryde's Lexus again, next year he should be tucking rim, I'm not joking.

Aidan brought out his IS300 to a show for the first time

He ended up taking home best Import other

Aidan reppin hard, congrats on the win

Congrats to all of the winners and see you guys next year.

WTF Friday: Want a truck? Make your own.

June 11, 2010 | 1 Comments | Chevy, Dropped, Ford, Lexus, Mazda, Pontiac, WTF Fridays

I’m sure we have all seen something like this before, someone takes a car with rear end damage and instead of getting it repaired traditionally (or just scraping the thing) the make some sort of El Camino bastard child.

I can’t really imagine how you go about getting these things insured since they would probably crumple like a ball of paper in an accident, and I doubt 2 of the 3 posted today go down the street straight, but hey its DIY?

Pontiac Transport Truck

Growing up my friends dad had one of these, I always though they looked like a giant ass cheese wedge rolling down the street.

This bed still doesn’t really help that.

Looks like another creation is being constructed under the tarp as well

Escort Truck

North American Ford Escorts have always been throw away cars, so why this owner didn’t just throw this one away is beyond me.

Lol stacks, and what is that random pipe in the middle?

Wood sides, mis matched wheels oh ya

Trailer lights on hood? This car is firing on all red neck cylinders

Corvette C4 Pickup

This is a real damn shame. I would much rather have seen the motor from this Vette end up in something cool instead of becoming this.. thing.

Almost doesn't look bad here... almost

Finishing details fail, window looks like doo doo

Sigh.

Site Updates

Not too much as far as the site goes, I have to head over to my moms place tonight so I will see if the new stickers have arrived.

I’m also selling my old spring/shock setup tonight as well as taking some coil over measurements so that I can get some custom shorter springs from BC to get the stance I want.

Once everything is how I want it I will snap some new pics, but for now my ride height is exactly the same as before, but the handling is 1000x better.

Fingers crossed I get the height I want and the handling I want soon.

Flashback Friday: Next Mod Grand Opening

Next Mod‘s 1 year anniversary is coming up, and in celebration of their upcoming celebration here are some pictures from last years Grand opening event.

For pics of all of the cars at the event click above

Toronto Mazda 3 pics

Now to work for the weekend…

Event Coverage: Summer Sizzle 2

June 3, 2010 | 11 Comments | Audi, BMW, Bagged, Dropped, Event Coverage, Featured, Honda, Lexus, Mopar, Pontiac, Subaru, Toyota

Last Sunday I attended Summer Sizzle 2 put on by Pur Secretz at Vonn Cycle, and even though the calendar had yet to tick over to ‘Summer’ it was sizzling out.

The show had a pretty big turnout and a lot going on (especially for a free show) so I was there for quite awhile between walking around and shooting the breeze in the shade.

Ruff Ryders’

The Ruff Ryders anthem came out in 1998, which means that it’s 12 years old now. I had no idea people were still reppin’ the crew though.

Double R!

This dude was reppin

As was the owner of this wagon

Euro

Surprisingly small European turn out at Summer Sizzle few guys held it down though.

The second local e46 I have seen on Volks

Dope, clean Audi

Got a few more pictures of this A3 coming soon

This CF wrapped TT caused a stir when it rolled up

Porsche

One from the old school one from the new school

The front is popped for the ICE setup if you were wondering

I would love to have this in my garage

Mazdas’

A lot of the local Mazda community came out to this show, some to hang out and some to compete. Almost everyone competing had switched things up since the last time I had seen them.

Ryan changed the vinyl on his car from last week

I still want a speed.

Shout out to all the Mazda5 lovers

Mike was in the house with his RX-8 on works

Hyundai/Toyota/Nissan/Lexus/Infiniti/Subaru

Imports that were not Hondas…

The best looking Matrix I have seen in the GTA

This G35 had quite the set up going on, concourse level of clean

Under hood shot of the same car

Genesis are on the come up

More of this car coming as well

Sic Ryde had his Lex out

After winning lowest static the day before

MR-2 on Advans, I heard he won his class

Krystn put some work into her STI

Domestic

This thing was massive, note the stacks

Bagged J body

Full trunk setup

With some boost

Another show style J body

With a super charger, wonder which of these to J's is faster?

Custom painted 300c

The first G8 I've seen modified

Looks pretty damn good I must say

Acura/Honda

Some of the Honda lineup

Swing up doors...

Tidy lookin Acura

This might have been a Viper color, looks really close if not

More Advans, this time on a turbo RSX, dig the color matching

Cool to see one of these at a show, they are scarce in these parts with quarters intact

I wouldn't mind seeing more people play with this color

This purple Civic looked pretty good on e30 basket weaves

NSX with lots of Carbon fiber

Front could come down some

Shame it's auto

This civc was all function and gets nothing but love

Model

There was a Bikini car was at the show but it was out in the direct sun, shooting pictures of this model from the shade was much easier later in the day.

Leaning into Gary's widebody e46

Ruff Ryders wag getting some model love

If you are reading this that Pontiac is supercharged and bagged

That’s it for Summer Sizzle, many more events to come this summer, I might end up with Event Coverage every week…

Event Coverage: Performance World Part 1 – Muscle & Rods

March 16, 2010 | 4 Comments | Bagged, Chevy, Dropped, Event Coverage, Featured, Ford, Pontiac

This weekend I got a chance to check out the Performance World show here in Toronto, according to advertising this is the largest car show in Canada.

While I am not sure if that is true I will say that I was fairly impressed at the diversity of the cars  in attendance. I took a lot of photos and as usual I am going to pay respect to the OG’s and have the muscle cars and hot rods go first.

Random Stuff

Even in the classic/rod/muscle section of the show there were a few interesting side attractions worth stopping to take a picture of.

Got a lot of spare parts kicking around? Build a cool booth display model

Car show models are nothing but objects...

These paintings were rad, wish I had this level of skill at anything

Being able to pinstripe would not be bad either

New Age Muscle

These new era of the muscle car has arrived and is thriving, thankfully it looks nothing like the Plymouth Prowler or PT Cruiser

One off Pontiac Trans Slam epic

Note to manufacturers, this is how plastic covers are done, showcase the motor not hide it

I was able to get a better snap of that Camaro from the Toronto International Auto show

Looks like wide body kits are readily available for the new Camaro

The satin finish on this Camaro was unbelievable

The exhaust was a nice touch, and the dish, dish is great everywhere

Rare breeds

Cars that are rare around these parts and a few I have never come across before.

This Mercury was the first car we saw upon entering, great start to the show

Seeing as how our beaches suck these are rare around here

Dubbed Cotton Candy, this Fargo(!?) is very sweet

This started as a delivery truck and then was significantly shortened to create this custom

It takes a special kind of crazy to turn a big truck into a rat rod

This shop has a way with trucks, nice door stencil too

Not sure what this sled started as but it ended beautiful

Flawless body work throughout

I have never seen a half assed Willys rod in my life

Check out the dish on those rear wheels, may not be flush but it's fitment at it's finest

Look at how clean the trunk interior is, then look at the tires that had to fit in there and look again

Chrysler’s

For whatever reason my dad utterly despises Chrysler’s despite never owning one, pretty sure he wouldn’t turn down any of these though.

Some of the coolest airbrushing I have ever seen was on this car

The whole package is not bad either

While not classics yet Vipers were one of the original new era muscle cars

This car was pretty show prepped

Nice touch here

Notice any similarity between this stripe and the brusing above?

If you do not like the car the motor came in put it in something you do

Chevy’s

If I had to chose Chevy or Ford, I would be a Chevy man. Thankfully I don’t have to choose.

A lot of people are mad these killed the s10 but I think they look great

And with a vette motor what's not to love

You know those cars you like but no one else does? 1980 z28s are that car for me

Gasser style Chevy II

Can you believe that this Chevy II runs 8 seconds in the 1/4 mile while looking this nice?

The Patina on this Impala works really well

This car had a nice drive in theme in it's display

Fast Fords

Well loved blue ovals

According to the card this is the only power hard top 67 in existence, might as well make it stand out I suppose

The owner of this car gave me a pretty cool post card

480hp, it says so right there

This truck was getting pin stripped on the spot

I'll always be a sucker for a high boy

Awesome plate frame

This rod has reached the level of automotive art

As there is no way you can drive with a brake setup like this

This Troy Trepanier built olive drab highboy was a real treat on the eyes, subtle and clean

As was this 32 pick up he also brought out

Both of the built by Troy Fords that were on display together

For part two of S.I.E’s coverage of Performance World 2010 click through to Part Two – Imports

WTF Friday: Double Trouble?

February 5, 2010 | 5 Comments | Message Board Finds, Pontiac, WTF Fridays

While collecting pictures for next weeks Theme Tuesday I came across this funny picture of a girl sitting on top of a huge double blower setup on a pro street looking Pontiac GTO. With my interest peaked I decided to investigate further.

As it turns out this GTO has a 474 motor with an 8-8-1 blower on top of a 6-71 blower. The owners car domain page says that both blowers are fully functional and together they make a total of 32-35 psi of boost.

The entire setup is almost 1000lbs and the height of the engine is 57″ from the oiplpan to the top scoop. The owner also says that the car makes 1300hp without nitrous but there is some debate about that on a lot of forums.

Quick someone start it and rev and see if she can hold on

The saddest part about this all (to me) is that he says he has NOT run it down the quarter mile setup like this as the motor makes too much power for itself and would grenade.

It seems in a typical one blower situation it can run down the strip just fine but as it’s currently configured any times are strictly speculations.

The owner goes on to say that this car is neither a complete show car, or a race car, but a car built to please him. While I can’t argue with that, as everyone should build cars they way they want, I wish this wild ride could actually run down the strip like this because it sounds and looks pretty impressive (if not over the top).

Here are a few more shots of this GTO and right here is a link to its feature in High Performance Pontiac

Girls like to ride it I guess

Close up of the setup

Lol at the blower being as tall as her

Photos from the High Peformance Pontiac Feature

and a quick video of it running:

While this is all well and good someone needs to build a blower capable of being turned on and off ala Mad Max. Don’t tell me it’s impossible! (I already know this)

Flashback Friday

Keeping things somewhat related here is some event coverage from Street Classics Weekly car show. Lots of muscle here.

This car sounded beautiful

Site Updates

Things are about to get pretty crazy here at work over the weekend and early next week so I am going to spend what time I do have this weekend getting as many posts ready in advance so I don’t miss any days.

Luckily nothings broken so I don’t have to fix anything and since the ground hog saw it’s shadow I can keep slacking on the new sticker designs for a few more weeks…

Theme Tuesday: Vintage Lowrider Extravaganza

January 26, 2010 | 5 Comments | Blog Finds, Chevy, Dropped, Juiced, Message Board Finds, Pontiac, Theme Tuesdays

The concept of theme Tuesdays here on Stance Is Everything is simple, every Tuesday I pick a theme and post a collection of vehicles with that theme that meet the stance criteria (modified suspension that suit the vehicles intent). This weeks theme Tuesday topic is: Vintage Lowriders

This one might be a little weird for some of you and if so I apologize but I fell asleep Saturday night watching the Barrett Jackson Auction, woke up Saturday morning in time to watch Living The Low Life with Vida Guerra, and then yesterday after reading a Speed Hunters article on Eric Big Daddy Roth I stumbled across some vintage pictures of vintage low riders.

I figured all of this was some sort of divine intervention telling me to post some real classic stuff for this weeks theme so I searched for some vintage low rider scans on google and this is what I dug up.

Hopefully you guys enjoy!

Photo Scans

Imagine this was the family car growing up?

Hovercraft

Slammed Corvair, big afro

Lots of time and love into this paintjob

Classic lowrider style on a classic bug

Gotta love the vintage graffiti in this one

Strawberry Jam!

The hair and open shirt make this photo

How can you not want this in your driveway?

A Riviera I do believe

New pics of classic rides

I love these paint jobs...

Crushed velvet explosion!

Magazine Scans

Not a lowrider but not a car I was going to leave out

I love this gen Trans Am, normally in Smokey and the Bandit Trim but this works

Imagine when muscle cars and gas were plentiful?

Too sick

Low ridin, side pipin, suicide doored classic Mustang... crazy

I still dream about the same things today...

Seems like in those days models wore more clothes

Lol surprisingly no drug references in this article

Another bug, this time a magazine feature

If you have never been to a hop contest I suggest you try to get to one

Till the bolts fall out the license plate

Finish things off with a cool little article

Since these are all obviously classic material and non watermarked here are the threads/pages I got the pictures from:
Squaredump.com
Kid Duece on flickr
The H.A.M.B
Los Boulevardos
Layitlow.com

Big shout out to all the people who scanned these and I can only hope that our generation documents our past as well and that it’s so fun to look back on later

The birth of a stanceoholic gear head

October 12, 2009 | 1 Comments | Articles, Pontiac

It’s Thanksgiving holiday Monday here in Canada and unlike most people I didn’t spend it relaxing in a warm house eating a Turkey dinner and watching football, instead I spent it in my garage doing a little maintenance and troubleshooting on my car. This isn’t the first holiday Monday I have spent in the garage working on my car while people drive by to go spend time with their families and it sure won’t be the last. As I was working my mind started drifting to how exactly did this happen to me?

My story starts off pretty young; like most boys I always had an interest in car that comes with birth, I also had a lot of hot wheels remote control cars, and my dad got me my first model kit at a pretty young age. This lead to me spending a lot of summer weekends watching what has now become the Power Block on Spike TV (TNN back in the day) watching Hot Rod TV, and whatever the truck show was at the time and incorporating those ideas into my models.

Once I entered high school my car obsession basically doubled. Luck for me Streetsville Secondary had one of the best equipped auto shops in the Peel Region and probably the best auto teacher. Mr Dinner, or Dinner, as we called him was basically a god send to anyone who has a slight interest in working on and building cars.

Dinner quickly figured out that the best way to keep kids interested in the Transportation Technologies course was to let them do what they want and keep the standard boring tests and lectures to a bare minimum. In no time I was quickly lowering shop cars anyway possible, cutting springs, heating springs, or just straight up removing them (most of these cars never saw the road), I also put together a few random contraptions as well.

Another thing that really helped keep Auto students (and the entire school) interested in the course was the Fiero/Countach kit car. Most kids born in the 80s male or female have had a brush with a Countach either via poster, model car, die-cast car, or barbie power wheels.

The project was started a year before I was able to take autoshop

The project was started a year before I was able to take autoshop

Even if you don’t like the idea behind a Fiero parading around as a Lambo unless you have personally been involved in the build of one you can’t really imagine how much work actually goes into them. It’s not quite as simple as slapping a body on the frame painting it and calling it a day, frames needs to be extended, hinges relocated/modified/ and adapted and body panels need to be worked and reworked.  It’s nothing like a model.

I cam e in somewhere around here

I came in somewhere around here

Having an opportunity to work on a kit at such a young age was more than enough incentive to keep me in auto shop and once I got my own car I ended up taking auto more than I actually need credits for. Instead of skipping school to go burn j’s at the local spot I would skip law to go to auto.

This was before swing up door kits were availible everywhere

This was before swing up door kits were available everywhere

My high school shop experience was so good that once I had my e30 I went back to the shop a few times after I graduated to do a little more work to it. How many people return to high school after their graduating year with intentions other than to burn it down?

Finished rear shoot, look at the width on those wheels

Finished rear shoot, look at the width on those rear wheels

I would say this is fairly convincing other than perhaps the headlights

I would say this is fairly convincing other than perhaps the headlights

This kit was started in my last year and finished about 2 years after

This kit was started in my last year and finished about 2 years after

With my teacher whipping this how else was I going to turn out?

With my teacher whipping this how else was I going to turn out?

While my high school experience in auto shop didn’t lead me to the automotive industry it did help me become the enthusiast I am today. The same enthusiast who will never be able to drive a stock car or leave well enough alone on a Thanksgiving Monday.