Who gave you the car bug?

[Duece Bignlow]

Got the bug from my stepdad. He owned a bodyshop so I got to see many cool cars come thru and he also dragraced at Northstar when I was like 4 or 5 years old. It's always stuck with me, got my first Chevelle at the age of 13 and have had over 50 cars since of all types.

[superford3]

I was on my own with the car thing so I only have myself to blame

[mustangpauly]

I was on my own with the car thing so I only have myself to blame

Then your daughter get's to blame you.:cool:

[Pool Boy]

I would say a friend in high school, I took auto-tech with him for kicks, and he showed me a mustang magazine with foxbodies, the rest is history......

[406*hp]

I grew up holding the light for dad while he worked on our cars. He also wrenched on
some dirt track cars that his friends owned but could not fix. I can remember watching
the race cars being brought to our house. I was very young, 3 or 4 years old. I would
mess around in them until I got caught and yelled at. My grandpa had a 71 Monte Carlo,
400 sb, auto trans with a floor shift. I can remeber riding in it with him and yelling,
"grandpa go fast," he'd kick it down to around 80 and say "hows that". Man, there was
nothing better. One summer he left it at our house while him and grandma went on
vacation to arizona. I was 14, home alone, can you guess what is coming? My friend
and I were bored so I said, "hop in, I know where the key is". Oh yea, we went cruisin.
That thing would melt the hoops at 30MPH. My friend and I had perma grins, like we
had sex for the first time or something. THEM WERE THE DAYS!!!!!!!!!!

[superford3]

Then your daughter get's to blame you.:cool:

And i am ok with that and i hope she gets the car bug, so far its looking good and i cant wait to buy her a mustang

[ramairws6]

Had a friend next door that was about 8 years older then me. He had a 1970 Monte Carlo that he was putting motors and trannys in every other week. Thing was a pile but it was pretty fast.............back then second gear rubber in an auto was the shit! I was about 12 at the time and he made me help him do everything and for the treat I got to cruise around with him after we got it going. Doesn't sound like much but when your that young and a kid that much older lets you cruise with him, that's the ticket!! I learned soo much from him and by the time I was 15 I purchased a 1977 Monte Carlo with a bad engine for cheap. By the time I hit 16 I replaced that 305 with I 350 all by myself and the rest is history. Traver

[Old School]

Not just one person for me. My whole family was/is into cars. At age 13 I was sent out to my uncles shop to help out and that really got me interested. My dad and all of his brothers had Chevy's...Camaro's, Chevelle's, and my dad's GTO. My mom's brothers all had Fords..Mustang's and Maverick's. Saw the old mustangs and had to get one. Went to one drag race up at Grove (when it was still pretty crappy), and knew exactly what I wanted to do with my car. Been working on it ever since I got it in '99.

[Clutch]

Interesting post so thought I would add:

I'm not sure where the real beginning was... I know no one in my family, nor my dad are car people. They are all "turn the key and if the car doesn't start... thecar is broken, call someone to fix it" type people.

I think it began with three things:
1. A neighbors 66 Impala SS. Everytime I would hear it, I would run outside trying to see it. I usually just caught the tail lights. So now I have a set of those taillights hanging in the garage in rememberance. If I did catch it driving by he would always wave and rev it going by.
2. I was a sucker for Knight Rider as a kid, which explains 4 80's trans am's/formulas/firebirds in my car history.
3. One of my friend's dad's had a 70 Monte Carlo LS-5 that I loved riding in. At a young age I "helped" (read: got in the way, asked questions, and got dirty LOL) him rebiuld the 454.

Then I shocked my parents at about age 7 by being able to identify make and model of just about ever car we saw on the road.

[HerrKooled]

Myself.

i've loved cars since ican remember. i even started buying up hot wheels with allowences before the age of 5, my parents were never really into cars. i also remember in the 80's seeing weathered loud mean muscle cars jacked way up in the rear with huge rear tires roaming around, i loved that.

[Fast One]

I've been into cars for as long as I can remember. My folks used to tell me stories about how nuts I was about cars when I was young - like 3-4 years old. Later on, I was always trying to hop-up the lawnmower, my go-cart engines, or my model aircraft engines. I used to tune my dad's car when I was around 13. Although my dad always ordered his cars with the highest HP engines available, I'm the only one in my family who is really into cars.

There are two people who had the most influence on my car hobby:

Al Fortier (RIP) - taught me how to do engine & trans work, plus engine swaps & such. He also taught me how to drag-race. He was my very best friend. I gave him the Buick bug back in the mid 70s. His 425 Olds-powered '66 Chevelle and his 455 Buick-powered '65 Skylark were a couple of the quicker street cars in my hometown back in the day. Just before he passed away, he was working on a heavily-built 455 Buick-powered '82 Regal. His brother finished it, but hasn't brought it to the track, yet.

Art Thiessen - taught me how to drive sideways on the dirt, turn corners on the asphalt, and how to outrun certain officials. I introduced him to the girl who would later become his wife. They're still married, and we're still best friends. We even manage to go out & kick up some dirt when I go back to my hometown to visit. If his '66 Chevelle could talk, it could tell some stories. I learned how to hot-rod in that car. That was back in '70-71. Later, Al (see above) bought it & put a 425 Olds in it - and later, a 400 Buick, then a 455 Buick, and then another one. Then, Al's brother bought it & eventually put in another 455 Buick, and later a 400 small-block. Art bought it back a few years ago. Now, there are over 600,000 miles on the clock - yet it still has all the original sheet metal. He's in the process of restoring it.

[Fast Repo]

It started out with Hot Wheels for me. Then in 1985 when I was 7 my neighbors friend pulled up in a 1979 TA with new paint and a new bird on the hood it was summer and when I saw that car I was hooked. I have always loved cars not particularly 1979 TA's that was before I knew they were turds but that is besides the point. I just can remember the feeling like it was yesterday seeing that car and how that one thing changed me forever. I will always be a car guy and I think that their is no in between at lease for me that is.

[Scott H]

My Dad. When i was 1 year old he bought 69 Charger R/T 440 auto. I loved that car and wish we still had it. Back in the day my Dad and all of his buddies raced on Lake st. every weekend.

[Pheonix]

i cant wait to buy her a mustang

Thats being a good Dad. Smart idea to buy her a car that doesn't have enoough power so she could hurt herself.

[KrisR]

My dad. :cool:

Him and my mom had a '67 Goodwood Green Corvette roadster when I was a kid...they sold it in 1986 when they got divorced for $14k (car's worth at least $60-70k now). He had also had a '62 409 Biscayne, and a couple Coronet R/T 440s...a '67 and a '68 I think. Around 1990 he bought a really nice blue '85 Z28, which he drove every day until 2002, when he bought my '98 Eldorado. I drove that '85 when I got my license, to prom, etc. I loved that car.

He passed away on July 1, 2003, 2 weeks after my wedding. Miss him.