a rather interesting post on how small things effect our car related memories

[Grumpy]

Have you ever taken a moment to look back and see where your love for muscle cars, or cars in general ever began? Some enthusiasts are so immersed in our craft that the thought never really ever occurs to them, and others, like your Santa Ana Muscle Car Examiner remember it as though it were yesterday, and consider it a baptism by fire.

I recall when I was bit by the Muscle Car bug. I must have been about nine or ten years old at the time. It was a clear and warm summer day in the San Fernando Valley, and your Santa Ana Muscle Car Examiner was playing outside with a neighborhood friend when it happened. From a faint distance I heard the roar of dual exhaust and what I would later learn to be the sound of American Iron in the form a 350-plus horsepower 396 Big Block Chevy engine come alive.

I can recall the eager anticipation of that rumbling beast coming down the street. And before I could blink, the rumble grew closer. I felt this symbiotic connection to that engine as though it were a siren song enticing my soul. The moment must have lasted no more than a few seconds, but I remember it as though it were slow motion. The rumble grew closer and suddenly the glimmer of the most beautiful Fathom Green 1969 Camaro SS-396 came into view.

That green enchantress bewitched me, and I was hooked. As the car neared my home, the owner gave the throttle a massive romp. I knew resistance was futile; I was hooked. I would shortly thereafter learn the owner of the green Camaro was dating my neighborhood friend’s older sister, and he shot the rev at us to call our attention. Little did he know that he had started my affinity for American Muscle, and Camaro’s in particular.

The owner of the Fathom Green Camaro, the car of which I would later refer to as The Enchantress is the owner of a local speed shop in Sun Valley, California, named John Randazzo – or as most of us know him as Groucho of Groucho’s Performance.

As I grew older and started on my path, I would keep in touch with John and would always hope to see what he would acquire next. He was, and is, still known for purchasing diamonds in the rough, reconditioning them to like new and finding them new homes. I recall catching up with Groucho a few years ago at a local show and shine, Bob’s Big Boy, in Toluca Lake. Groucho stated, “I am pretty sure I have owned every type of 67-69 Camaro made.” And I would believe that without question.
As the years passed, I was finally able to get my hands on a 1967 Camaro. Groucho was kind enough to help yours truly procure a much needed dash wiring harness, and hand masked the template for the Z/28 style runway stripes on my cars’ newly refinished oil slick black paint.

Years would go by, and life would take me in different directions, but I never lost sight of that moment in my front yard as a kid, being bit by the Muscle Car bug. I share this, because it is important that you remember what fueled your fire so that you can, in turn, share those stories with your youth, or neighborhood children (the next generation of muscle car owners,) with the hope igniting the same desire in them.

Our craft is slowly dwindling, and with the government trying to impose ridiculous taxes and sanctions on our craft, it is no wonder why the art is fading. Remember your blockbuster moment and share that experience with others to hopefully fuel their passion and preserve our craft, and what I consider a way of life. Well, that is it for now. Until the next time, remember to keep the shiny side up.

 

[Grumpy]

back , starting in about 2nd grade, (thats about 8 years old) and runing almost all weekends untill I was about 12 ,my DAD (who was a mechanical engineer and a tool and die maker)
got me involved in learning how to use a lathe and milling machine where he worked, my uncle and my dad would constantly be reminiscing,and there was always a pot of coffee, that I was allowed to drink only (while my mom was not looking) which was not an issue as mom was not into watching dad work in the shop,
my uncle and dad talked over hunting trips and the cars and trucks , and rifles they had used and modified as teenagers, and being the machine shop they co-owned, was about a block or so from the real spring-field armory ,
and back in the 1960s it was no problem to stop by the real spring-field armory and for about $20 you could have your dad purchase a surplus 1917 rifle from the armory, I got plenty of exposure between the brothers (dad and my uncle, and my uncle would stop by and both adults would B.S. for hours while both adults worked on the cars and trucks they owned.
obviously as a "KID" I got more than frequent exposure in several areas, and while I was very interested , (and at first a total cults)
I was constantly being exposed too, and shown how too use the machine shops, machine tools, and I learned early that damn near anything could be fabricated by the adults,
I was the only kid I knew that owned a whaling harpoon like QUEQUEG from moby dick ,
had built a real BEAR TRAP from photos with real spring steel (dad helped) and had built an adapter to put a 4 barrel carb on a rambler flat head inline 6 cylinder from scratch before I could legally drive any car.
yeah, the adults were a steady "bad influence" I was told repeatedly, we can,t afford that, why not build your own?
or theres no damn reason you can,t fix that,
scratch up some plans, on a legal pad, include the measurements and if it looks feasible maybe we can make one!
it certainly didn,t hurt a 8-12 year olds imagination,that there were dozens of playboy centerfolds
and hundreds of photos of my dad in army air-force fatigues showing him working on various air planes like PBYs and old hot rod cars my uncle and dad had built, in the mid 1950s-1960s taped to the shop walls.
at about age 12 my dad and uncle moved the shop to hollywood florida and visiting my dad and uncles shop, and CRANE CAMS
https://www.pbase.com/donboyd/image/94649615/large
(dad and my uncle Donald had friends that worked there when it was in hallendale, on dixie highway, time spent at dads shop, was not all that infrequent during my teen years

 

[Indycars]

Childhood exposure has a tremendous effect on your likes and abilities later in life.

 

[T-Test]

I was 5 when I was taught the sizes of wrenches. If I handed the wrong size, it was thrown back at me. So I asked how I was supposed to learn this, and was told to use my finger to size the heads of nuts and bolts and then stick my finger in the wrench. Learned real quick when I got hit in the head with one one day.

 

[Night_Stalker]

The wife & I will be watchen TV, a car will appear & Ill say I had 1 of them. She's kinda of tired of hearing it / lol !