I remember being into cars since I could remember. I was born in Portland in '97, so my Dad was a big lowrider guy. His first car was a '75
Impala 4-door hardtop, dark green with green guts and a black top, it was backyard-lowered in '92 at his friend's parent's house. Interestingly, that friend now lives in what was his parents house, and just a couple years ago while digging up the back yard he found the tow bar from the
Impala, more than 20 years later.
Anyway, my Dad later had a '79 Sedan DeVille that he paid $300 for, also lowered with wire wheels.
Seen here in this pic with my older brother around 2002(?) Man, digital cameras sucked back then.
Even our old '93 Astro what lowered 5" in the back, 4" in the front
Anyway, I remember being really into Jeeps when I was quite young. The Wagoneer caught my attention, as did the YJ Wrangler, partially because there's a ton of them up there, and partially because watching Jurassic Park was a weekly occurrence at our house.
Fast forward to beyond 2005 when we moved here to Nevada. I think I truly became obsessed with cars again when I was in 7th/8th grade, which was the same time my brother got his license, and my dad bought his
Roadmaster. Dad bought a 220k mile, '94 F150 with the 351 and AOD-something auto trans, peg leg 9-inch out back. He paid $900 and let my brother drive it. Sumbitch would lay patch for a city block and get 4.5mpg the entire time. Best mileage we could get out of it was 7. It was a bitchin truck while it lasted, but my brother locked it up in a mud puddle. He went through a few more cars but by my Sophomore year, he had his '94 Z28 and his '81
Caprice. Sure, the Camaro got wrecked but it was fun while it lasted.
But that '81
Caprice got me really into racing and especially sleepers.
She looked like hell, but being an ex-diesel car, it stretched head bolts and was an all-around pain in the *ss, so the previous owner did what anyone would. Throw a '76 J-Head 455 in it with some decking, milling, port and polish, an itty bitty cam, and a '74 Poncho TH400. It has a 2.29 peg-leg, but for some reason this car would just hook up and move out. It only ever lost on the street twice(we were dumb, I know), to a 2013 Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution, and much later to a *Brand new* 2014 Mustang with the 3.7 V6. Some kid who's parents bought him a nice car and thinks he's the bomb with his V6. We lost to the Mustang by 6 inches. He was looking over at us the entire time, looking like he'd seen a ghost. Now what's funny, is at this time the
Caprice was running on 6 cylinders. That car was way faster than the body could handle, and way faster than anyone had thought. That car, along with lowriders, and my Dad's taste in big 4-door V8's made me obsessed with the entire Malaise era. Sure, I like most every car from every era, but 77-90 is so attainable, and although what they lack in power they make up for in charm.