'94 GMC 4X4 Daily Driver

1968 VW beetle, German Look project

High performance engine builds

Want to learn about exhaust header design?

Check out cars I have owned in the past.

2004 Scion Xa

Motorcycles I have owned

Cars from back in the day

Like dogs? Here's a page on my pup. Me and my Shadow

I have recently re-kindled my interest in firearms, check this out.

Here's the latest project I've been working on: DIY Electric Guitars!!

I have been asked by a couple of people that have visited this site how I acquired the skills to accomplish all the projects without spending big $$ at a shop.  Ok, a quick history lesson.... I grew up in the '70s owning cars like SS Chevelles ('64, '67 big block), GTO's (a '65, '66, '69),  big block '70 'Cudas (3), a Mach 1 Mustang, a '69 Firebird (400), and many others from a custom van (ugh!) to a VW fiberglass buggy.  I attended a vocational school for an 11 month Auto Repair course, then went back the next year for 10 months of Auto Body Repair.  I tried the academic side of the school for a few months and dropped out in '76.

I ended up enlisting in the U.S. Coast Guard in spring '77 and stayed in for 28.5 years.  I was a Machinery Tech and have been fixing ship and boat engines and equipment for most of my career.  I have worked on everything from 3 hp Briggs & Stratton powered pumps to 16,000 hp Pratt & Whitney propulsion gas turbines.   Anything with more than one moving part was my responsibility. Now I work for the Corps of Engineers doing basically the same thing.

Over the years I have acquired more skills like:  welding (gas, stick, mig, tig),  basic lathe and vertical mill operation, electrical wiring,  sheet metal fabrication, basic upholstery and probably a few more I can't think of right now.  I almost never leave a car stock, even our mini van was modified, my wife called it the "Race Toaster". 

I feel that real hot rodders don't pay someone to work on their cars, they do it themselves and if they don't know how to do something they learn!