Bludsport
03-04-2017, 04:22 PM
I completely overlooked introducing myself to the members before I jumped in and started posting...bad form and for that I sincerely apologize.
Cars have been in my blood since I was a teenager. In high school I took a summer job working for my cousin at his Lincloln Mercury dealership sweeping floors, cleaning up oil spills, polishing Lincoln's, etc. Not a glamorous job, but the job did come with two very distinct advantages:
1. I earned enough money that summer to buy my first car, a 1959 Austin-Healey "Bugeye" Sprite and despite the trouble I got into with it for go carting through residential neighborhoods, I still look back and think about the wind blowing through my hair, when I had hair, and the gymnastics involved while "parking" with teenage girls.
2. My cousin was a member of the SCCA at the time and raced class cars at Road Atlanta and a few other venues. He took me under his wing and taught me how to tear down and rebuild engines, the dynamics of handling and most importantly he introduced me to racing. The "Bugeye" introduced me to what I thought driving fast, i.e. reckless, but my cousin taught me a better way.
Since then, I've owned a lot of sports cars and have fond memories of all of them. My last restoration, a "restomod" of sorts was a 1964 Triumph TR4. I bought what was billed as a frame off concours restoration from a dealer in California, and for all intents and purposes, it looked to be, that is until I discovered the frame was rusted through and had been filled with Bondo and painted over. I quickly began dismantling the car, ordered a new custom frame and began the time consuming process of building the car from the ground up, the way I think it should have originally been built. I got divorced in 2010, moved to Dallas and brought the chassis with me, but I didn't have the time or space to properly finish the restoration so I sold it a couple of years ago.
Here are a few pics:
29290292912929229293292942929529296
All out of time now, but I'll do my best to get back with you guys another day and tell you a little bit more.
Cheers!
Cars have been in my blood since I was a teenager. In high school I took a summer job working for my cousin at his Lincloln Mercury dealership sweeping floors, cleaning up oil spills, polishing Lincoln's, etc. Not a glamorous job, but the job did come with two very distinct advantages:
1. I earned enough money that summer to buy my first car, a 1959 Austin-Healey "Bugeye" Sprite and despite the trouble I got into with it for go carting through residential neighborhoods, I still look back and think about the wind blowing through my hair, when I had hair, and the gymnastics involved while "parking" with teenage girls.
2. My cousin was a member of the SCCA at the time and raced class cars at Road Atlanta and a few other venues. He took me under his wing and taught me how to tear down and rebuild engines, the dynamics of handling and most importantly he introduced me to racing. The "Bugeye" introduced me to what I thought driving fast, i.e. reckless, but my cousin taught me a better way.
Since then, I've owned a lot of sports cars and have fond memories of all of them. My last restoration, a "restomod" of sorts was a 1964 Triumph TR4. I bought what was billed as a frame off concours restoration from a dealer in California, and for all intents and purposes, it looked to be, that is until I discovered the frame was rusted through and had been filled with Bondo and painted over. I quickly began dismantling the car, ordered a new custom frame and began the time consuming process of building the car from the ground up, the way I think it should have originally been built. I got divorced in 2010, moved to Dallas and brought the chassis with me, but I didn't have the time or space to properly finish the restoration so I sold it a couple of years ago.
Here are a few pics:
29290292912929229293292942929529296
All out of time now, but I'll do my best to get back with you guys another day and tell you a little bit more.
Cheers!