[wdfifteen]

I guess I was a freak of nature. Grew up on a farm and everyone else was focused on the animals. I remember every tractor and implement we had. I learned to drive, raking hay, at the age of about 7 on a Ford 2N, pulling a Massey-Harris rake. My first influences were a cousin with a '65 Mustang 289 four speed his friend, who built the holy grail of cars as far as I was concerned - he built a '63 Plymouth Savoy with a 426 wedge and when the '64 Hemi came out he bought a brand new one, yanked the engine out and put it in his '63. One of these days I'll replicate that car.
In high school the only thing I could afford was a '60 VW. I learned to appreciate it, decided I wanted a Porsche. As a farm kid I couldn't afford a Porsche, so I bought a '64 coupe wrecked in the front and a '63 coupe wrecked in the back, cut them in two, and welded up my first Porsche. That was 1969. I've always loved anything that burned hydrocarbons and moved. Learned to fly and drive an 18 wheeler, but I hated boats and water.