rebel yel

It was a 1987 issue of motor trend. it was 3 red sports cars and the lone yellow lotus. of course the 3 red ones were a countach, testarrosa and a 928. I've been hooked since.. appreciate all the tech info, imo, bragging and comradrery.. I enjoy american muscle, NA, boosted, boxer, boxster, magnum pi, slammed, stretch, drift, fast and furious, type R, unique whips and Jackie chan who am I.. oh yeah.. 8200 redline! How did it start for you?

Miasma

I was just born this way lol. As far back as I can remember, I had toy cars. Cheap plastic ones, matchbox, hot wheels, or whatever else I could get my hands on. I would get them all out and set them up like it was a dealer lot. I had one or two of those plastic race tracks where you push a car through the spinning wheels that launched it around the track. I've always played racing games on consoles. Mainly the Need for Speed games up until I switched over to the Forza series. I've loved the F&F series ever since the first one. I pretty much enjoy any time spent behind the wheel, no matter what kind of vehicle it is. Any repairs or maintenance I can do myself, I take care of in my driveway. I've gone to watch street races, fun runs at local 1/8th and 1/4 strips, sanctioned all out NHRA drag racing events, dirt tracks, drift events, and have been to some pretty sweet car shows. I love the speed, the adrenaline, the sounds, the variety of makes/models/customization, and the environment. I've even been fortunate enough to drive some pretty quick cars and I plan on building a few of my own someday. I can't say I've gotten tired of any of it. I just want more and probably always will until the day I die. I only wish I could have gotten in to competitive racing at a young age and made a career out of it all the way up to F1.

HUNTERANGEL121

I had always liked cars thanks to dad being a mechanic. He taught me little things as I grew. I had the run of the mill match box and hot wheels. As well as some rc cars.

I played forza, gran turismo with my brother and now assetto corsa with a wheel and try to apply what I've learned into the game.

It wasn't until I was 13 when I started looking at cars and learning what the hell a supercharger was. Or a turbo. Or how an engine worked. I also bugged my brother for info as well. I swear he's like a textbook of cars.

Now at this point. I'm trying learn suspension dynamics, and tuning.

rnye

When I 1-2 I used to go to my parents friends, neighbors, family members.. Whoever and find their vacuum cleaners and play with them. Later on.. It was trains. By 10 it was cars... Later on, planes. Always had a thing for anything with an engine I guess. I was the anomaly in my family.. Everyone else sees them as appliances.

vader1

I was in my early teens and went over to a friends house and saw a poster on his wall of a red Lamborghini Countach. It was the coolest thing I had ever seen.

It might not seem like such a cool car now, but think back to the eighties and compare any run of the mill machine to the Countach and it looked like it was a Millenium Falcon by comparison.

Also my dad can not operate a hammer or a screwdriver, but I was always a kid who took things apart to see how they worked and fixed things that were broken. Cars gave me another outlet to do that. I wanted to see how all the systems worked, understand them and be able to tinker.

Langelo DeMysterioso

My father was a gearhead, as was my grandfather. My father took me and my brother to car shows, car show rooms and had us sit behind the wheel ever since we were little. Since I was six my father had me under the car with him passing him tools and holding flashlights. I hated it and tried to avoid it like the plaque. It seemed the car would always break down in the dead of winter or the middle of the night or in a heatwave. He did all his work on the street since we had no garage then so every job needed to be finished in a day. When I started driving I finally bought my first sweet car, a used Triumph TR7. As cool as it looked I soon found out it was notoriously unreliable and I started taking it to the dealer for repairs. After I did that a couple of times I figured out that the only way I would be able to afford to keep the car running was to do my own wrenching. I bought the shop manual and a roll of metric wrenches and a small socket set. Haven't looked back since. BTW I like wrenching now

engifineer

Dad was/is a mechanic (Well he is "retired" but doesnt seem to realize that means you stop working).

Growing up, whether it was my bike, my dirt bike or my cars, he always made me repair them. He would help when I was stuck, but always pushed me to learn for myself so I knew how to do things. Spent some time off and on helping him at his shop (doing brake work, engine replacements, etc) growing up.

We helped a friend of his build a pull truck as well, which got more into it.

We had some bad times money wise while I was growing up, and I ended up having to get myself funded through college due to it, so I didnt have money to spend on car hobbies during those years (I just stuck to being a skater, which was much cheaper ). After getting out and starting a career I was able to support more of a car hobby and it just grew from there.

I will always be grateful to my dad for getting me into it, and for helping me along to be able to do all my own work. He taught me a ton and still does when I am stumped! To this day I have never had anyone else do anything on my cars besides body work and alignments, and that is because of what he taught me over the years.

gerry100

Don't know how or why but one of my earliest memories ( < 3 years old) was watching my Dad tinker with his 38 Chev. The hood opened on both sides and you looked sideways at the engine.

I know the timing because he bought a '53 Ford new after that.

billios996

It seems like the stories fall into to categories - dad was a mechanic/gearhead (runs in the family) or self discovered (no dad influence).

I fall into the latter category, and my story sounds similar to the others. I started with matchbox cars, taking apart everything to see how they worked, and my dad sitting me on his lap to drive his car as a kid. From there it morphed into reading Hot Rod and Car&Driver magazines. It came together when I bought my Talon and started tinkering to make it faster.

windhund116

Dad was a mechanic. I inherited all his Snap-On tools.