As my father branched away from Allen Test Products to begin his own business, this name carried thru to the early business name.  Yes, the “E” was purposely left out.  He started out by teaching mechanics, selling fuel injection cleaning equipment and even handled drivability complaints for Chrysler.  Cool stuff for a kid to grow up in and that I will remember for a lifetime.

As any great dad does, he allowed me to spread my own rebellious teen age wings and pursue what I saw fit for me.  I loved the car stuff that I grew up into, but I chose to pursue the electrical aspect of my knowledge base.  I wasn’t sure at that time I wanted to spend all day working on cars.  So I went to ITT and got my engineering degree and hit the job world.  I turned down some good out of state offers at the time to stay close to home.  Through this time I continued to always pursue side projects with my dad as they were always fun and interesting.  Arguments can be made against the statement “if you truly love what you do, then it’s never work”.  I truly believe the opposite and have succeeded by keeping my hobbies separate from work.  They have always remained fresh and fun to me by living with that mindset.  Also by choosing my own route in life, I was blessed with the meeting of my wife who I have one son with.  I think like any father and son, we’ve shared some pretty rough years thru those “turbulent teen” years.  But coming full circle I believe this has strengthened me even more and even help rebuild a great relationship that I’ve always had with my father.

continues...

Fast forward a few years and you see a scary similarity to my fond childhood memories with what goes on at Bubba’s Hot Rod Shop.  My Dad has provided not only myself, but an entire group of folks with the ultimate learning grounds to help grow and preserve our hobby of hot rodding.  Religiously, we gather every Wednesday evening to work on each others cars, build cars from the frame up, or just hang out and BS about cars in general.

I bring my son to experience what I got to experience growing up.  He can grow up to be whatever he wants to be, but you can bet that the hot rodding apple doesn’t fall far from the tree.  While I never look to fill the shoes of my father in the automotive industry, I can say a big thank you for all the great memories.  Its not just the past, but now chaptering in the future.  As a dad myself, I can only dream to make this kind of impact with my son someday.