Growing Up The Son of a Gearhead
by Brad King
Growing up the son of a gearhead was a good thing. I grew up being reminded that dad didn’t get the 1963 split-window ‘Vette he wanted, because mom was pregnant with me! We always had Hot Rod magazine around the house so I was already heavily influenced, but dad was more of a “Big Rig / Peterbilt” junkie and I wanted to beÊ the car nut. He always had very nice looking stuff and when you got into his truck the shoes had better be off! He’s was a neat freak to the highest extent and it always showed. The truck thing had rubbed off on my younger brother, but I was already hooked on cars. When I was around 12 years old, my dad’s brother showed up at our house with an early Mustang that was set up for road racing. It was fast and it was LOUD, now I was ruined! From then on all I wanted to do was play with cars. I painted cars throughout high school and became a custom painter / pinstriper /lettering guy because of my never ending passion for cars. Moving back to California from Oregon after high school put me back in the center of car culture at its finest. After being involved in building more than a few cars, I decided dad’s was next.
Fast forward to 2000. Dad had a nice clean ‘72 El Camino a friend and myself picked up for him at the Pomona Swap Meet. Being around me was rubbing off finally. He added dropped spindles, gas shocks, rebuilt the suspension and a set of early polished Torque Thrust wheels. He had finally joined the dark side! He still liked trucks, but now burn-outs appealed to him more!
continues...
He’d talked about wanting to put a nasty big block in it, but it was just talk. I told him to stop talking and get the check book out so we can do something. When he ordered a set of AFR heads, I knew it was going to get serious! Isky solid roller, Dart intake, BG carb, 3800 rpm stall converter and a sniff of nitrous. This is going to be fun! In 2004 at the time parts were being collected, Dad and Mom decided they had enough of So. Cal. and headed back to Oregon to retire. He left the car with me so I’d finish up the motor, drop it in and he’d take it home. Little did he know how much his life and car was going to change!
As months would go by, he asks how the car was coming. I'd tell him I’ve been busy and the car is in the garage waiting for me to get around to it. In 2006 he calls and tells me he’s coming down to pick up the car, done or not, when they visit for my oldest daughter's graduation. Everyone but him knows that the car has been stripped down to nothing and is being slowly brought back to way cooler than anything he had in mind. So as he’s being a bit gruff to me on the phone (I can laugh at him when he’s 1000 miles away!) I tell him he can pick it up if he brings a forklift to load it all on the trailer. Now he’s ticked off and I’m having fun! I say I’m going to e-mail some pics of the car off so he can see why and to call me back. The phone rings and it’s quiet! He’s completely speechless! It’s been stripped down to the frame rails and brought back to life, far more than what he had planned.
continues...
