Ever since I was little, I took things apart. I was 7 years old when I was given my first tool kit. We were at the outlet mall, just outside of Palm Springs, shopping for school clothes. My dad said, “If I buy you these tools, will you leave mine alone?” “Sure!!!” I gladly exclaimed.
It was the first lie I remember telling. I knew right then I would because: A. he never used his tools B. they would all end up in my tool box. You see, my dad wasn’t a handy guy. If something broke and my mom couldn’t fix it, they would just replace it or pay someone else to.
…and what did they do with that broken thing? My parents gave it to me for the sole purpose of taking it apart and seeing how it worked. (Safety Side Note: Thank God I didn’t kill myself discharging a capacitor). I’ll be perfectly honest…sometimes it wasn’t broken. 😉
One day I was taking apart and upright vacuum and a funny thing happened. Clear as day, I saw the broken piece. I took it to my mom and she drove me down the the vacuum cleaner repair man. He sold us a replacement piece and we were on our merry way. Neither of us expected much from the $12 part. I think we were both shocked, when I put it back together and flipped it on. BROOOOOM!!!! It worked.
That day, something in my tummy stirred. I had sparked a fascination with systems that would never be quenched. The bigger, the better. I wanted to take it apart, see how it worked, put it back together and see if it still worked. Take it apart, make an improvement, put it back together and see the results.
By 9 years old, I was mastering computers software and hardware. By 13, I was beta-testing software, dialing BBSes on my 14400 baud modem and making everything in the anarchist’s cookbook. At 15 I was taking Anatomy & Physiology and dissecting fetal pigs to see what made them click….and it just keeps going, even this day. Find something, take it apart, fix it and move on.
I guess everyone has their unicorn and for me: it was to fix a car that didn’t run. It was one thing to upgrade a car that already worked, but it was quite another to be responsible for making all of the systems work in harmony.
In my mind, I always imagined it would be an old VW super beetle. They were simple and a great place to start. When we moved to the South, we had the financial means and space to accomplish this life dream of mine. I started the search and ended up purchasing 2 First Generation Honda Accords. 1 to Fixup (Blue) and 1 for parts (Gray).
It was a lot of fun. I learned a lot, made some money in the process and got to do it with my son. To our surprise, we even got both cars running. Both of my boys and myself formed an attachment for “Blue” aka “Mr. Bluey.” They even cried when I sold him to his new owner.
We sweated, bled and sacrificed to get those cars running. There were times we could have gone and played at the park, but instead decided to change out the CV boots or rebuild the drum brakes. There were times when we didn’t have any budget left for the month and just had to look at it and wish we could be doing something. It was a great set of life lessons that came with that project. To make a profit off of the project was just a bonus.
The two most valuable things I learned while fixing up Blue were: 1. It’s not going to happen over night. 2. Sometimes you need to take a break and sleep on it.
Here’s a picture of Blue on a cold winter day. Please note the MS state certification sticker in his window (that’s a post by itself).