I’m one of those people, for sure. When I turned 14 my dad took me out into the shop at our family farm and said “you can get your permit in a year. So THERE’s your car (pointing to a blue 1987 Monte Carlo SS), and THERE’s your engine (pointing to a 305 and 700r4 sitting on the floor across the shop). You’ve got one year!” -Then he left. Took me like half a day to realize he meant I was supposed to put the engine in the car and somehow figure out how to hook it up and make it work. No instructions, no help.

Couldn’t figure out a damn thing; learning curve was way too sharp that way. I’d ask questions and he’d just say “figure it out; if it was a computer you would’ve been doing burnouts already” (as good of a motivator as he is a teacher). Fucked that car up 10 ways to Sunday and my dad and his friend had to do most of the work and fix it after me and the friends who I suckered into helping. Damn car broke down reliable about every 30 days; the first time because there was no hookup for overdrive and the TV cable wasn’t setup right (30 days after getting that evil car working the transmission burnt out).

I graduated high school in 1999 and went to Purdue in the middle of the Tech Boom; computers were my passion and I left college after one semester to get a job teaching IT certifications and getting paid to take classes and tests when I wasn’t teaching. I bought a brand new car ASAP so I’d never have to deal with the bullshit that Monte put me through. Working on a car gave me a minor case of PTSD.

It wasn’t until I had the opportunity to pickup the family’s 79 Vette that I even considered it. I jumped on Corvette forum in 2016 trying to learn all I could to see if me owning and working on this car was even going to be possible. I had the car shipped out here last winter and I’ve been learning one system, tool, and procedure at a time, but I do my homework and “go deep” on each system. I still have near zero experience, but 3 weekends ago I pulled the engine by myself and I’ve town it down to a bare block except for oil pump, Pistons, rods, and crank at this point.

Theory is easy for me (I taught IT certification classes to career changers at age 20, at community college at 21 and got hired by Microsoft full time at 23); but I have to understand the theory to make what feels like the huge leap to practice when I don’t have any experience at something.

Now that I’ve pulled this engine, I think I officially have a new hobby, which I need because I basically just type on my computer all day.

I’m 37, but I have the mechanical experience of probably the average 19 year old. I get digital; it’s analog that confuses me. (Which is why I have a great Qjet for sale! Carbeuretors are freaking witchcraft as far as I’m concerned; efi talks to you and you can talk back to it.)


Adam