Dreams of a Wannabe Grease Monkey

Let's get one thing straight first of all. I work behind a desk, starring at a computer screen for most of the day. I have a window, but it is just a mild sort of punishment for my work incarceration, the unobtainable freedom that does not really exist until 5:00. As a young man, I used to work on cars. I loved it, but realized that my love for money and not working out in the elements was stronger.

Throughout college I was the mechanic for all of the students that didn't have family close by. This made me a hero to a ton of young ladies that had car trouble and no where to go. Most of the work I did for beer and the cost of parts. Changing alternators in the middle of the night in a parking lot, replacing water pumps in an alley, tune ups in my driveway, I loved it all. My own car became a working test-bed for my own innovations about making more horsepower and gaining new efficiencies. I got my '88 Firebird up to 30+ MPG on the highway with a 350 V8!

Though I am now a responsible, married adult, I have almost no time for cars. I fix the occasional problem here and there for my wife, but that is about it until I started working part-time at night at my second job. To increase my income, I started a second job that takes away about half of my Saturday and my Monday nights. I work as the adult supervisor to a number of high-school and college students. This experience has reawakened my love for working on cars. The kids that I work with, like almost all kids today, have absolutely no idea how cars work. By helping them fix their own automotive problems I have awakened the mechanic spark in them as well as in myself.

We now talk every shift about big-blocks, turbos, basic maintenance, you name it! I have also taught a number of them how to perform basic car repair for their own families. While fixing one young ladies car's AC, I taught about five guys how to recharge a cars' air conditioning system. Two of them have now impressed their girlfriends by fixing their cars as well. Some things never change!

By teaching, I have become aware again of my love for cars. I am now taunted by what I can do to my daily-driver. I know that I shouldn't mess with it, but now the kids I am teaching are starting to get excited about finding out just how far I can push its' efficiency. I am so glad that cars still excite some people. I cannot quit my day job and start building muscle cars, but my time with the kids has reminded me of my own teenage years and I love sharing my knowledge and passion with them!