It must have been some kind of genetic mutation.  No one in my family had any interest in motor vehicles. Neither my mother, father, their siblings, or any of my cousins born before me. But my mother told me my first word was “car”.  I grew up in love with cars. I also, like many other children, was delighted in taking things apart. But I also enjoyed the challenge of putting them back together, and seeing the work again……sometimes! My first car was a 57 Chevy convertible that my parents bought for me. It was to be my transportation back and forth to college, as they couldn’t afford to send me to school and live there, too.  Although it had a later model 327, it had the original 3-speed stick, and had a habit of breaking down almost every weekend.  Most of the time, it DID get me to school and back. This was the beginning of my career as a mechanic, born of necessity. I had to pay for my insurance, gas, books, etc., so I couldn’t afford to have much done professionally. Every weekend was another lesson on a different area of auto repair. Luckily (?)I had fallen in with a bad crowd, a bunch of gearheads, with similar interests in 1955-57 Chevies. The ringleader, and my mentor, was Jimmy Catrone. He was a cool older guy (by about 3 years), who actually owned 3 of these classics. He was also an established mechanic, and sometimes body guy. He would take me under his wing, and teach me the basics of auto repair, and bodywork. Jimmy, about 4-5 other Chevy heads and myself would hang out in the Dunkin Donuts, on Wood Ave., in Linden, NJ, almost every night. I was working part time at Burger King, and would close the store bringing with me the leftovers of the night. Needless to say, all the guys would be waiting there for me, their best friend, at least for that night. But I learned a lot with this crew, and later, they would bring me their cars to work on as I progressed in my bodywork skills. We eventually formed a car club called the BelAirs, who roamed the streets for years to come! Well, the convertible got me around for about 2 years, when I decided it needed too much work to keep it on the road. So I bought another 57 coupe, and put it together so I could drive it, whileworking on the convertible.   Then I got serious on the convertible. I lucked into a good summer job, making real good money for a college kid.So I built the car with the best parts I could afford. I even had the engine  built by friends at Bontempo Brothers Competition,  a business just starting out.   We decided to build a killer small block, guided by Joe Bontempo’s experience. It started as a 327 block, with a steel 283 crank, making 302 cubes. We scored a great set of ported, angle plug heads, from a guy who was breaking up a dragster. We used a short track roller cam, roller rockers, and a single 4-barrel, a Holley 750 DP, on a Torker manifold. This was a high revving screamer of an engine. It was backed up by a Muncie 4-speed, and a shortened 12-bolt rear, with a 4.88 posi. This was the first car in our area to run a narrowed rear-end, in fact, we had a hard time finding a supplier for axles for it.  This was in 1979, before the Pro Street movement.  I redid the bodywork on the car, painted it in bright red lacquer, including the engine compartment and it was all hand rubbed!  New chrome, new top, upholstery, tilt wheel, buckets, full gauges, big Moroso tach-drive tach,all the hot new items. It ran a set of newly released Craegar Supertricks, 15 x 10’s in back, 15 x 6’s up front,   and a super stock hood scoop, with my own hand lettered “Born to Run” on it.  For a while, it was the fastest car in town,  but I only owned it for a little while longer. Very sadly, it was stolen out of Raceway Park, in Englishtown, on June 2, 1980.    I continued working on various classic Chevies, such as this 55 hardtop, which never got it’s tri-powered 454 installed. I bought a nice 56 Chevy that Jimmy and I had built for a high school friend, Keith Campbell, and redid it as a mild custom, in Porsche red. In fact, this car was slated to have the 55 Pontiac side trim, Packard taillights, and Desoto grill that eventually went onto my next project. I had one side roughed out, and had to weld up the Pontiac trim holes, redrill the Chevy ones, and get a new door, because I had shaved the original one. I did leave the wagon bumper, and tunneled antenna. (pic 5) Oh, and yes it is a 56 Chevy, but we couldn’t find a good 56 nose, so we adapted a 55 to fit! Here’s a shot of Myron Pytwan, one of the BelAirs, and myself blocking the car out. We are preparing it for paint, in my  workshop (my Driveway),which I did in Bontempo’s shop on a Sunday (sorry for the overspray on the floor, Joe!). That’s how I did most of the work on my cars. About this time, I decided that I needed more help in becoming a better bodyman. I had learned all I could from Jimmy, and the BelAirs, so I checked  around to see who was the best in our area. Most people agreed that S & J Autobody built the nicest rods and customs in the area. John Pascik was the proprietor,and he had learned the trade back in the 50’s.   He still had a 54 Merc, that he built back then, and won just about every trophy, award, and sweepstakes on the East Coast. John was heavy into customizing, and custom paint, and while working for him on and off for over 12 years, I learned these ‘lost arts’, too. More on John in the “history of the shop”. John’s influence caused me to build my next car as a radical 50’s style custom. My girlfriend found an old, rusted out hulk behind a bodyshop in Edison. I bought it, and got it running. I found it was a 55 Olds, and a 98, to boot! I rebuilt all the mechanicals, did some cool custom work, and drove it to the first Lead East (1983). Over the next 2 years, I added more custom work, including chopping the top. This I did at John’s shop, after doing all the rest in my driveway. Pictures of this car can be seen in the cars section. I could probably do a whole chapter just on this car. Maybe I will! In between, I also bought, and fixed up a 70 Buick GS Stage 1, a  66 Grand Prix mild customa 70 Monte Carlo that I was doing as a wild custom, but got totaled out sitting in front of my houseMy next project I bought was a 50 Chevy Sedan Delivery. It used to be a hearse for a local Rahway funeral home.  I think it was then used to deliver parts, and things for the local Harley dealership. The interior was covered with psychedelic paintings of the moon, stars, clouds, and a flag on the other side. I planned on making this a radical custom, also.  I have, over the past 10 years, put it on a Buick grand National frame, added a new rear sub, with a Corvette rear end, channeled it, built a new custom firewall, and have gathered some pieces for a dual turbocharged, fuel injected small block. Probably going to run it with a Richmond 6 speed stick.  It will sport a chopped top, perhaps a section job, too, as no one would want to pay me to do one, I ‘ll have to do it for myself! Lots of othIt is still in the project stage.  I was distracted in finishing more on the delivery, when a good friend,   Joe Spezio, found, and started me working on a 54 Chevy.er custom work done to the headlights, taillights, everything! But it will be a high tech hauler, not a traditional custom. We had it sub framed, rear ended, with new motor mounts,and steering column, when he got married.    He dropped the project,and a few months later, I bought the car from him,   and continued work on it. The finished shots can be seen in the‘cars’ section. Here’s some build-up pictures, including Rusty blocking out the car to perfection!  My latest project, due out next summer is this 46 Chevy coupe. It is being built as a late 40’s-early 50’s custom, done in the Barris style. It is chopped, with filled quarter windows, has a 69 Camaro subframe,(pic 16) thanks to customer Bob Scutro, and has a Monte Carlo SS rear end,    with the frame adapted to the Monte’s coil spring suspension.  The car will run an Air Ride airbag set-up on all 4 corners, to get it real low. I have a 292 straight six being built at BBCfor the car, while good friend and customer,   Nick Rivera, built up an overdrive 5-speed stick for the car. The decision to run a six is due to the fact that the style of the car pre-dates the Chevy V-8, and I want the car to have the flavor, if not the exact look of the early customs. And besides, a hot straight six running  a stick, and through real cast iron headers, and true duals, with Brockman Mellowtone Mufflers, is a joy to hear! Bodywise, it will run a Caddy grille, and perhaps bumper, taillights in the rear bumper guards, 40 Lincoln skirts, and many other old school custom tricks. Haven’t decided on paint yet, but have a couple of real good ideas to choose from!