Who are You ?

Post by **Leatherneck** » Fri Oct 27, 2006 12:30 pm

Figured I would start this so it would help to find out a little bit about who we are talking with. So I will start it out

I retired from the Marine Corps working as an Aviation Ordnanceman, I worked with bombs, rockets,missiles and large caliber weapons. I am currently 46 years old and after getting out of the Corps my wife and I bought a Cabinet Shop, that was in Jan of 2000, before then we had never built a cabinet so like other things it was baptism by fire. Since then have made a lot of sawdust and even some items worth selling. Wanted to share our last piece we just finished making. It is a 11 X 19 Conference table set up with 20 power and data ports along with a desk with a below desktop monitor system.

I first got bit by the VW off-road bug in 1986 while in K.C. missouri, had a 4 seater berrian buggy with a stock 1600 T-1 tranny we thrashed that thing and it kept going. After that is was all down hill well some up hills to but it has been a blast.

Hopefully some others will post Who you are and some about you.

allsierra123 · Post by **allsierra123** » Fri Oct 27, 2006 1:04 pm

I'll jump on this wagon.My name is Tim im 25.I am married my wife is Savannah. We are expecting our first child.I started my own appliance repair company in 2004.Things have been going pretty well.We live in the tiny little town of cambria.Its on the central coast of california.I have been into VW's my whole life.I just recently got my first baja project.ANd its going pretty well.We recently aquired a house in grant county washington.So We will be heading up there in the future.

RyanB · Post by **RyanB** » Fri Oct 27, 2006 3:26 pm

hrm... ok i'll bite. Or is that the wife? haha.

Anyhow, I am 34 Years old. I have 5 kids... yes I said 5. I am a telecommunications Engineer. Yes, the dot com bubble F*cked me over. Oringinally a California Native, transplanted to Oregon.

Met the wife over the internet and still going strong after 8 years.

My 1st car was a VW. Been a VW Basket case since then. Only recently have I really gotten in to the offroad craze. I'm a social person so I dont tend to go do things unless my buddies do them. Hoping to meet more people in this area to go offroading with.

Oh.. The 5 kids thing... Wife has 3 from prior marriage, I ahve 1 from Prior marriage and we have one together. It's the Brady bunch during the summer...

thrown_hammer · Post by **thrown_hammer** » Fri Oct 27, 2006 3:30 pm

Okay here ou go. I am 36 years old. I have been married for almost 14 years. I have two sons. One is 9 and the other turns 5 this weekend. I am a process engineer at a company that makes joint replacements. I work with a plastic that your body breaks down and absorbs so a second surgery is not needed to remove the plates or screws. this material is used mostly in children.

I actually started my love of German air cooled cars at the other end of the spectrum. I built a few Porsche 911s. One of which I have been working on for a couple years. I bought it as a total basket case and have been piecing it together ever since. It's my wife's car.

I always wanted a Baja. I finally bought one and now i drive mine everyday. I can't wait for the snow so I can park on top of snowpiles again this year.

MNAirHead · Post by **MNAirHead** » Fri Oct 27, 2006 3:32 pm

thrown_hammer wrote:process engineer at a company that makes joint replacements.

No way... I used to make and sell bongs in college too! Way to go dude

c54fun · Post by **c54fun** » Fri Oct 27, 2006 4:21 pm

My name is Terry and I brake transaxles and I drive a Festiva.

thrown_hammer · Post by **thrown_hammer** » Fri Oct 27, 2006 4:47 pm

MNAirHead wrote:
thrown_hammer wrote:process engineer at a company that makes joint replacements.
No way... I used to make and sell bongs in college too! Way to go dude

And to think I chose the word "joint" so I wouldn't have to explain "implants".
I can't win for losing.

scott the viking · Post by **scott the viking** » Fri Oct 27, 2006 5:15 pm

c54fun wrote:My name is Terry and I brake transaxles and I drive a Festiva.

And everybody at A.A says "hi Terry" all at once.

scott the viking · Post by **scott the viking** » Fri Oct 27, 2006 5:38 pm

Oh boy...well....I'll see if I can give you the "reader's digest version" of Scott.
Did well in high school football...got a scholarship to Notre dame...After a while I decided that was not for me (stupid)..Joined the service like my Father, Grandfather and Great grandfather....Getting shot hurts...went back to what I am good at.....Motorcycles, cars and engine building. Specialized in building top fuel Harley engines and frames....rode one too....worked my butt off to be competitive with the "big money" crowd...when I beat said crowd...politics took over and they made a new rule JUST for me...so what I just did...did not count....it broke my heart....I pushed the bike into a corner of my shop...covered it up and that is where it sits today...The whole experience put a fowl taste in my mouth...so I shut the doors on that and started with high performance car engines. I started kind of small...but built it into an all "in house" operation that specialized in building performance engines. If you watch Winston cup...you have seen or heard one of my mills running....As of last year...I sold a head design to Honda...Which put me in a good place....I still build engines...just not as many....and I only do the ones I want....I have two dyno's...both Chassis dynos (power at the wheels) type...one is for motorcycles and the other is cars....I still enjoy running them...because it's fun. A few times a year...dynojet will fly me here and there and I teach the instructors of trade schools...like M.M.I and such...new procedures in dynamometer operation. I left out A LOT...but...you get the idea.

Post by **2088 bob** » Fri Oct 27, 2006 6:37 pm

My turn, 2088bob here,Bobby to my friends and family.I am 50 years old and hail from waterloo ontario canada i have a wife and two daughters .Ihave been married too the same woman for 33 years (yeah you do the math) i have a passion for sand rails or should i say streetrails ,old fords and exotic tailess cats , of which i also have two and the dog has no tail either

I have just this week left the employ of the city where I worked maintaining their traffic controls systems , back into the electrical contracting business

i have been in some form of electrically related business all my life ,the trade has been very good to me ,it has let me see a large part of the world

As most of you now allready know i run a small automotive wiring business on the side with my baby brother. this helps to support our hotrod addiction

my most favourite form of automobile racing is world of outlaws sprint cars or whatever they are calling themselves this year and am a devout Danny Lasocki fan even better now that he has separated from tony stewart

i don't really consider my self a vw fanatic, my passion with this hobby lies more with the rail cars, than with the stock vw automobile, and allthough i think the vw aircooled motor is a good idea, i do not think its the best idea (i hope that was polite enough for everyone not looking to pi$$ in anybodies cornflakes )

My philosophy on life is keep laughing

Skidmark · Post by **Skidmark** » Fri Oct 27, 2006 9:42 pm

My name is Steve. I have been into racing for most of my life. I went to motorcycle mechanics school in Daytona Beach in '76. I started raod racing big bore street bikes in the late '80's. Got married, started having kids, and decided to quit racing on two wheels. Went 2 stroke kart racing instead! I figured it was harder to fall off four wheels than two. Four years later, I flipped the kart twice in the same season. Found out I don't heal near as fast as I used to. So, built up an '83 Mazda RX-7 road race car with fenders, roll cage. and harnesses. I raced with the SCCA in So. Ca. for almost eight years. I finally got tired of the racing, and sold the car to start my baja project. My second car in life was a '63 baja, and loved that car. Now I am building the baja I always dreamed of having.

We just had our 18th anniversary. I have two kids, boy & girl, 14 and 12. Great kids! I am production manager for a metal fabrication shop in Santa Ana, been working for the same guy now for almost 13 years. It helps having this kind of resource for projects like my baja!

reckedher · Post by **reckedher** » Sat Oct 28, 2006 1:42 am

hi everybody my name is glenn and i have been lurking here and at samba seince i started my project about a year ago.i am 43 years old i live and work in the southern california area as an insturment technican.i would like to take some time to thank you all for sharing your knowlege and experiences,you all have in one way or another helped guide me to where i am with my baja

this is not mt first volkswagon but it is by far my favorite.i will try and post some pictures.you all are a great group and i hope to become a part of it
thanks
glenn

fl_buggy · Post by **fl_buggy** » Sat Oct 28, 2006 6:15 am

Hi, I'm Dave. I'm in Odessa Florida which is just a few miles north of Tampa. I'm 31, and have been married a bit more than 9 years. I was in the IT field but lost my job and didn't like my options, so I went back to school to learn AutoCAD. I've been doing CAD work for a couple of years now and love it. Not as good of money as IT, but its easy to find work, I get paid well for what I do, and I get to use the parts of my brain that work the best. Currently I work as an engineer for a company that builds travel cases. We do cases for most of the music and lighting industry, professional athletics, or anybody else that needs to move something securely.

Anyway, on to the VW's. When I was young, my father and uncles were into rail buggies. They closed one of the best riding spots that was also close to our house, so we all got out. I was still into VW's after that, my first car was a 66 T1 and later I had a 69 T3 Fastback. After I broke my kneecap in an accident that destroyed the T3 (not my fault), I moved into Fox body Mustangs for their padded dash

I owned a few V8 mustangs, but my love for small displacement power adder cars just couldn't be shaken. So I built a turbo 2.3 Mustang, doing all of the install, wiring, fab work (header, exhaust, intercooler plumbing, everything) myself in my garage.

Last year I got tired of "the chase" of going fast. The constant work, constant money, constant fear from law enforcement, track closures, and all that stuff, and got out of fast cars. I still wanted to have a car project, so it was back to VW's. I was given a basket case Sears Rascal fiberglass buggy that I was going to build for off-road, but Florida's terrain isn't friendly to a glass body in the woods. I decided to build a rail buggy for off-road and keep the Rascal around to build as a street cruiser.

So that's where I stand. I still do fab work for friends race cars, and am even going to the track tonight to help some guys, but I don't miss having a fast car of my own.

fortyeye · Post by **fortyeye** » Sat Oct 28, 2006 8:05 am

Hi ... Dave here. 52, two grown children, started V-dubbin in '69. Many bugs, Bajas, even a notch. Retired from Telecom in 2000 (for 2 whole weeks), co-owned a Kawasaki dealership back in the '80's, raced motocross and 3wheelers in the '70's and '80's, traveled and SCUBA dived around the world. Currently have more projects than time (re-employed with Verizon now), but working on my second retirement. Projects in progress ... '67 Bug (Cal-look resurrection), mid-travel MC powered single seater, 2 seat Jim Frantz (sandcars.net) roller. 2 091's (both with ZF LSD's - thanks Bruce - setup with 930 flanges), a Nissan SR20DET-GTI-R engine for the 2 seater, 2 Yamaha Seca 550 engines, couple of swing-axle transaxles, parts stash for my ultimate type1 (sorry Jake), and a lifetime of tools. I've watched the VW and off-road scene ebb and flow for a long time ... had the pleasure of racing with some legends ... great memories ... ready to make more every day.

jowlz · Post by **jowlz** » Sat Oct 28, 2006 9:37 am

I'm 38 and live with my wife and 2 dogs in a small township about 10 miles from Tunkhannock, PA.

I currently work out of Nashville, TN. I have been driving tour buses for musicians since 1994. The last 2 years I took a gig driving for a Nascar Sponsor. My contract is up Nov 23...but am looking into a couple other options in the racing industry. If they dont pan out I will continue with the music. I plan to retire in 5 years.

I have been into cars since I was young. I spent most of my time as a teen hanging out at my friends dad's bodyshop. My other friends dad owned a junkyard. We would take cars from the junkyard and fix them at the bodyshop. We would sell them and make very good money for 3 teenagers. With a good amount of the money, we invested in what was then cheap real estate.

I started racing when I was young, but I just dont have what it takes to be a real racer. For those who have raced and done fairly well you know what I mean. When things got out of control I tended to err on the side of safety and not push further... I still do fairly well at the drags.

My main interest is home theater. My wife and I are big into movies. Second comes my interest in late model Ford performance cars (sn95 not fox body). Then comes Pontiac muscle cars. Then snowmobiles and motorcycle riding. Following that is VW based off-road cars.

In the fall of 2004, I bought a really old beat up rail. It became my project for that winter. I caught alot of crap from my racing friends, family etc. As the rail progressed my friends started showing more interest in the rail I was building. The first test drive in the rail was in mud and snow. It was aweful. This led to building my Baja.

This Baja will be my last VW project for a while. I have started gathering parts for 2 future projects. One is a tube frame rock crawler(basically a 4 seater rail set up for crawling). The second is a Shelby cobra replica. Maybe another VW somewhere down the road...