I was born on December 15, 1945 in Berlin, Pennsylvania, Somerset county.  This is rural Pennsylvania mostly small farms and very small towns.  Somerset made national news over the last few years first with the 9/11 plane that was brought down by passengers.  Most recent by rescue of the nine trapped miners at Quecreek mine.

At the age of 3, our family Dad, Mom and four boys and Grandma moved to Pittsburgh.  My Dad couldn’t find work driving trucks, so he took a job in the Post Office.  It was a great place to grow up.  Out my front door was the great steel town of Pittsburgh, and out my back door was the woods.  Wilderness, with all finds of adventure. 

At the age of 18, I got my first car, a ’57 Chevy, which I paid $200.  It was a stick shift and I had never driven one before.  The ride home was a real adventure.  The car was in bad shape so I decided to take all of the chrome off and fill in the holes.  After sanding, I decided to try my hand at painting with a spray gun.  I was real “hot stuff” until my Dad made me sell it because my college grades were slipping.

In 1968, McDonnell Douglas offered me a job in Santa Monica after I graduated the University of Pittsburgh.  I jumped at the chance.  The difference between Pittsburgh, PA and California in 1968 was night and day to me.  In 1968 California was a paradise and I loved it.

In 1985, I met a neighbor, Walter Drew who published a magazine about antique autos.  He said “buy a Ford, they are cheap and you can get parts easily”.  My first was a 1915 touring owned by Jay Hills.  It had been driven to Detroit and back with Orville Enyeart and others.  I built my second T, a 1910 touring from 1990 – 1993 (sold in 2002).  Since I couldn’t find one to restore I built in piece by piece.  I started to build my third T, a 1911 Town car in 2000, my first year of retirement and finished it 18 months later.  My present project is a Jitney bus, I hope.