This is a very pre-Google conversation.

Ever since I can remember, I've always had to have something to do, I've needed something to occupy my hands and my time. And by saying that, what I really mean is that I have to be nearly overwhelmed by options and possibility.  I like to have more than a few things going on at one time.  Probably why I like my line of work so much.

As a kid, I'd spend an entire rainy day indoors building things with Legos.  I figured out how to make trucks that could be launched off a dining room table onto a hardwood floor and land with precision and not come apart.  I built a full semi-trailer that had lights (this was back in the early '80's before the 'fancy' Legos) and I could drive around the house with two battery packs (one for steering and another for forward motion).  Friends and I built a fort in the back yard that was concealed in the trees--so well in fact that none of the adults knew it existed until they found five giggling 9 year olds in the pile of branches.  We'd build deep mud pit traps to keep girls out-well the only girl that knew where we were was Tommy's aunt, Dolores, and she only fell victim to the mud pit once.  After that incident, she'd stand at the entrance to the back yard and yell out our names.  Until we couldn't take it anymore and gave up and came out of hiding.  But I digress...

I learned to tear down, prep and rebuild VW engines at the age of twelve...and by the age of 26, I'd purchased, torn down, rebuilt and sold over 30 Volkswagens-mostly the Type III model.  I'd really only built three or four that I was really happy with in the end..and I've always remained loyal to the hatchback/station wagon/estate model of car over the years.  Sometimes, that loyalty was only in my head-I owned an Oldsmobile Intrigue and a Nissan Maxima SE, but inevitably came back to the wagon/hatch market with my current car, a 2008 Mazdaspeed 3.

I've been looking online at old Volkswagens again...there aren't many out here in the midwest-what with the snow/salt and rust issues.  But I'd like to get into restoring one last VW-this one I'll keep and drive in the summer as long as I live in the snow climates.  I might be able to find one in California, sans rust, and bring it back to IL for a restoration.  Maybe I'll have to hide it out in storage for a while (until I finish school, perhaps?) before I can get to working on it.


It's not that I don't have enough to do-I'm in school full time, I work full time, I have a great girlfriend, plenty of other hobbies (architecture, poetry, music, reading, writing, etc.) but I find that there's some mechanical element missing.  I've been off and on screwing around with my Speed 3 but there isn't much I want to change on it-it's a great car and I'd like to keep it a bit of a 'sleeper', if you will, and change isn't a part of that design.

Maybe this is my 'mid-life' thing...I don't want a Corvette or a Porsche.  I don't need a Hummer to offset some other grand inadequacy in my life.  Things are going great...and somehow, a Volkswagen Squareback would make it a little bit better.

I'd love to build/own one of the old 1967 Volvos...but it's out of my league.  If I were to win the lottery, however, I would build/buy one in a second.  Any idiot can go buy a Lamborghini...there are far fewer 600hp 1967 Volvos running around.