Confessions of a Car-Loving Canuck

 

After roughly 25 years of professionally writing and creating content on automobiles, I’ve never taken the time doing something that seems rather simple. I have composed appropriately 2,000 articles related to my favourite topic published online or in various magazines. Additionally, I have been commissioned by several sites as a copywriter. For all the work I created, there may have never been a time where I forced myself to address my motivations behind automobiles. Admittedly, I am one of my least favourite topics. However, I believe I must articulate something so close to me and I will do so thoroughly (This is my car blog after all).

To me, the automobile is one of the most amazing creations ever conceived. Something that we have shaped and given power to has returned to favour to our culture. With so many designs, engines and configurations, automobiles explore the capacity of our imagination for those who have built them as well as those using them. Automobiles are the source of true beauty that delights in so many forms from the utilitarian such as a Ford F-Series pickup truck, a family hauler like a Chrysler minivan or the sexy high performance masterpieces such as a Ferrari 296 GTB. It’s emotions in motion as I have spent my entire life absorbing the essence of what makes the field of interest so special.

When I recognized my path for becoming an automotive writer/journalist, I approached this choice with a rather romance mindset. To me, the automobile is one of the most awesome being created that has enchanted me for as far back as I can remember. Evolving style, purposeful nature, capacities for travelling great distances at high speed as well as how four wheels can present so many glimpses into innovation and imagination; how could I not be attracted to the automobile?

Through the many decades I have spent observing and understanding automobiles, I must admit to being stunned by new realizations. 

From the countless hours spent with drawing cars, playing with Hot Wheels, building scaled plastic models, flipping through the pages of car books and magazines at a young age, one particular early memory involved my dad taking me to Toronto for an event called Speed Sport ‘86. Not only did I get an autograph from, who was at that time, the quintessential Batman actor Adam West and boy wonder Robin actor Burt Ward, I remembered sitting inside the famous Knight Industries Two Thousand (K.I.T.T.) for a few seconds. Several years later, out parents took me and my brother to a custom car show seeing an Ecto 1A from the recently-released Ghostbusters 2 movie. At home, the appearance of Hot Wheels, Micro Machines and the a Kenner Batmobile from the 1989 movie would be seen on the basement floor. My grandfather who had worked for General Motors of Canada would usually save a few brochures for when we visited. During those visits to my grandparents in my younger years, I often asked to see this General Motors video that detailed vehicle assembly.

Through the 1990s, I gained a deepening appreciation for auto racing led by CBC’s coverage of the Molson Indy in Toronto and Vancouver as well as the 1993 Daytona 500. Being brought to see and hear the loud V8 engine of one of Dale Earnhardt’s #3 Goodwrench Chevrolet Monte Carlo show cars that made an appearance at the Burger King in the small Ontario town I lived in at the time was a special moment. Besides limited race’s that aired on antenna television (one being Jacques Villeneuve’s 1995 Indianapolis 500 win), I gained information through magazines such as Stock Car Racing, Popular Mechanics (Darrell Waltrip’s race team’s effort were chronicled by the publication during the 1995 NASCAR Cup season) and Performance Racing News. Through the 1990s, I had my first experiences at short oval Saturday night events as well as my time attending the Molson Indy in Toronto in 1998. The combination of such enthusiastic people extracting the maximum from cars in competition proved captivating. I confess this admiration for motorsports developed in my teens as prior to this period I envisioned pure automobiles as production cars that were street legal. Growing up, I’ve discovered the benefits of inclusion and that an open mind can see so much.

Since attending my first Molson Indy Toronto race in 1998, I've enjoyed a firmly understanding of the thrill of speed. 

My everlasting interest and passion for automobiles eventually allowed a person who had difficulties communicating with the world an avenue to acknowledge and reach out to a distant world. I do recall one occasion where my dedication proved more confrontational when pursuing a class project in high school. Tasked with working in groups to design a small steel wire framed vehicle that would run along a guide line propelled by a model airplane engine I was insistent on certain design parameters. The opportunity was just too inviting for me to apply a sampling of the knowledge I had gained from years of studying the evolution of road car and race car designs. I measured the length of engine and wanted a chassis design that would place it as centrally as possible to promote better weight distribution.

Having already explained my tendencies for being stubborn, you could guess that my design philosophies for the project wasn’t well received by my team. Ignored the first time I brought it forward, my second attempt to mention it was greeted with eye-rolling and interrupted. I absolutely hate it when people roll their eyes at me since it proves more about them than me. Sometimes people may not understand precisely what I’m saying but on those occasions it reveals that someone isn’t bothering to listen. After being ridiculed, I split from the group and created my own design. When the time came to put our vehicles through their paces, mine was beautifully balanced and performed flawlessly and received compliments from the teacher for my creation. I didn’t retrieve it from the classroom at the end of the year but I returned to the classroom about a year later where the students were working on the same project. Interesting enough, almost every vehicle chassis incorporated an engine placement similar to what I used. The idea was sound but I’m left with the impression that the only tainted element was the fact the design trait, in that particular instant, came from me.

Besides standing obsessively firm on the occasional school assignment, my teens involved playing computer racing games including Indianapolis 500: The Simulation and Need for Speed Hot Pursuit as well as constructing over two dozen plastic scale models. A 1/16 scale 1964 1/2 Ford Mustang, a 1953 Ford F-100 pickup truck, a 1937 Cord 812 convertible and a 1957 Chevrolet Bel Air were examples but my more proud model building accomplishments came with constructing a Dale Earnhardt’s 1991 Goodwrench Chevrolet Lumina and Jeff Gordon’s 1993 Dupont Chevrolet Lumina. I even constructed a few non-automobiles including a Hobbycraft kit of the AVRO CF-105 Arrow I purchased at the Canadian Aviation and Space Museum in Ottawa during a school trip. Another favourite was building the 1996 Sunoco Chevrolet Camaro SCCA Trans Am car recreating the machine driven by Ron Fellows. As a proud Canadian, I thoroughly enjoyed the on track successes of Fellows, Jacques Villeneuve, Greg Moore and almost any driver for the country. Years later, I had the pressure to talk with 1997 Formula 1 champion Jacques Villeneuve in preparationsfor an article I published commemorating the 20^th anniversary of his 1995 Indy 500 win. He was remarkable gracious with me but due to differences in time zones, it pains for me to express embarrassment with my planning. Something that seems to happen without fault about me is my ability to foul-up almost every major interaction I have in some manner.

Building plastic model kits was a steady hobby of mine started when I was in my teens. This picture of Dale Earnhardt's Goodwrench Chevrolet Lumina is one of my favourite builds. Instead of constructing through the instructions for what was the 1992 car, I made ia number of modifications including the addition of a grey/silver grille piece on the front air dam, cutting the trunk lid so the fuel cell detail can be seen, replaced the plastic window net with one I thought looked more realistic and I carfeully used gasket sealer for the windows.  

As for my pursuit to be involved in a technical field related to automobiles, I graduated with a three-year technology diploma consisting of nine three-month terms that included three terms of work experience in the sector. I had the fortune of working for two plants under the same company serving the little tiers of the automotive supply chain. Not only was I doing a job I was paid for, I worked with some great people at both facilities. My duties consisted of assisting product managers involved in overseeing parts and components for power seats used in vehicles such as the Chevrolet/GMC GMT800 platform pickup trucks as well as a host of injection-molded plastic pieces. The experience was ultimately the rare occasion in my working life where I had co-workers take time to realize who I am. As hopeful as I was that this experience would lead into a long involvement in the automotive manufacturing sector, it was during that time in college I became compelled to express my interests through a journalistic capacity.

A requirement for my graduation from college in the early 2000s was undertaking a technical project. For my project, I researched and worked on a design for an aftermarket flexible cargo loading system for pickup truck beds. The intention of my design was to study the creation of a method to allow easy loading and unloading through a motorized setup and rails. The model I created in the lower pictures depicts a general enclosed cargo box but my idea was to propose the creation of a host of specialized cargo solutions that could be easily and securely installed in the truck bed. admittedly, there's a lot of crudeness in my design. 

I used to spend a great deal of free time drawing cars when I was young. Somethings I drew existing vehicles but I also enjoyed conceptualizing my own car designs. The designs above were submitted to Motor Trend for a design contest in 2003 with the theme viewing fhs future of automotive customization.

When I entered college, I was drawn to the campus had its own newspaper and decided to introduce myself to the editor. There was always a deep paradox regarding myself. I had long admired automotive media in many forms. From reading Motor Trend, Car & Driver and World of Wheels (a now-defunct Canadian car magazine my grandpa first introduced to me), I was also attracted to television programs such as CBC’s Driver’s Seat, TSN’s Motoring series and, of course, MotorWeek. It was a happy day for me in 1997 when Speedvision was added to cable in Canada. A lifelong complication for me has been stepping forward and having the confidence to share my thoughts and opinions on my favourite topic. Was what I felt and experienced with automobiles something worth sharing? Is there an audience that cares? It’s always been a struggle to get to launch into an initiative fearing inadequacy or failure. Finding myself fighting to accelerate with a long first gear in my transmission I’m left with the realization that speed in communicating is not a strong suit for me. Through writing about automobiles, it presents me with some ability to compose my ideas constructively in a manner that isn’t so time sensitive. My experience is a well-written story is worth reading at any time.

An article I had published in World of Wheels magazine in 2006 exploring the future incorporation of plant-based polymers in automobiles.

Thankfully he was receptive to submissions and decided to write an article about the Georgian College Auto Show. Once published, it was one of the greatest feelings when I received a compliment on that article. The following year, the newspaper’s editor found me in a hallway and requested that I write an article about the upcoming event. Stoked by this early encouragement, I sought out chances to reach wider audiences with my work. Immediately following my college graduation, I had articles published in Inside Track Motorsport News, Sport Compact National, Canadian Auto Dealer and would have articles in the same World of Wheels magazine I read for the first time more than a decade prior. Later on I became involved with sport import tuner publication Modified Magazine and would spread my words across the internet on Askmen.com, Autotropolis.com as well as Automoblog.net. Content of my articles would range from vehicle news, new technologies, event coverage, car care advice, auto racing and product reviews. Over the past decade, if you had been looking for information relating to a new or used car, there’s a chance you may have read some of my work without knowing. I am as equally compelled by the rich beautiful history and traditions of automobiles as I am fascinated and excited by how the future of motoring can be shaped. The evolution of driving is an inevitability but it can only be achieved while the venturing soul of more than a century lives in our modern vehicles. A happy balance exists in everything but requires two committed parties who are not scared of a little hard work.

I look at this picture and am reasonably sure that the Ford GT appreciated more gracely with age than the guy in the photo.

With Xslspeedreporter.com and later Carfyi.ca, it has been my goal to explore topics and articles that haven’t found a place for with other publications and with full creative freedom. There have been so many stories and people I have discovered over the decades through my interest in automobiles through my own web spaces. This work on my own has granted me with an opportunity to flex my creative muscles; an exercise I grow concerned that some of us aren’t committing enough effort to in recent years. Our successes are best rewarded when we open ourselves to asking questions, searching for new methods and technologies for making a better world, appreciate as well as celebrate what makes us all special. It is my ambition that my work demonstrates my adherence to the stated beliefs.

When you find this kind of love in this world, one way to give it value is to share it and allow others to connect with their own senses in a close manner. While automotive culture has been deep in my heart, it’s been a particular joy when I have seen others pursuing their own desires in the name of one’s love. As every automobile develops its own character is every bolt, every panel, every mile driven. To me, spotting and celebrating the great character of others is the ultimate achievement. At the same time, I’m someone who hasn’t had the easiest time connecting with other people. This has led to many embarrassing interactions when I worked to assemble friendships and long-term working relationships. Admittedly, the regret of those moments has brought me down in recent years.

I admit that I’m running on a transmission with a very tall first gear. This translates into the articles I produce taking a little more time to get published. It could be misunderstood this means I’m slower but that is a falsehood. When I present any story to readers, it is my goal to use the extra time to think about the topic or news item with as much thought I can give to it. There are so many sources in this world for getting your information or entertainment and deeply value those who choose to read my work by making sure I am giving you a specially-crafted experience worthy of your time.

The sands of time do not flow up in the hourglass. However, time has not taken away my passion and joy for automobiles.

Do you think I could have made this summary of my background and motivations for generating automotive content shorter? Brevity has its place and some argue someone using too many words just can’t get to the point. Short points, sound bites, slogans; our societies are surrounded by quick messages. At the end I’m just a car-loving Canuck who wants to make a contribution to this world by telling stories through what I hope is a unique form devotion, professionalism and endurance that readers will enjoy.