When you have owned and driven some of the fastest production cars around it makes it hard to get excited about a classic or performance car unless it is truly something unique! Nowadays I am responsible for a nice stable of luxury performance cars and some classics. I reciently met Ekber Onuk, owner of Onuk Competition Development. It is always a great pleasure to meet a true motor head speed freak that is also a engineer! His cars are showing the world that Turkey has a supercar worthy of anyones desire.

I started young, so I have owned more vehicles than most people.

I bought my first vehicle at 14 years of age. It was a 1940 International Pickup. I had my eyes on it since moving to Lysight Wyoming in the late 70's and soon found out who owned it and agreed to buy it. Last time I was there it is still parked not far from where I left it. Most young boys like cars, trucks, airplanes, ect. I once tried to make a list of all the cars I have owned, I stopped  counting at over 100, not because of lack of more to add to the list but because it seemed pointless. I owned many for a few days and some for a few hours! I have built customs, restored classics, modified just about every thing in-between and destroyed a few in the process too! I have crashed on purpose so you can't call those accidents really but I have had a few pretty nasty wrecks along the way. I like things uncommon and like to do all that life offers.

My dad gave me my first motorcycle when I was about 13, a Honda XR75, I drove the wheels off that bike all over Wyoming. My friends with bikes would pick up the bits that fell off it and give them back when we stopped. Dad then got ma a brand new Kawasaki KE175! I kept for a long time. I even went deer hunting with it once!

I still morn the loss of a 1965 ISO Revolta I missed because I couldn't get the $2000 the widower wanted for it!

The first truck My dad bought me was broken but it was all he would spend on me. It was a 1965 chevy 1/2 ton long bed with a strait 6 and had a broken timing gear, I fixed it only to come home from school to find he had sold it to his friend! I was mad as hell! He then took me to buy the truck I really wanted with the money he sold the first one for! It was parked next to the one I first got and was the one I had knocked on the door of the house it was parked behind to ask if it was for sale. The one I really wanted was a 1969 black chevy 1/2 ton with a 396 big block! this was the nicest fitted truck chevy made that year. Problem was the engine was worn out and smoked so bad it looked like a mosquito fogger! This truck was my first job at a full rebuild with some custom work. First I was 15 and width have the money or a driver's license! I ended up with a 1967 chevy 427 with 435 HP  in a 1969 truck with hand tooled leather interior trimmings.

This buss I turned into a motorhome. This picture was taken on its first shakedown tour before any interior work was done. I installed a small straight six cylinder just to move it around and ended up leaving it in  and driving it loaded many, many hard miles.

This is a 1942 Dodge power wagon of the command car series, very rare. I traded some work for a friend for this. The body is a fargo, dodges sister company, civilian body with 4x4 drivetrain made for the military.

The star on the rear is the way it was before WWII. Another one I should never have sold!

This is my second corvette, a 1973 convertible with a removable hard top, I bought this for $1800.00 in the 90's.

File this picture under don't try this at home. I drive fast, when I was younger I tried to drive long distances in very little time. This was in the original cannon ball run type of races. this picture taken by me with a disposable camera while enjoying the scenery! Do the math and you will see my average speed about 113 mph, but remember I wasn't on the freeway most of the time and had to slow for towns so on the good parts I went as fast as possible and slowed only when I had too! dThose where the days, young and invincible.

This is a willmac trike kit me and my friend put together in high school, I later bought it from him. This was kinda tricky to drive on bad roads! Hell it was hard to drive on good roads!

Thank God you can't see the colors of this 1967 chevelle! In this picture its metallic vomit with a midnight blue top. While learning auto painting I was allowed to use any mis-mixed colors in my practice work on my own car. This poor car was painted so many times I had to strip it before the final job! I got this car working in a body shop when the owner brought it in after a snowplow ran into it and sliced open the drivers side rear quarter panel from tail light to door frame! I got it for $300 and a 32  calibre auto pistol. rebuilt the whole car for my girl friend, Jill

This is a 1973 chevy blazer with a hard half top kit that makes it look like a pickup. It is the first 'monster' truck me and a friend did in high school, the first one ever done on southwest oklahoma! It had 8in body lift, 20in suspension lift, all chromed out under the hood and drive shafts, front end, 44 monster mudder tyres, triple shocks, sony stereo, duel spotlights.  I had lots of trouble in Colorado trying to get it registered for plates, seems it was too large! Lift laws suck!

This is a 1953 willy's jeep fc150 very rare. When I first saw one in the rocky mountains I knew I had to have one! I have had 3 of these, this one is mostly stock with the exception of the cover for the rear I made from muffler pipe and a tarp. This was one of the best off road "jeeps" I have ever driven. When you top out a hill you can see out the windshield and see down so no blind spot in front! It approach angle and departure was really good. It also had a big cast iron weight bolted in the rear frame cross brace. The balance, when the back was loaded completely, was perfect. It was noisy and low powered but great off road!

This little jeep was a blast to ride the trails in the rocky mountains with, it was very well balanced and never got me into a place I could not get back out of.

I thought it looked like it was missing something so I added the cover and the frame to hold it up.

This one is a later version with the wide frame. I did it with Cherokee axles and a wagoner transfer case and a small block 350 and a 400 trans, rear disc brakes and a hydraulic dump bed and cab tilt, 36 inch mudders

This is Butcher my custom built 1968 Honda CT 90 trail bike, It has its own blog showing the whole process of making it. gadgitmansplace.blogspot.com

This is my first Honda civic, me and my wife put this car through hell! I had never owned a small Japanese car and soon I was loving it much more driving in Denver with it, easy to whip around in city traffic and a breeze to park. One rainy day I was following my wife home on my Yamaha xs550 she was driving this little green civic through Denver. It was raining very hard and I was about half a block behind her when it looked like she turned left, I was thinking 'where the hell is she going?' Well she was just driving along and the streets where a little flooded so when she thought she was driving in just some kinda deep water the swift moving water, about 2 foot deep, the civic floated along with the water going across the road and down the side street! as I got closer I saw 3 firemen run after the floating Honda then I realized the car was floating, not driving, down the side street! Wife was hanging out the window screaming for rescue, the firemen wading out to retrieve her. The brave rescuers just grabbed the little car and pushed it to higher ground, me watching laughing soaked sitting in the rain on my bike. She was really mad by the time we got home on my bike because now she too was soaked and her Honda was flooded and needing drained! I found the easiest way to clean out a flooded motor is to drain it then fill it all the way up with diesel fuel, let it sit for a couple hours then drain it. After about 2-3 times of this fill it with cheap light oil and run it idling for about an hour and hope for the best. We took out the seats and all the carpet and the door panels and spray it with disinfectant so mold wouldn't start growing. The wife soon wanted her own Honda so we got a Accord for her.

When I went to look at this car to buy the lady told me it was a 1942 ford! It is obviously a 1942 chevy! I gave $1500 for it, the only rust on it was about the size of a quarter! I looked for years for a car of this era with not rust. This one had already been fitted with a mustang II front end and 302 and C4 trans, then taken all down to rebuild and repaint and the guy had a heart attack and died, the car sat for 3 years before I got it.

This car was mostly disassembled and laying all around the large barn/garage when I payed for it and took a few days to get it all together and moved to my shop.

The only rust on this car is in this picture. At about 2 a clock in front of the rear wheel you can see the small rust hole on the bottom of the inner fender skirt.

This is a shot of the passenger floorboard, no rust! No rust means prepping for paint is a breeze! No worries about rot creeping back into the body.

3 Wheelers where everywhere in Idaho and now you can find them laying around for free or very cheap! I had a few I revived and more just for parts. This one was my favorite fishing buggy.

The people living in the house behind the mechanic shop I worked at put this out by the trash dumpster in the alley. I asked if he was really throwing away a motorcycle and he said you want it take it away, so to my house went this old Maico!

My $50 fishing car, 75 el camino that I put a free 250 six cylinder from a pickup and a front bench out of a citation, pulled my 14ft aluminum john boat just fine!

One of the guys I got to know at the "auto hobby shop'. He taught me all about Model T fords, even how to hand crank start one and driving one off-road! This is auto history USA style and all mechanics should check out the way it was done  back when cars where the new tech!

This was our sheriff's dept jail car, a Mercury Marauder! What a car.

Green Chevy Van #1, I ended up havng 3 green chevy vans. This one met with a pine tree after I fell asleep on the way home one night. I went right out and found another green chevy shorty van with no windows.

This was one truck I owned for a short time, I used it to haul wood for heat and take trash to the dump. In these days, the 90's, you could still find this kind of truck kinda cheep.

This one I called the 'stealth urban assault camper'. It blended in well with delivery trucks but was actually a motorhome inside with a stove, oven and bed. More on this one on my 'Mobil life' blog.

This is what I called telecom van #2 the Astro and Safari vans did really good for me, the all wheel drive is really worth having!

I was the manager of a place called 'the auto hobby shop' on a military installation. This was one of the best benefits that the  active military and retired military has to offer, they call it recreation!

I saw a lot of nice cars here and helped many to learn what it takes to maintain and repair their cars, trucks, boats, motorcycles and motorhomes.

I couldn't resist a picture of these 2 great cars together! I know both of the guys that own them. The 59 Impala convertible the guy bought Brand New in early 1959!

I learned about Model T Fords here, even learned how to hand crank one and how to drive it! I encourage all auto mechanics and transmission technicians to learn the way to operate and how to drive one. Its interesting that its so different to drive and start up! The transmission and brakes are really surprising to a modern technician.

While working in the jail one day the Sheriff says 'come with me to pick up your new car' so we go to the ford dealer and he gives me the keys to a Mercury Marauder! It was really cool with Sheriff's dept lighting

My first Mercedes a 65 s220. Loved this car, had a strait 6 with duel 4 barrel carbs, 4 spd.

My first Fiero and blue van #1(ex-air force) and my 3rd tow truck, a 69 chevy 3/4 ton. In my back yard, Denver

These 2 Mustangs where from UTS in Evergreen, a race car restoration shop I worked in part time while running my tow company. The guys that ran it ,Walt and Chip Haines where avid race fans and Walt even drove for Ford in Europe along side the great Sterling Moss. I had a blast working with these guys. They really know the stuff on making old mustangs go fast! These are there own race cars, and they got used lots! I got to know these cars well and built a few differant exhaust systems for them.

Not only fords in UTS, exotics and classics where always around. The dyno was busy as not many around in those days!

This is my newest bike, 2015 Honda Grom MSX125. I have hanged it around a little bit. I removed the rear fender extension, license plate holder and rear blinkers are now integrated into the tail light. I sawed off the rear foot peg part of the rearsets. removed the rear lower fender and added a splash guard with plate bracket and added license plate lights that are in the bolts that hold the plate on. I installed a front sprocket with 1 more tooth, removed the factory exhaust and air box and installed a MAD underslung shorty exhaust and a Chimera intake system and K&N filter. Had to have a iPhone holder and bar end mirrors, I also removed the seat strap and put front flush mount LED blinkers. This little bike is a blast to drive around town! Fast enough for non-highway traffic, small enough to park on the sidewalk and splitting lanes was never so much fun!

This is my early 70's Honda CT70H or trail 70H the H means its a manual clutch, very rare model. I just had to have one after I restored a regular CT70. I actually went to buy a CT70 parts bike and I saw this one in the garage under piles of stuff and asked if I could buy it, she said sure but you have to dig it out!

This is my ST90, the big brother of the CT70. This one has a CM90 motor with a manual clutch, I don't really like the auto clutches of these early bikes. Don't get me wrong, they work great and are really good to learn how to shift a motorcycle. I changed this one around by changing the front and rear sprockets for speed, but taller handle bars on and large grips, street tires,and a larger carb.

This is my 1967 Honda Mini Dream or CA160 its like a 3/4 sized Dream! This bike is mostly stock and original, right down to the seat! It has Harley Sportster mufflers. I rode this to work for about a month, it would do 65-70 mph all day! Not bad for a 160cc.

This is my 1966 Honda Dream 305. This bike too was mostly original when I got it, all it needed was some wiring, a clutch, carb rebuild,a battery and some tires! I drove this bike all over Southern California. These old Honda twins have a great sound.

After I put the solo seat on the Mini Dream I liked it even more! This poor Mini got ran over in a public parking lot! Seems the guy in the lifted pickup didn't see it when he backed up, hit it so hard it bent the frame! Its ok, I fixed it all up.

I bought this 1965 Mini Dream from craigslist, it had only 2240 miles on it and sat unridden since 1974. I did a complete restore on it. Notice the nice motorcycle lift in my living room, when shopping for a hydraulic bike lift make sure it matches your interior decor, if not change the decor!

I have owned lots of bikes and had never really thought about a side car. One day a friend was telling me about a diesel dirt bike he wanted to find so we did a google search and I saw a picture of a diesel conversion to a Russian military sidecar bike and just had to have one! within a month bought one! this is what it looked like when I was done with the mods and had it running great!

This is what it looked like when i brought it home, needing a complete rebuild, tires and lots of mods to make it ridable in Southern California Highway traffic! When I was done it would do 75mph, drive straight, and stop straight! I designed and installed a oil cooling system that didn't use the engines oil pump, doubled the oil capacity and could cool the oil with out the bike running! This bike always drew crowds and everyone wanted a ride! This sidecar rig has its own blog Russian Dnepr blog

This is a 1975 Z50 with a tank from a earlier Z50. I found this on craigslist also! Changed the tank and rebuilt the engine and trans, repaint, ect.

Thes are QA50 Honda mini trails and have only a 2 spd transmission it is the smallest commonly found minibikes in the USA.

More to come....