Okay, a little about me.
Back in high school, I bought myself a 1978 Pontiac Firebird Esprit. I thought it was the coolest car ever when I bought it the summer before grade 12. Black w/ T-tops, a V8 under the hood and NO screamin' chicken...I didn't think I could get away with the chicken if I didn't have a mullet. Of course, I thought I was pretty cool until the engine would no longer hold any fluid...so off the the auto shop at school it went. I spent most of my "chemistry" class in the auto shop...didn't do any good for the marks, but the car was on the road again by spring. We ended up pulling the engine and replacing all of the frost plugs and put on a 4bbl carb and intake while we were at it (auto salvage find). I couldn't afford headers or any other "mods", so I put on cheapo turbo mufflers that just dumped down in front of the rear axle. Luckily chemistry was the only class that I failed...barely. This was when I really caught the "car bug", and it only got worse as time went by.
The morning after my graduation, I drove the car 1100kms to Edmonton, Alberta. Half way there, one of the rocker arms split in two...7 cylinder it is...the rest of the way, like a fog machine...I'm sure it was great for the environment... Once in Alberta, I tried to insure the car. Was I ever in for a shock, in B.C. the insurance was $400 per year (this was the late '80s), in Alberta over $2500 per year. Part of it was moving from a town of 2200 people including surrounding area to a city with over 700,000. Also being a new driver in Alberta and driving a "muscle car" (although I don't know if a 305 really qualifies) they saw me coming. So, no car for the first year of college...not that cool, riding the bus...but it saved me a lot of money and allowed me to drink a lot more (legal age in Alberta is 18).
As mentioned above, I started to party like a rock star...not that great for college studies...flunked out of Electronic Engineering...oops, sorry Dad!! Anyway, I replaced the engine in the Firebird, insured it and headed back to B.C. I got a job at a ski hill...remember I'm driving a Firebird? Yeah, really great for driving up icy/snowy roads everymorning to work as a lift operator...forgot to mention that the heater core died while I was there...no heat...in the mountains...have you ever driven a car that has more ice on the inside of the windshield? I hadn't either...had to scape the windshield while I drove, since my breath was freezing on the glass in front of me. I still thought it was a cool car!
After that fiasco of a winter, I moved back to Edmonton (in my cool - actually cold - Firebird). By this point, I think I had worked on almost every part of my car, so I got a job as a partsman at an auto parts store. Finally I had a regular paying job, so what did I do? I took out a loan a bought a 1986 Chevrolet Camaro Berlinetta with a V6 and a 5spd. I loved that car, good on gas and lots of fun to drive... That was a great job, I got paid to talk to people about cars and working on them...the pay, well...it sucked...after a year of that, I figured it was time to move on. I was ready for the big step...MANAGEMENT... Wal-Mart were the suckers that agreed with me. The pay wasn't great, but it was better than selling parts. I went through their training program, and all the trainees were teased that if they did poorly, they would be sent to the Northern most Wal-Mart in Canada...Yellowknife. Of course, we all teased each other and had a lot of fun with the training. I did quite well with my training and got very good reviews, so of course I requested the transfer to Yellowknife. I figured why not? I wouldn't do it if I was married with kids...off to Yellowknife. Of course the Camaro wouldn't be the ideal northern climate car, so I sold it...at an auction...man, I probably should have just given it away for what I got for it... (did I forget to mention that I was engaged at the time??)
A month after getting to Yellowknife, NWT, Canada (google maps...yup very cold in the winter) I went back to Alberta to get married...atleast there were no kids...yet...this is now October, and as I left Yellowknife it was starting to snow. We got married and went on our honeymoon in Jamaica (+36C with high humidity), stayed there for the week and had a blast. Flew in to Calgary, Alberta and the weather was okay. The next day we got into our car a drove to Yellowknife...when we arrived the temp was...wait for it...-36C...yup, within two day we went from +36C to -36C. It just got colder and colder from then on...I actually took a picture of the thermometer one day at dinner time -56C...I don't care where you are, that's fricken cold!!!
Ahh Yellowknife, that's where I found snowmobiling...up there, you can ride one to work, or down the street to go grocery shopping...when I pulled onto town and stopped at the stop light, a "sled" pulled up next to me. When the light went green, he was gone in a cloud of ice dust...and I was there spinning my all season tires...I wanted one...being that I was carless (we were in my wife's car), I started the quest for snowmobile...it took about 6 months, but she finally gave in. I got an end of season deal on a Yamaha Venture 485 air cooled machine. What a blast!! My buddy at work was jealous, and being my boss (read HIGHER INCOME), bought a brand new liquid cooled 440 something (I think it was a Arctic Cat, but I'm not sure). The top end was similar, but he had better accelleration...so my theory was...don't slow down, just keep'er pinned...within the first couple of rides the next season, one of the other guys at work had bought himself a sled as well...but a liquid cooled 500...used, but blew us out of the water...lucky for us, he was more cautous...all was good. Mid way through that season, our "Boss" lost control trying to keep ahead of me, and missed the corner...I hadn't expected the slet to "go vertical" when it hit the tree with one ski, but it did...he went over the bars and missed the tree, his slet went about 10ft up the tree...and landed on its tail light in the snow bank...kinda funny now, but a little scary at the time...he was a little shook up, but okay...the sled was mostly okay, but with a bent ski...and probably steering issues...we got him "unplanted" and made it back to his place...after that, I just lead the way...and waited on the lake for them to show up...it was a great season. At this point, my wife was sick of being so far from anything close to a city...and she was now pregnant...so I requested a transfer back to civilization...
I'll save you the boring bits, and say the Wal-Mart and I had a "parting of the ways". I found a job as an apprentice electrician in Calgary, Alberta...this was the best move of all. Well, maybe not at first since I was getting paid $8/hr...I had to sell my "toy" and buy a truck for work...after being in Calgary for about six months, I realized that almost every other contractor in town paid two to three dollars an hour more...so another employment change was in order...I changed contractors and went to school...after school I got my raise...$12/hr...not bad for the times...time to buy a house...man oh man...thank god I did that then...house prices were starting too rise...went to school again...another decent raise...fast forward a year...wife is pregnant again...twins...two bedroom house, three kids...time to upgrade...look at the market...housing had gone up about 20% within a year and a half...wow, and a three bedroom house was an extra $40,000...gulp...couldn't afford to go to school at the time, so I "challenged" the schooling...made it by one percent...71% and you need 70% to pass...woo hoo...another raise...qualified for the new house...
I stayed with that contractor for three and a half years...I finished my apprenticeship and moved to industrial electrical...and have been with the same company for the last 7 years...over that time, I have obviously had to change vehicles as the family grew and our needs changed...but it is still the Firebird that I appreciate the most...it got me hooked on cars and tought me the most mechanically speaking.
Anyway, that's enough for now...I will post more with my thoughts on the "motorized toyz"...
Later.
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