Caroline: What Fuels This Gearhead!

It was 2017, when I bought my first muscle car. At the time, I didn’t have much of anything to show for my efforts in the career I was pursuing at the time. But I bought a 1969 Ford Fairlane fastback that I fully intended to make a daily, since I had nothing else! That car was so rusty that my friends referred to it as the ‘soft-shell crab.’ It was so bad we had to put 4x4 posts on the frame rails when we had to put it on the lift. Despite all of its’ impure metal, I loved that car. Her name was Ellie. We had a shared understanding that she could only breakdown on my days off from work, haha. Although she consistently needed something tuned or fixed, that car brought me so much joy. But aside from the car, it was the people she brought me.  The people that came over to me in parking lots to share stories of their first memory in their classic are what really caught me. I saw people absolutely light up at the site of THIS CAR! Of all cars, I didn’t expect it. But this is why I fell in love with cars & the community of people that follow. 

I truly underestimated my passion at first. I have always enjoyed tinkering, taking things apart, making things work, etc. Working on cars came fairly naturally to me. So much so, I would find myself doing it daily. I am constantly fascinated with learning new skills to improve my cars. The realization of this hobby being a passion of mine came from a bad day. I was just having ‘one of those days’ and I felt down on myself. On these days, I typically go into an auto-pilot mode and think about what’s got me down. But on that particular day, I found myself tearing down an engine. Eventually, I found it to be productive but also a really enjoyable place that made me happy despite whatever I was feeling. When I really wrapped my head around understanding it to be a passion, that’s when I decided that’s where I wanted to go with my career.

UGH! I can’t choose one, honestly. Sometimes I am feeling like I need a solid medium roast, Columbian Bam Bam. But then sometimes, I need something more high octane like the Big Block Dark Roast!

I used to be a half and half with a spoonful of sugar girl. But I have fallen in love with sweet cream. It just has the perfect pre-mixed balance of both cream and sugar. Plus all I have to do is throw in a splash and out the door I go!

Although I may sound a tad biased, my 1974 VW Beetle Volksrod ‘ The Speedle’. This car not only was so fun to build, but also taught me so much! I learned a lot about fabrication, engine building, and overall vehicle design. It was actually my first full build from start to finish. It really allowed me to invest in my creativity and allowed me to get my foot in the VW community (which is amazing by the way!)

Man, you’re going to make me pick one? This may sound a bit conceded at first, haha. But getting a feature in one of my favorite magazines! I have many things that I have been able to accomplish, but this one takes the cake. I have been in love with VolksMania & VolksAmerica magazines forever! When they reached out to do a story on ME, I was blown away. It just truly made me feel like everything I had been doing to my personal VW, was magazine-worthy. That may sound a bit silly given the fact that I am an automotive creator online, but I don’t do it for vanity. I really do it for the hobby and the community. So with them reaching out like that, it felt like a real accomplishment in my career!

(The Magazine comes out Fall of 2023 - September time)

You just have to get out and #getwrenchin . To me, confidence is everything when it comes to working on cars. I say that because, confidence is where you start. You have to trust that you can do it. I’m not saying it’s all easy, but having that confidence, will push you forward. Have the confidence to change your cabin air filter, then you will have the confidence to change your oil, and so on. You just have to start, that’s why #getwrenchin is our motto at HHWheels. We want to inspire people to get out in their garage and #getwrenchin