I was born in Waterloo, IA, and adopted by two great parents. They told me later that I was a replacement for their dog "Spike".. Since they only had one dog, I never had any brothers an sisters! I was raised in Farmersburg, IA.. about 14 mi from Prarrie Du Chien, WI. When I was present, there were 247 other townies. My dad was a bridge and culvert contractor, with many employees, so we always had nice cars. I thought I was going to be driving his business car, a 1961 Pontiac Ventura, but just before my 16th birthday, he took me to a local Ford dealer and had me pick out my own. Ended up ordering a 1962 Galaxie 500 Coupe. He restricted me to a 352 auto, which my friends and I found out was faster in second than in third. It needed a valve job at 18,000 mi!
I graduated from St. Olaf College in 1967. During those years I had a Pontiac Catalina 421 tri-power, a Rivera, and a Corvette coupe. My girlfriend, now wife (Wendy) had my Vette, my senior year, as St.O didn't allow us to have cars. We married in 68' while we were both at U of IA, where we had a HO Firebird and a Shelby 500 Mustang. The next summer we lived in Freeport, Grand Bahama IS. I got a Shelby 350 Conv stuck in a seaweed bog, the tide covered the car over the hood, and what a mess... and no Ins. Later I worked at Maytag in Marketing Research, ran my father's office operations, owned 2 gift shops, and currently have majority ownership in a large apartment complex. Over my car years I have owned around 50, mostly new vehicles. We were blessed with 3 children, the 2 boys already mentioned, and our daughter Heidi, a Target Pharmacist. We also have 3 grandsons. Our kids like cars almost as much as me. I have a couple big boats and 2 SeaDoo's. My other toy is our 22 sport boat, with a 502, that goes over 70 mph. I've only blown it up once, and fried a piston another time~! I have many stories about my stupidity and ignorance, but you have already figured that out~!
Rob M.