Happy Halloween 09!

Well, Halloween came and went. We had a lot of fun this evening with the kids. This is Carters 3rd time out trick-or-treating and he did great! Around here, and probably most places, we have T-o-T for about 2 hours and Carter did great sticking it out for the entire time, and not because we wanted him to. He was on a mission for CANDY! The neighborhood we were in is a pretty small development, about 5 or 6 streets in about 100 acres or less, but he did it. My wife and I were about spent after the first 45 minutes, and our nephew went back home after about an hour and a half.

Positive Perception Christian Car and Truck Club

As I mentioned in my intro (Oct. 2009 first post and under header), my wife and I started a car club in Feb. 2008. We are a non-denominational Christian club with the mission to show people and have club members that can be part of the custom car culture without being one of the stereotypical people who do nothing more than cause trouble in public. I myself used to run around with those types of people in past clubs, or people who partied all the time, getting into drugs and alcohol, and did little or nothing to give tuners, hot rodders, minitruckers, etc. a good name. With this club we hoped to change all of that, if not in the scene, at least with our members, as well as be followers of Christ, giving thanks to Him everyday for the chance to own and build our cars in His glory.

By being a Christian car club, some people may think we have limited ourselves in our membership opportunities. But it's our "job" as Christians to help others who might not be believers understand and become closer to God, and I believe we can do this especially with the younger crowd through our car club, sharing a common interest in custom cars and trucks. We don't expect to be the biggest or the best in the world, we just want to do our part and bring people closer to God.

Since Feb. 2008 we've been trying to bring people in to the club, but we feel we have a hurdle since we don't have anything on the road that we would want to put the club name on that people would honestly associate with a car club. Our new Chrysler van is all we have at the moment and we haven't put the club name on yet since we can't do anything to it without voiding the warranty. We have my project truck in the barn, but it hasn't moved since we moved in 2007. I've posted many times on different forums, our churches website and even on Craigslist to try to get some interest going. We're somewhat new to our church and haven't gotten involved in any groups yet, or gotten acquainted with anyone into cars, but I think that would really help.

All people and all types of vehicles are welcome to join the club. Vehicle types include, but not limited to: Sport Compacts, Full-size and Mini Trucks, Lowriders, 4x4's, Race Cars, Classics, Hot Rods, Muscle Cars, and anything in between! We are always looking for new members!

We are looking for people who are able to participate in many club events and activities. Meetings for members will be held at various places, but will be primarily in the south Dayton/Centerville area.

If you live in Dayton, Oh and surrounding areas and you are interested in becoming part of the club, please join our forum and post any questions you might have, or start new discussions. Visit the club site at http://www.positiveperception.co.cc.

Dream Cars

Here it is, my list of MY dream cars. Most are cars most enthusiasts would want, and some people wouldn't think twice about sending them to the junk yard. But these cars and trucks are either what I've had before, or have always wanted for whatever reason.

The list is to show what car or truck with what engine, transmission, interior and "style" they would be when finished.

On with the list!

Cars Wanted
Year	Make	Model	Engine	Trans	Color	Interior	Style
65-84	Cadillac	Coupe DeVille	500 Cad	Auto	Green	Tan Leather	Lowrider
98-02	Cadillac	Eldorado	Northstar	Auto	Black	Tan Leather	Street Cruiser
73-91	Chevrolet	C30 Dually 2wd	6.2	Auto	Black	Red cloth	Towing
99-up	Chevrolet	3500 Crew Cab 4wd	Duramax	Allison	Black	Grey Cloth	Towing
1953	Chevrolet	Belair Coupe	350	Powerglide	Blue	Blue Tweed	Hot Rod
62-72	Chevrolet	C10 shortbed	327	700R4	Copper	Tan Tweed	Street Truck
2009	Chevrolet	Camaro	LS2	6 spd	Orange	Grey Leather	Street/Strip
1970-1973	Chevrolet	Camaro	350	350	Blue	Black Leather	Muscle
82-92	Chevrolet	Camaro	LS1	4L60E	White	Tan Tweed	Street/Strip
98-02	Chevrolet	Camaro	LS1	4L60E	Red	Black Leather	Street/Strip
1967-1969	Chevrolet	Camaro	427	400	Orange	Tan Tweed/Leather	Muscle
1970	Chevrolet	Chevelle SS	454	400	Black/White	Black Leather	Classic
78-87	Chevrolet	El Camino SS	350	350	White	Tan Cloth	Street/Strip
73-90	Chevrolet	K5 Blazer	454	350	Red	Tan Leather	Off-Road
78-87	Chevrolet	Malibu Wagon	350	350	Red	Tan Leather	Street/Strip
64-74	Chevrolet	Nova	502	Powerglide	Black	Race	Race
02-up	Dodge	3500 Crew Cab 4wd	Cummins	Auto	Black	Grey Cloth	Towing
94-99	Dodge	Neon Coupe	2.4 SRT	5spd	Purple/Orange	Tweed/Fiberglass	Sport Compact
79-92	Ford	Mustang Coupe	347	5spd	Green	Race	Race
85-92	Mercedes	190E 5spd	2.6l	5spd	Black	Grey Leather	Street Cruiser
98-02	Pontiac	Firebird Trans Am	LS1	6spd	White	Tan Leather	Race
2004-2006	Pontiac	GTO	LS2	6spd	Blue	Black Leather	Street/Strip
1976	Chevrolet	Corvette	327	5spd	Orange	Black Leather	Classic
2004+	Dodge	Neon SRT-4	2.4 Turbo	5spd	Orange or Blue	Grey or Black	Sport Compact

How Many Cars Have You Owned?

Are you like me and have, on average, owned 1 car for every year of life, or even since you've started driving? I sat down one day and thought about this subject and I was amazed to see that I have owned about 30 cars since I turned 16. For American vehicles, I've owned primarily GM products, with Chrysler in second place and Ford third. The 3 foreign vehicles I owned were just cheap transportation. I prefer my American cars over anything else, although I would not mind owning any European cars like a Mercedes or BMW, I just can't afford the ones I would want.

Here is a current list of cars that I have owned or still own. I would have put the year I bought them, but I can't remember any of them except maybe the last 5. The ones in red are what we own now.

Feel free to post a comment with your car list.

Cars Owned
Year	Make	Model	Cost	Notes
1979	Buick	Regal	$     250.00	junk
1965	Chevrolet	Panel	$     300.00	sold
1973	Chevrolet	C-20 Pick-up	$     250.00	parts
1976	Chevrolet	El Camino SS	$       30.00	parts
1978	Chevrolet	Monte Carlo	$            -	sold
1982	Chevrolet	C10 Diesel	$            -	current
1983	Chevrolet	Caprice	$       50.00	towed
1986	Chevrolet	Caprice	$     100.00	parts
1986	Chevrolet	G30 Van	$     300.00	sold
1989	Chevrolet	Camaro	$   4,900.00	totalled
1992	Chevrolet	S10 Blazer	$     500.00	sold
2009	Chrysler	Town & Country	$ 29,000.00	Current
1982	Dodge	Aries Wagon	$     500.00	sold
1984	Dodge	Caravan	$   2,000.00	junk
1985	Dodge	Aries Wagon	$   1,200.00	sold
1986	Dodge	Caravan	$     500.00	junk
1998	Dodge	Neon	$   7,000.00	repoed
1980	Ford	Mustang Cobra	$     250.00	sold
1985	Ford	Tempo	$     100.00	parts
1986	Ford	Escort GT	$            -	junk
1986	Ford	Tempo	$     100.00	sold
1986	Ford	Mustang GT	$            -	sold
1985	GMC	S15	$            -	junk
1984	Honda	Accord	$     500.00	sold
1970	Oldsmobile	Cutlass Convertible	$            -	sold
1982	Pontiac	Firebird	$     100.00	sold
1989	Pontiac	Firebird WS6	$     350.00	parts
2005	Pontiac	G6 V6	$ 13,115.00	traded
1983	Toyota	Corolla	$       50.00	junk
1984	Toyota	Pickup	$     400.00	junk

Welcome to Pop's Garage!

Pop's Garage, not a real place, so don't look for it in the Yellow Pages, lol. Actually, my wife has called me "Poppa" since before we got married, and I thought it would be a good name for a garage if I were to ever open one. So I'm using it here.

On to the purpose of this blog. I love pretty much anything to do with cars. Mostly old muscle cars, classic trucks, mini trucks, diesel trucks, hot rods and some sport compacts. Some times, I either get to working on a project, or have ideas for one and I like to share the info with others. There are also times I am working on a car for someone and I need to complain about the engineers bad ideas, or rave about the good ones. So this is my place to do that.

A little background on me and my automotive experience. I have been driving since 1992, when I turned 16. I have worked in the automotive industry in some way since 1994, off and on, either selling parts, delivering parts, installing parts or making parts. I have been in to building custom cars for just as long. I have built about 10 cars of my own and helped my friends on dozens more in the past. I  have been in 5 car clubs since I was 16, and president of 3 of those 5. The club names were Syndicate (Dayton, OH), Furious Stylez (president), Crossroads Customs, 0-60 of Dayton (President), and Positive Perception (President, current club my wife and I have been trying to start since '08).

So that's all about me. Later I'll post about some past, present and future projects. C-ya!