DCTRA

I was born and raised in Chattanooga, Tennessee . One of our neighbors was Harold Coker who owned Coker Tire. Robert K. Smith (DCTRA member in Hawaii) was raised about a mile away and was also probably influenced by Mr. Coker and the old cars in the area

Mr. Coker restored old cars in his basement evenings and weekends and as a teenager I would go over there, watch, help some and ask questions. He was helpful, gave me sound advise and encouraged my interest in old cars. His influence may be the reason that I enjoy working, rebuilding and restoring neat old cars. My parents did their best to discourage my interest in cars. I worked after school and weekends to earn money to buy cars. I bought my first car at 14 with the help of my next door neighbor who was 16, I had the money and he had a license. He knew how bad I wanted a car and I received my first lesson on partnerships. The car was a 1927 Willys-Knight, it ran but the body was junk, so we stripped off the body, painted it with a brush and built a speedster. Every car that I could afford to buy was distressed merchandise, needing everything to be rebuilt or redone, mainly 55 Chevys and old Fords.

I joined the Air Force in 1966, left home to see the World. While stationed in Idaho I married my wife Sandy (she liked cars and was cute) and we were then sent to Germany for 2 years. While stationed in Germany our son Bill was born and I discovered sports cars, mainly 356 Porsches.

After being honorably discharged from the military in 1970 we moved back to Chattanooga. I became a banker and went into the real estate business. I started collecting old sports cars and had several race cars and was involved with the local SCCA club.

In 1978 we decided to move to Mesa, Az. and start a business, Unique Motorcars, building the first A.C.Cobra replicas. In 1980 we sold the business to some people who moved the company to Alabama and who are still making the Cobra replicas. In 1984 we moved back to Chattanooga and I had an idea to build a Ferrari GTO replica utilizing a Datsun 240Z chassis. I started building the cars and then our daughter Jayme became seriously ill. I sold the business, and we were just about broke. So, we moved back to Mesa and I went and got a real job with Keith Riggs Plumbing managing their fleet of trucks. I worked for the Riggs family for 20 years. That real job made it possible for us to get back on our feet. We bought old rental property and made it possible to get back into sports car racing.

In 1988 I met a local Alfa Romeo mechanic, Bruce Begley, Arizona Twin Cam, and with his help building motors and racing transmissions, we raced Alfa GTVs in vintage racing. Our cars were very competitive but most of the races were in California and the travel was expensive. I decided to race with SCCA locally. I built a Mazda RX-3 and then built several RX-7s. I have a 944 Porsche race car currently that my son raced. My old racing buddy, Roy Stoney of Coventry Motors tried for 20 years to get me to buy and race a Triumph. I am sorry Roy that I waited so long. Dave Riddle and Stu Lasswell finally convinced me to buy a white TR-3A that I still own (editor: to which he has added the red and black/green TR3s). I was really surprised at the performance, but it needed a fifth gear and better steering. I decided to build a 5 speed transmission conversion by building my own bell housing and using as many Triumph parts as possible. My transmission conversion has been in my car for 3 years now without a problem. I also built a rack and pinion steering conversion for TR-3s that makes the car feel like it has power steering.

My wife Sandy has tolerated and supported (most of the time) my addiction to cars for 42 years and I love her for it. Being involved with cars has given us the opportunity to travel to different parts of the country and make lots of friends along the way. I hope they have cars in heaven.

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