The Stears project,

This simple garage face lift was part of a 2 year whole house remodel with new windows, doors, interior and exterior trim and paint, drywall and lighting, better attic access and storage, trophy/memory shelves, hang all the signs and misc. tweaks. But it was much more than that to me.

Mr. Stears likes to race and work on his vintage 1958 race car with a Fuel injected Corvette 350 V8. He also owns a similar red, 1968 street version which he recently took to California to participate in vintage road rally.

Now he’s working on a 1932 roadster from scratch. How cool is that?

I immediately took an interest in his race cars (who wouldn’t?) as I have also rebuilt and hot rodded a few cars.He appreciated my questions and enjoyed sharing stories about all of his cars and the races he’s been in, where the vintage metal machinery and signs came from, and even about his Dad who also raced a similar car. The trophy shelves held his Dad’s Helmet and glasses, ribbons with medals, pictures, and old trophies with little race cars on top. You couldn’t help looking at them, thinking, there’s a lifetime of amazing stories staring back at you.

Meanwhile,Mr. Stears had to have surgery on his shoulder for an old sports injury just as we were finishing remodeling the kitchen. The rebuilt motor for the race car arrived from the machine shop and Mr. Stears asked if he could hire me to help him install the motor and get it running.

So, for 3 1/2 days I worked side by side with him on a 1/2 mil. vintage race car, one of 3 in the world. I felt proud of my knowledge of motors and his trust in me. I’m glad to say, we worked together very well and I didn’t break anything or drop a tool on the hood. Whew!

Shortly after, he was back to racing in Wisconsin at the Road America Speedway. He invited me and my wife to come and hang out in the pits. He rented a golf cart for us and we drove all over checking out the cars and different vantage points of the track. What a blast!

At noon, the race track allows anybody to drive around the track or take a ride in a race car so we got to go for a ride in it.

It’s like a jet plane taking off when he floors it and it takes a corner so fast, ……

Makes my heart race just thinking about it. What an experience!