Where did your passion for cars begin? We want to hear your stories!

Fixing the car with my resiliently late father, The man that taught me everything, gone two years before I got my drivers license…

There was a rally going on in the city my grandma lived in (Brezová, Slovakia). I went to watch.
One of the locals, Stefan, was driving a lime-green/silver Evo III and flew around the first corner of an S-bend I was standing at. He hit a bump at around 120kph with his rear left wheel, bounced, and lost traction for a split second. I saw the car hurling towards me and, probably 2 feet before it flew off the road and hit our little crowd, he managed to regain traction and drifted the second corner. That near-death experience got me into rally, and the locals welcomed me into the community. Finally, in 2011, I ran a stage in the same Evo III that started it all. Two years later, in the fall of 2013, the car was destroyed in a rollover accident. Stefan parted out the car and that was the end of his rally career…

Everyone i knew at the time had absolutely no interest in cars. But when i started my first job as a cart pusher 5 years ago i started noticing cars. After a year or so i met a guy who worked with me who loved cars just as much as me. He taught me to drive stick in his a4. A month or so went by and i got a loan and bought an rx8. Shortly after i interned for a year with no pay at a custom shop and then i got a paying job fixing cars. Still got my rx8 and now my daily is my own a4. I hope to own my own shop one day. Someday soon.

Corvette and muatangs I used to see em a lot in the street , fast and furios and need for speed

I grew up in Ukraine in the 90’s. People tend to drive mostly old soviet LADAs which are not that exciting to say the least lol. I came to America when I was 13 and my dad has been living here for a few years so he picked me up from the airport and I remember seeing this gorgeous blue car passing us on the highway , with white pin stripes and a “SS” badge. The next day, first thing I did in America was not go to New York City, or eat a cheese burger or do any of the touristy things, I went to the library and flipped through car books till I found that car I saw. It was a ‘69 Chevelle SS and I’ve been a gear head ever since.

All the racing games I played, then we got our Chevelle which was hook line and sinker. Hopefully going to order a Shelby GT350R today :D well my dad….not me

It probably started with need for Speed Underground 2 when I was about 13. All the need for speeds, GTAs and gran Turismos. Then I started having dreams about driving cars until I actually drove one. Ever since, I was so passionate about these incredible machines.

So this is my jurney from kid to petrolhed:

I was just 4 jrs old, like any 4yearold i was eating dirt and playing in the dirt, one weekend i was sick i had a feaver, so i was listing trough the channels on my tv and i came across some noisy, wierd looking cars, it was F1, so i left it there and whatch them race. In the middle of the race my mom brings me some fruit and stuff and she saw i was whatching F1, i asked what was that and she explained to me that those wierd looking, noisy cars were the fastest mashines on 4 wheels so i immediaetly loved it. So she told me that almost every sunday around 1 or 2 afternoon there is a race . So every sunday when my and my buddyes were playing i would go into neighbours house to ask what time is it and when it will be 1’oclock. So when i t was close to 1’oclock i sprinted in house and sit infont of tv, there was a couch but i perfered nice, flat, big floor, i sit realy close to the tv so i can hear better. My mom somethimes whatched with me. Later trough the years 6,7,8 i was really opssesed with cars, i read a lot of car magazines and whatch all car emisions and tv shows, al the races, incloding MotoGP… and even now 13 years later i’m still opssesed with cars and racing like it is my drug.

My dad had three nissans when I was around 2 years old, a sentra b12, another sentra b12 but two doors or sunny as it was called in Japan and a Ichivan (ugly ass mini van with a ka24e haha) I loved the Sunny, it was the non turbo version but I felt it lookes like the delorean when I was little. Then my parents divorced and we kinda struggled with money so my mom saved some money and bought me a Nissan sentra b13 two doors 1993. Loved the car and it never failed me through college, started working part time as a mechanic’s apprentice and got to know how to fix cars and that way I saved tons of money. Then I started working and bought my self a 240sx S14 red kouki ohhh God I loved it, then needed and suv an bought a suzuki vitara. Sold them both after a year and bought a brand new Seat Leon turbo. It’s been a long and hard way but in my family we say you always have to go higher and higher.

Dad, he’s the reason.

First and foremost he was a tiny businessman with a love for cars, he started by delivering foods to places, later during the day he used to go near his Ford escort mk1, 1300GT. He had a very good friend which we all knew very well, unfortunately he has passed away, but nevertheless his tuning ability was exceptional, he made a 1300 engine rev to 10k all day long, during the 80’s, I wasn’t even born, and knowing he had no background of any school, he still managed to make one of the fastest escorts on the streets back in the day.. After that Dad had to buy a better car because mum was going to have my big brother, he went for another Escort, a van, there are also thames like it if im not mistaken.. after that mum bought a brand new nissan micra, it was red, they tell me.. Dad managed to sell after a few days because it wasn’t of use anymore (mum owned a datsun 100A before that).. After he sold that micra he asked himself, and guess what, he started his own used car dealership which is still alive today, including me and my brothers contantly working hard to keep it as modern as possible and live with the times.

This was part of the history, Dad used to race a Ford fiesta mk1 in the national hillclimbs, won 1st place in class for 6 times out of 7 if im not mistaken.. Who did the pre-race tuning for the car? my brother.. he was only 14, today he has his own garage and sprays and repairs cars, he also does some mechanical work, but reserves that for his own JDM spec Celica st205 which he owned at the age of 17, he is now 27, back in the day that wasn’t anywhere near as cheap..

Today I am approaching the generation of a lot of want but no money, nearly every person passes through that, but the love I have for cars and the moment I speak about them and cherish their significance as a sign of expression and a way of life I relate that to family, essentially cars for us are family.

My journey has started from when I was born, lol, not literally, I was always behind the wheel believing im driving and hitting the turbo and crap like that, nothing near that. LOL. I started driving, illegally, obviously, at the age of 13 or 14 parking cars in the showroom, driving my friends at home in our small town, with mum’s supervision.. I ended up buying a Honda Civic EC8 when I turned 18, I did all I could to make it look run and handle great, with the money I had, I sold it and bought a Toyota1000 which Im still restoring before I sell it..

I wish I could squeeze all I know here but I already know I have written way too much.