The kind of soup we all want

"If I could only find that '55 Chevy, I would be happy..."
"I keep trying to get better at metal work, but I never seem to get any better.."
"One day i'll have my own shop. One day."

There are many different ways to want something in life. Some people want to be better spouses, some want to be able to cook, some want to know how to turn a bone stock '40 Ford into a hot rod. If you have stumbled onto this blog and give me that honor of coming back, it's most likely the latter. To help everyone better where I am coming from here, I'll show you where I want to go with my life and my career what I want to do..what I want to learn.

I have a small two car garage where I build my cars. One day, I would like to have a full functioning hot rod shop that builds the kind of cars that Boyd Coddington turns over in his grave about. Just 5 or 6 bays, with all the necessary tools and equipment to give people their dream cars. A shop that makes a quality product, not the 'shit-rods' that have been developing over the past few years, this shop will be called Shouldabeen Hot Rods and Customs, and this dream is currently under development.

I want to learn to chop the top cars from the 40's and 50's. I have done enough chops from the 1930's, but anyone can chop a '30 Model A Tudor. My goal is to be as good as Westerguard or Barris or Hines or Winfield, but in the next ten years. The one '52 Chevy I did attempt a lid lower at had to be saved by another...never want to go through that embarasment again!

I have 5 cars I need to build that i'm going to keep for the rest of my life. The first being the 1955 Olds Holiday Sedan I am currently restoring. After my beloved Olds, I am going to start on a '28-'29 Model A 5-window coupe, with a six inch chop, Olds Rocket or Nailhead power, 3 pedals, 4 carburators, and Deuce rails. After that is my most useful hot rod, a '53-'55 Ford F100 pickup. That one i'll use to pick up every other piece that I need to build my next car, a '39 Ford Deluxe Coupe. That coupe will drive me to my next and final saurkraut-smelling car, an early oval or split window VW Beetle. Everything else will be just mostly disposable...daily drivers to put tons of miles on and re-sell. There are plenty of other cars I want and want to build and buy ('36 Ford 5-window, '52 Chevy Deluxe I just picked up, 2009 Dodge Challenger R/T, 2007 Shelby GT500, '32 Ford 5-window, '49-'52 Olds, RWD Hemi two-door PT Cruiser, 2006 MINI Cooper S, etc..) but I won't really be devasated to sell them.

I want a small, cozy older house with enough room for me and my darling Fiance' to love and enjoy for the rest of out lives. Luckily, I found that house up in the Olympus Cove owned by my good friend Mel, and I hope to one day buy and restore that gorgeous cape-cod house. We'll see what happens :)

What do you want in life? What do you want to learn? What makes you happy?