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FBIRD69's 1969 Firebird

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Frosty as long as you’ve enjoyed most of the ride then it’s good! 
Well it went like this! Hated school, loved sports, mechanics, cars, planes, trains and girls, not necessarily in that order! Started building cars at 11 with a friend and his dad. Then started racing at 15 and building more complex cars. Got a scholarship to Case Western, lasted a semester and quit, told you I hated school. While at Case I met my wife to be, but she didn't go there. After I quit I didn't know what I was going to do? 
My wife’s dad was an ex Navy pilot and a super sharp guy with a very rich history as a test pilot, reconnaissance pilot in the pacific theater and as a Cleveland Air Races pilot, quite famous actually, those races were nationally recognized for decades, but ended forever at the end of “49”. We came from similar backgrounds, so he convinced me I could do anything I set my mind to.
That said I went to work for one of the largest fluid additive companies in the world as an R&D machinist. Within a year of employment, because of word of mouth at work about what I did with cars and racing and mechanics I was asked to head up special projects with respect to mechanical designs for chemistry and development for new products. This lasted my entire career there. In the process I got to travel lots of places and work and operate lots of equipment the average guy never gets the chance to, it was truly a fun career! 
I’ve stood in the middle of GE transportation in Erie Pa. building 60 is their (R&D) facility, with every conceivable company logo Dash9 Loco running and I’ve driven a Dash 9 on their test track for the work I was doing with them, I’ve driven Caterpillar mine haulers at Power River mine in the Powder River Basin and had my systems installed on them. I’ve gotten to design and oversee installations of my systems in the giant wind turbines out west & the one that sits out front of the the Great Lakes Science Museum in downtown Cleveland, this unit was my test bed, a collaboration between my company, Case Western & the Science Museum . I worked with Union Pacific railroad in Little Rock, Arkansas & North Platte, Nebraska where other systems I’ve designed were installed. I worked with Maersk on their container ships with six cylinder two cycle engines 5 stories high, and have stood on pistons big enough for 4 men to stand on. This was a system for oil replenishment based on insitu analysis of oil degradation. I worked with GM, Ford, Chrysler, Mercedes, Hino, Freightliner, Parker & Donaldson to name some I've worked with.
Yet my two very favorites that I think any of us would feel the same about, was working with Joe Gibbs NASCAR team when they were running Pontiac & my father-in-law on some of his plane projects! That was fun & interesting!
Don't think I'm boasting, I'm not, I am humbled by my fortune and was just damm lucky for that fortune, I'm forever grateful! 

 

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Thanks for sharing your work careeer Last Indian. I don't consider it boasting. Life can be amazing who you come in contact with. If you are working in a career that is more hobby than work, how can you go wrong?

I am thankful for the talented engineers and tradesmen I've ever worked with. I consider myself lucky to meet some of my own racing legends during my career. Don Prudhomme came to the Warren Tech Center. Tony Stewart came to Powertrain after he won the Winston Cup in his Pontiac and I have his autograph on a 1:24 model of his car, Richard and Kyle Petty, Connie Kalitia, and Shirley Muldowney.

I got to work with many of the many amazing Buick V6 engineers including Denny Manner. 

Edited by Frosty
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  • 2 weeks later...

It's always interesting to meet folks that you've followed or watched and you've met a number of them, cool! I never met Stewart even though the one project was with Joe Gibbs Racing or Gibbs for that matter. I did get to meet Prudhomme once in the late 60’s and Ronny Sox in 1970 when I was racing “67” Cuda. He was just a really nice down to earth guy! 
Hey, over on the off topic page I posted some pics of my father-in-laws F2g super Corsairs they raced back in the day. Theses were 28 cylinder Pratt & Whitney engines 3500 hp  after mods they were 4300 hp.

 

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