A message from our editor | Willpower!

No one knows everything and everyone learns something. Now let’s get to wrenching!

Planning, implementing and completing. That’s the topic of this month’s secular sermon for success. We’ve all either built or watched others restore old, worn out trucks that were close to the end of their ability to stay on the road. Whether it was the engine that was failing or the massive rust holes that made them a lost cause, these old souls were once shiny new eye candy at a dealership somewhere around the country. They were designed with a purpose and purchased with a smile. Although after years of wear and tear, along with some abuse from the part of the population that just doesn’t see trucks the same way we do, these rides are past their prime and begging for someone to show them some love. All trucks have stories and they almost all still have possibility. Even the most worn out wrecks that are rotting away in a junkyard can be revived with the right amount of willpower and a fairly large sum of cash. But why?

Personally, for me, it’s the challenge to take something that someone said is useless and turn it into a neck-breaking piece of rolling art that only a few enthusiasts can truly appreciate. Friendships are made with every turn of the wrench and stories are told under a popped open hood. Finding other guys and gals who have the same passion is comparable to meeting the perfect girl or an all-star athlete. They speak the same language, feel the same frustrations and understand you when you say the last hundred bucks in your bank account is going to a new set of performance spark plugs. They have the same busted knuckles as you do, as well as dedicated drawer full of stained t-shirts just to work on project vehicles. Meeting like-minded gearheads helps you stay motivated and provides some much-needed feedback when you get jammed up on a project. Which wires do I cut? What offset do I need? If it weren’t for your personal network of knowledge, how would you ever complete anything?

Planning out your project can’t solely be done online. Yes, you can research the right parts and order basically anything you need, but what do you do when you don’t have the right size socket or a pickle fork to pop off a ball joint? Implementing your plans and completing your project is going to require some assistance from friends in the industry or some local like-minded bolt breakers. Sure, most of them are cranky and wrapped up in projects of their own. But if you catch them at the right time, buy them a few cold beers and tell them the prediction for your project, I promise they will help you get the job done, and you will have a new friend for life that you can always count on. So, order those parts, head out to the local shops and swap meets, and start to make conversation with the great folks who have the same labor of love. No one knows everything and everyone learns something. Now let’s get to wrenching!