50 Years of Engine Repair Solutions for American Muscle Cars, Street Rods, and Kit Cars (ePub)

As a young boy growing up poor in Lake Parsippany NJ, I always wanted to take things apart, see how they worked and make them faster. In 1963 my uncle got me a job, as a mechanics helper, at Mallon Pontiac, in East Orange, New Jersey. I got all the dirtiest jobs in the shop and was paid $1.25 an hour. The greatest thing about that job, if you loved what you're doing and worked hard, you could see into the future. Within a year I was promoted to a line mechanic. We worked piece work. The only way you made any money was to work long hours, and you couldn't waste a minute's time.

Fortunately for me, Pontiac came out with the First Muscle Car, the GTO. I fell in love with the Idea of a small body with a big engine. I learned all the tricks to make them go faster. Over the next couple of years my reputation spread. I built many of the Pontiac record holders.

Mid-sixties came along I was now married with 3 kids. Big government start sticking their nose into GM, Ford and Chrysler, mandating a lot of new regulations. Such as, only so much Horsepower per pound of the car. New emission requirements etc. etc. Within 3 years it virtually killed the Muscle car Industry. To me it made no sense. Prior to all the regulations, the Big 3 automakers couldn't build the Muscle Cars fast enough.

I knew at that point I had to switch gears. I was 26 years old and had to come up with a way to feed my family and pay my mortgage. I and put my life's savings, $ 500.00, into an old truck. I set it up with my tools and used equipment. I started going to used cars lots and servicing their vehicles. My reputation grew and within a few years I had 3 trucks running daily and a small Auto parts store. But, I still would get the juices flowing every time I would work on an early Muscle car. At this point I would do it all. I worked 17 hours a day.

Early Eighties came along and I managed to save enough money to buy an old run down building In Irvington, NJ. There we did the regular services, Brake Jobs, Mufflers, Ring jobs etc. It was in the Ghetto so most of the money coming in was either bounced checks or stolen credit cards. Again, I knew I had to switch gears.

Mid-Eighties was upon us and the Economy was terrible. People wanted cheap transportation. We started building and selling (wholesale) your standard Horsepower replacement engine blocks. We did that for about 10 years. But in back of my mind, I always wanted to build and sell ready to run right out of the crate Muscle car engines. I knew before I died, I had to Try to do it.

1995 came along and a guy came into my shop one day and said do you want to place an ad on the Internet. I said "what the hell is the internet." We did place the ad. One morning a guy called and said, he saw us over the weekend at the Boston Garden. He wanted to buy an engine. I said, "Sir we were not at the Boston Garden." He said, "they had your website up on Big screen TV." He bought the engine. The alarms went off in my head, because up to now we were just selling locally. I knew if I could successfully market the Muscle Car Engines, I always dreamed about, on the Internet, it would be successful.

I started buying up all the domain Names I could think of. Today we are one of the most respected Muscle car engine builders in the world. We've always maintained an A+ rating with the better Business Bureau. We are a family run company. I owe much of my success to my Boys, Christian, Tim, and Matt and a handful of dedicated employees

Bruce Nelson, President