Hi. I like cars.
It has now been over three hours and all I managed to write is the word “hi.” This is pathetic. This is supposed to be my huge “Hooniverse introduction” post and I don’t know what to write. How about some basics first?
I like cars. I like old cars. I like new cars. I like weird cars. I don’t love any cars and I don’t hate any cars. There are times, however, when I hate all cars. I am obsessed with cars. I have auto-crossed, drag-raced, attended track events, driving schools, raced gokarts, and drove long ways for no reason at all. I have cursed at cars. I have over-discussed and over-analyzed cars. I like cars.
While in college I spent three years working as a mechanic’s assistant. On my last day there I told Bob, my boss, that I don’t ever want to turn another wrench again. After college I worked for an automotive supplier as a test engineer. That sucked. I spent two years there and it only confirmed that I did not want to work in the automotive industry.
At about the same time when Hooniverse started, I started my own little website. Fast-forward a few years and the damn thing is demanding as much time as my day job. Oddly enough the creators of Hooniverse felt the same way. One day, while randomly conversing about cars (surprise), the dialogue turned into us combining the two sites. And that’s where we are now.
I don’t know if I am any good at this writing/blogging/auto-journalistic stuff. I know a thing or two about cars, but the more I learn, the more I realize how little I know. I won’t write about the politics of the industry or other media outlets. I won’t regurgitate press releases. I won’t bullshit you in anyway, if there is something I don’t know, I will just say it. I try my best to be original. Opinions will be my own and hopefully justified. I like pictures too, so be ready for that.
Other than that, I am 34, married, with 1.5 children (the half is in the oven). I work as an engineer/project-manager type in the transportation industry. I have a mortgage, budget, responsibilities, and all that other good stuff. Yes, I am living the goddamned dream, and therefore sometimes I need to get away from it all. This is my own happy little world with happy little trees, my escape from reality, my heroin addiction. This is the expression of my passion.
Hi. My name is Kamil. I like cars.
Related posts:
- Hooniverse Asks- Are New Cars Better or Worse Than Old Cars?
- Hooniverse Weekend Edition: Somewhat Collectible Cars and Parts Auction in Tangent, Oregon. Bonus: Identify the cars!
- Hooniverse Asks- Slot Cars or R/C Cars, which would you rather get this year?
- And Now For Something Different – The Personal Luxury Cars of Orlando Classic Cars
- Another Cars & Coffee
Hi Kamil. Muthalovin here. Glad to have you aboard. I also like cars.
Welcome! I, too, am 34 with one child. Not that you really care, but hey, we have something in common!
Looking forward to reading your posts.
Cheers!
I'm 34 as well and have three kids, so another person with that in common. Also welcome Kamil. Oh and sometimes, I don't like kids either.
<img src="http://rlv.zcache.com/neon_hi_postcard-p239416978681649498qibm_400.jpg">
Hi Kamil. Like your introduction. Looking forward to your writings.
I'm 41…no wait, 42 with 2.1 kids. The 0.1 is the argument that my wife makes for the third child that I will ultimately lose.
Hmmmm, mine is hinting pretty hard about #4.
My wife and I are both okay with not having kids. We're 48 now, so I doubt that's going to change.
But we're still negotiating #3: I want to put a third motorcycle in the garage, she wants to use the money to make a MacBook Pro her third computer.
Wow…the Hooniverse's first
acquisitionfriendly hookup.It's a "merger of equals". At least, that's what they told us stockholders.
Do I detect some DaimlerChrysler influence here? I was in on that, too. At the dealership level.
Think of it more like BMW's acquisition of Rolls-Royce, or VW's acquisition of Lamborghini. Both awesome brands that can only get better together.
Hopefully it won't be like AMC absorbing Jeep, where a decade down the line Kamil's stuff is the only marketable commodity we've got left, and the rest of us get the boot in favor of some French imports that are unreliable, smoke too much and are constantly making strange groaning sounds.
Funny I never realized it but describing French cars is kinda like describing French people.
(don't get up in arms, it's just a joke. I do know reliable, non-smoking and quiet French people)
"…in favor of some French imports that are unreliable, smoke too much and are constantly making strange groaning sounds."
I'll have you know mine only intermittently makes strange groaning sounds. Just after 1:07, to be precise:
[youtube uP7CJ3uNVBI http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uP7CJ3uNVBI youtube]
I see that thing handles as well as it looks. That was a brave soul that rode with you. Did he recover from the trauma?
Funny you shoud ask. I never saw the guy again.
Which is why yours is clearly superior to an Alliance or Encore.
Or perhaps it's like VW and Porsche. Some of the content will mind-blowingly great, some of it just basic, utilitarian stuff that doesn't really impress anybody, but serves its purpose…and then I'll still be around, pooping out the occasional Cayenne of a post.
As was pointed out at the time, the two middle syllables in DaimlerChrysler were silent.
Wow, look at all you oldie oldsters… I won't even be 32 for 2 more months!
Still, house, mortgage, 2 kids, etc…
Welcome aboard!
Just a quick note – yes we know that the ad in the sidebar is autoplaying, and yes we are fixing that post haste.
Hi! I like cars too, and I'm continually learning about them. I'm pretty much a Fordfan, and I'm sort of a Ford GT fanatic.
"sort of"? Yeah, like the ocean is "sort of" wet.
You're right. I'm a Ford GT addict.
If I had a legitimate way of acquiring the $150K or so needed to buy an exotic, there is no doubt that car would be a Ford GT. I got to ride in one last year for a couple of times down an airbase runway. I swear, 322 Km/h and the thing felt like it was still pulling. Fantastic.
Oh, wow, you got to have a fast ride! I got to ride in one too in 2005, but it was in town at speed limits. It gave me goosebumps even at that, especially when he got on it just a little. I live in a small town, and we managed to get a following of guys who didn't know what it was.
Hello Kamil. Welcome aboard the good land yacht Hooniverse.
We hope you find that we are a knowledgeable and friendly bunch who tend to take a car discussion further than just power numbers and other banal figures (search out defining a fastback). While I wholly understand that you are no Rob Krider (RaceBoy on Speed Sport Life) I look forward to your tales of entry level motorsport and all other topics you wish to bring to us.
Oh and I'm 23, I have a house, mortgage and no kids (that I know of).
Looking forward to your contributions.
Hi. Did you bring donuts? There were supposed to be donuts.
There will be donuts.
You want donuts? This will be awesome, here hold my beer
[youtube LxWuHEeU9bM http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LxWuHEeU9bM youtube]
Needs more sprinkles. And the red one could use some LSD
But the red one had some Ginger in it so I can let it go
LSD makes many things more interesting.
Where? Where?
Beer and donuts?
(The Breakfast of Champions)
Sounds like a good time… or an impending DUI arrest.
Why not both?
Cheerios + Beer = Beerios. Each and drink your grains all at the same time!
It's enough to make that Atkins guy roll over in his grave.
<img src="http://www.davepye.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/11/belushi-donuts.jpg" width="500">
Holy f*ck Kamil is on Hooniverse! This is going to be epic. Or scary. Or epically scary. Or scarily epic. I guess we'll find out.
SKEPTIC!
Wait, that's a word already…
SEPTIC!
No that's no good either…
Dammit.
Epry?
Welcome Kamil! Please, make yourself at home; the fridge is always kept well stocked and there's a beanbag chair for ever butt.
Looking forward to reading your work.
I specifically remember being told there would be doughnuts.
Hi.
We had an all hands meeting three days ago here at work from the results of the group that studied the data from a manager satisfaction survey from last year where less than 1% employees participated, and the big take-away was: Would it kill anyone to bring doughnuts to meetings?
I think it was my job. Crap.
Ten points for creative use of blue painter's tape.
There's a guy in my local club who'd cover the entire front end of his Lotus from hood vent to front lip, across the whole width of the car. We joked about buying stock in 3M if he kept coming to autocrosses.
I has skillz.
A new writer with an actual introduction post? That's it. I quit.
Welcome aboard.
Crazy right?
Also, if no one noticed – we just passed year 2 of this crazy experiment.
You could learn a lot from a Hoon.
And I have!
Happy Hooniversary!
Happy Birthday Hooniverse!
<img src="http://www.cakepicturegallery.com/d/22300-2/Cars+theme+checker+flag+birthday+cake+for+2-year-old.JPG" width="400">
Time flies when you are reading and commenting about odd cars.
Wait, what?!? Holy cow!
Oh, now you're just making shit up. There's no way we've been here for two years!
Hooray, new people! Since everyone else is doing it, I'm 26 and also a homeowner, but I have neither children nor someone willing to bear them.
And now I have that GT5 ad song stuck in my head.
"We like cars, we like cars, lalala la laaaaa…"
Name's Fizzy, or something like that. No kids, no pets at the moment, no mortgage, but of my two old Volvos, one's comfortable to sleep in. Responsibilities are a bitch and I try to avoid them. I enjoy terrible music, long walks on the beach, and whisk(e)y.
Welcome aboard.
Well, since we're sharing… I'm 21 and children scare me.
I'm 25 and still a child.
I'm 42, still a child, and other children scare me.
But… 46 and 2 are enemies… How can a variation of your name and number be enemies?
I'm 30 or 40 something, no kids.
In this country.
That I know of.
Yet.
Dad?
Also, welcome to any CarGuyDad regulars making their way over to the 'verse.
If anything seems weird, it's not just you, it's us.
Whadaya mean, we're not weir…. oh, wait, never mind.
Carguy regulars? Well I got a few stories posted after much editing was done. I've replied over here a few times as well. So I guess I might be one of them as well. Now to spend more time here as well
Once you register with intense debate, go get yourself a gravatar http://en.gravatar.com/
This is great news, welcome Kamil!
I'm 47, with a 10 year old boy and a six year old girl. When the daughter arrived I was 41, and was thinking, "Man, I might be getting too old for this," but everybody tried to cheer me up by saying, "Don't worry, Girls are waay easier!".
This is a bald-faced lie, and evidently it gets worse. All my friends who've raised girls (they're the ones who told me that they were easier) now tell me, "Oooh! You just wait, you ain't seen nothing yet. Hell Really Hath No Fury Like A Thirteen Year Old Girl (except maybe a Fifteen year-old, or Heaven Forbid the Wrath of a Seventeen year-old)!".
Thanks Guys, for trying to cheer me up.
Looking forward to your Posts!
My brother in law, on why he didn't want to have a girl after two boys. "You need to buy different clothes, and different toys, and a shotgun for when the boys come…"
"Dad, you just don't get it! I can't!" <tears> That was Monday morning when I noticed I had given the wrong lunch to my son who had already left because of Orchestra practice and had just asked my daughter to swap lunches at school.
I have a 6-year-old girl also. She is the oldest of three and generally the most responsible of my kids. The younger daughter is going to give us all kinds of trouble. I'm already dreading it.
this is my big arguement for NOT going for child 3. With 2 boys, I am fairly certain that I'll never have to murder someone and hide the body. If we go for a third, there's a 50/50 chance I will.
Somebody wiser than me once told me not to have a third kid, that it's exponentially harder than two. He said basically, one kid is like they are playing a man down, two and it's one on one, but the third and you are now playing zone for D. Honestly with two older brothers, I think your daughter would do okay and someday you might only have to be on the look-out and later on there for the alibi.
Welcome to our liitle corner of the asylum. No kids for me but I do have an old ass dog, an old house and an old …uh meant to say loving wife.
Welcome Kamil!
I'm 25, perpetualy single, and live in my parents' attic. Damn economy.
Way to hold your nose up at those living in basements…
Welcome to the fold, good sir.
You'll get used to my comments, but I apologise if my American is sporadically inelegant.
Which of us do you think of as being "your" American, or do we have to guess?
I'm expecting "I. Claim. Charles."…
He has to be talking about Alff.
I too will join in on the welcome! Welcome Kamil! I am sure I speak for many as I say that I look forward to your posts! As far as the "meet and greet" portion, I am the same age, have the same amount of kids, and the same life stuff going on(only difference being our careers…as mine is automotive, but more in the post-engineering, pre-assembly area…basically I run a big warehouse full of various stamped/purchased parts that eventually become Jeep/Durango/Mercedes seats). I too like all cars. Welcome!!!
Yeah. This is a great, great thing. Kamil you are an amazing writer and Hooniverse is an amazing site with great people. Good merge. And Good luck.
Welcome, and since we are sharing I'm 38, married, and as of a little over 6 weeks ago the father of one daughter. I also have a wife, 3 dogs, 3 running and driving cars, and one non-running car.
Wow, congrats on the new addition!
Welcome, I'm 21 w/ minimal responsiblities, a 164S and an SVT Cobra, and hopefully no children. I like cars a little bit too much.
Welcome young man, I look forward to reading your posts. No bullshit eh? Gods below, that will be a change.
32, mighty close to 33 with responsibility and living in the kind of neighborhood where project cars look normal. I have two boys and a big dog. I am currently loaded with a Mazda 5 and a Pontiac Vibe (wagon nuts anyone?) and have a non-running 1950 F2 taunting me from a very far distance away.
I'm trying to adopt another Jeep, I have my eye on a '56ish CJ-5.
I try to get Alff in trouble and am stuck in Project House Hell at the moment.
Welcome to the party, watch out for Mitch, he get's "friendly" sometimes.
He's just being Canadian.
That explains the bacon…
and the porking…
Feelin from the squeelin?
Total neophyte here. What's the tape for?
Prevents rock chips, often seen at autocross-es etc.
Those fog lights are also known to fall out.
Hi!!
Thanks for the warm welcome everyone, I hope you enjoyed the donuts. Apologies for the late response, I had issues with logging-in n' stuff.
Yes, other contributors from CGD will be coming over too. I have a lot of new stuff, some oldies but goodies, and some really crappy stuff wrapped in a new packaging… call them the "2011 Chrysler 200 posts". Actually, overall, this will be like the 2012 Chrysler line-up, "all new" but nothing unexpected, so keep your expectations low.
Is this your way of saying we all have herpes now?
Hi there Kamil, I also do love cars, motorcycles, old and new. I'm 48 and do have 2 kids (complete). I'm owner of a engeneering consulting office and work with cotton farm equipment and cotton gin plants. I do have an mechanical and automotive engeneering degree. Although my screen name is Brazilreporter, I was born Dutch (nobody is perfect) but do live in Brazil since 1988, as far for the reporter part of the screen name I don't have enough time nor talent to come up regulary with good material.
As long as you don't hold up the Durango as proof that American Performance on the track is doing just fine, we'll be cool.
Hi CGD! I like cars, too. Except when I don't…
<img src="https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-COi5kG8XndI/S6O-0dh96aI/AAAAAAAAAGM/NEcWFDh95vk/s640/2010-03-19%25252013.11.53.jpg"width=500>
I don't see a problem.
Mystery car!
Nevermind, username gives it away…
Even without the name, there is far too much detail in that picture for it to be a mystery for more than about 30 seconds around here.
Hi Kamil,
I'm 39 and I like cars too. I'm almost married (October 15th's the big day) and we agree that I'm enough of a kid for our family.
While I have two very nice cars, I'm mostly an armchair auto-enthusiast: I spend a lot of time thinking about my perfect project car but I have yet to commit to buying one. Well aside for that MGB I owned for a few months about ten years ago…
My current project is to convince my fiance to replace her 1999 Corolla by something "fun to drive". However, the very concept of having fun while driving is alien to her…
I'm looking forward to your contributions.
We're all armchair auto-enthusiasts, or else we wouldn't be here. Cheers.
Well written, Kamil! It's very genuine and I love the short, Hemingway-like style. I'm a fan!
mmmm….. Hemi….
Welcome Kamil, from someone who appears to be the only "Grandfather Hoon" , at least here at Hooniverse. Since we are sharing, Im 63, father of a matched set of triplet girls (all married, 2 with children) and a 20 year old son. As the resident old guy and skeptic, I look forward to your coming work. It can only add to what has to be the best car site on the web. I used to frequent that "jalopy" oriented site but lost interest when they went commercial, and the commenters average age seemed to drop below jailbait age. Again, welcome aboard. Donuts are in the fridge, and the beer is in the oven, and all you non-hoons, GTFOML!
It really is the hoons you should be shooing off…
At least if you want to prevent property damage.
Welcome Kamil , I'm 33 I have a wife and two boys , I have euthanized many a vehicle , and enjoy most forms of autoracing (I race on a 3/8 paved oval). My current line up of vehicles consists of 05 F350, 05 F150, 68 Galaxie convertible and a 61 Cadillac Fleetwood 75 oh and a 85 Samuria. I live in the greatest country in the world ( that's right Yankee Doodles it's Canada not you guys ).
Samuria – that's that Suzuki/Lamborghini joint project, right?
Where do you race (furiously googling to check the length of Flamboro/Cayuga/varney…)?
Welcome to the madness! I'm 26, with a lovely wife and a lazy goofball of a cat. No kids yet, but we just bought my wife a minivan, so I suspect they're not far away. I drive a Comanche, and have had a hankering for pretty much every type of car ever made – it just depends on the day. Current desire is a Miata, or an old Detroit boat, pre-1975.
Glad to see you'll be joining us!
Hooray for joining! I'm looking forward to reading what your putting down. In honor of your joining and hoonies 2, I finally joined intense debate too.
Hello and Welcome – Late 30s car guy here….Married last Spring, first child arrived this spring, second child is a gleam in my wife's eye…I'm Club racer, HPD participant and website afficionado/comment lurker.
This is a great combination, since now I only have to look at one "must read" website instead of two!
Hello, Kamil. I'm 48 years young with a 21 year old son, sell MINI's & BMW's in Calgary, Alburda. I get on the track as often as possible (won't be that often going forward, stupid short-sighted city managers are closing our track so they can expand the dump) and also instruct HPD. I lurk more often than I comment and do look forward to reading your stuff .
Hi. I'm a sometimes poster. 2 kids. Engineer by training, but not by practice. Welcome to the 'verse.