Hello
A little bit about me
YOU COULD CALL ME JOHAN JOHANSON.
Thank you for letting me be a part of this moment in your life. I won’t spend much time filling your mind with the details of who I am and what I am about. Why is that you might ask? Isn’t that what I am supposed to do with this space that has been provided?
I guess it is because you already know me because I am a lot like you.
Sure. Where I live may be different. The sun may rise at a different time. The surrounding scenery may not match yours. But, at the core, I am a lot like you.
A lover of fast engines and beautiful lines, how did this happen? How did I become like you? Was I seduced by the smooth curves of a beautiful body or the choice of colors laid upon her metal or fiberglass figure? Maybe it was her sweet perfume that hypnotized me as it breezed past my nostrils. You know the scent. That perfect blend of octane, exhaust and motor oil served up via the wind through a rolled down window. Or was it her voice? That throaty gesture released to gain my attention just before I pushed her into the corner with all of my strength or that siren scream of passion as I opened her up to the straightaway. Maybe it is in my blood.
After all, my Grandfather on my Mom’s side was a body man for General Motors. Many late nights were spent massaging the bodies of Corvettes and Firebirds. Also, my Dad’s Dad came to America as a young man from Sweden. His mark was made on these shores with the soiled handprints of a garage mechanic. Maybe it was planted in me when I was a much smaller version of the king sized version of me that I have become. Was it when I heard my Dad talk about his day at work as a Longshoreman unloading Volkswagens off a ship or later in life watching television waiting to see him in the winning circle when one of his team’s cars were in the lead.
The multiple family vacations to Road America each year could be listed as an ingredient on my packaging. The many days and years spent at the NHRA Winter Nationals in Pomona, CA might appear on my part’s list. The cross country and continent road trips spent in a various collection of cars now considered classics could be read in the legend of the map to me. Regardless, whether it be a diagram, schematic or kit to this world of mine, I am wired to like the automobile.
It could have been that I grew up on the shores of Lake Michigan in the shadows of an automotive manufacturing factory. The biggest thing going on in that town forever was this behemoth build shop. A long history of auto manufacturing existed in that building. Jeffrey, Nash, Hudson, AMC, Renault, Jeep and Chrysler. All are now dead names or have since moved away. The factories are now gone. A large hole in the middle of the town now exists in its place. I grew up around cars and the men and women that built them. Maybe each picture I take will help show my respect for the art they made.
Maybe I am not just like you. Maybe my path was different. Yet we both are here, in this moment, enjoying that which we love.
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