I have a bad habit of not leaving a vehicle in its stock form. I have always been a truck guy. I can count the number of vehicles that did not have a bed on one hand; and those were at least still Jee ...read more.
VIDEO & BUILD GALLERY
I have a bad habit of not leaving a vehicle in its stock form. I have always been a truck guy. I can count the number of vehicles that did not have a bed on one hand; and those were at least still Jeeps. My passion for trucks came from the Marines. I was originally a driver. I did not know very much about the way vehicles functioned. I was approached about becoming a vehicle recovery operator and that is when my interest was piqued about the functionality of the diesel engine. I had to learn on the fly what needed to be towed versus what I could fix on the fly. I could not do my job efficiently if I did not understand how these machines functioned. Luckily, I had a great group of guys that were willing to teach me.
Growing up and being stationed in southern California put me in a very good position for this industry. After the Marines I decided to continue learning more about the automotive and diesel industry. I attended a vocational school that expanded my knowledge for everything from hot rods to diesel trucks. I dove more into off-road vehicles where I helped chase for a few Jeepspeed races. I also helped build a few rigs for King of the Hammers. All the while, I was also working as a fleet mechanic.
I took a hiatus from wrenching to focus more on my creative side and had somewhat of a hard reset. I also wanted to learn as much as I could about everything I could. I decided to use my G.I. Bill to get a ton of education. I started learning about brewing beer, which in turn took me to learning about water treatment. I was also painting and doing photography and working on film sets while I was figuring out where I wanted to go career wise. I ended up enjoying photography and video to the point of graduating from Spokane Valley Community College with a degree in photography. After graduation I worked with a commercial photographer for a few years.
Then it happened. I decided I wanted to start tinkering on vehicles again. I started looking at the cost of powder coating my rims versus just buying new rims for my truck. From there I thought that it would be cool to merge my photography skills with my mechanical abilities. Now I get to wake up and talk trucks all day, then help with America's Diesel Podcast. It is actually great knowing that I can merge two things that I enjoy, and make it into a career.