Hey my name is Mystic and i have only been working at spirits for a few weeks as my first real job! its really fun and im learning alot about t-buckets and things like that! its exciting to be a part of the Buckethead Bash and help with the planning and organization of it so im super happy well hope to tty all l8er!
New Teen At Spirit Industries
- Thread starter Mystic
- Start date
Coupefreak
New Member
I agree Ron, sounds like Yiddish to me too!!
just remember, these are the future leaders of our country
JK, Mystic.........welcome aboard!!!
TTFN
Vance
just remember, these are the future leaders of our country
JK, Mystic.........welcome aboard!!!
TTFN
Vance
Francis Blake
Active Member
uh me to ... anyway :lol:
Welcome to the forum Mystic!
My very first job in High School was working for a guy named Jim Kirby out in Azusa California. He owned a small company called Challenger Street Rods. I was only 15 when I started. I worked my but off, but I learned a ton! The best job I ever had.
When all my friends around me in school were getting jobs at Taco Bell and MacDonalds, I was working for a company that built T-Buckets and Street Rods. I still get excited thinking about those days.
You are going to have some fun!
Take care,
David
My very first job in High School was working for a guy named Jim Kirby out in Azusa California. He owned a small company called Challenger Street Rods. I was only 15 when I started. I worked my but off, but I learned a ton! The best job I ever had.
When all my friends around me in school were getting jobs at Taco Bell and MacDonalds, I was working for a company that built T-Buckets and Street Rods. I still get excited thinking about those days.
You are going to have some fun!
Take care,
David
well all my friends work at fast food restraunts that give them acne and well i work with awesome people and being 16 makes me the youngest but the things i learn can always help me and im still way excited i really hope to meet you all during the buckethead bash... and sorry about the ttyl and l8er when your my age with a cell phone and texting i guess you get used to all the lol's and ttyl's and just a long list... at wal-mart in the posters they now have a text message glossery for adults who dont understand hehe well i hope to talk to you all soon!
donsrods said:
Nope! Jim is still at it. He's getting up there, but he's just as big a trouble maker as ever!
Jim was the ultimate prankster in his own shop. Their favorite prank on me was to send bottle rockets under the bathroom door when I was sitting on the throne! I can still remember sitting there, pants around my skinny ankles, eyes closed tight, holding my hands over my ears waiting for the..... SWISH!..... SWISH!.... SWISH!.... BANG!!!!!
I managed to get back at him only once. One day, Jim had his head under the hood of his super low chopped 50 Merc doing something with the flathead. I picked up the Tig tourch, quietly placed it on his back side, and stood on the pedal. WHAM! his head hits the hood! I remember running as fast as I could with Jim in hot pursuit huffing and puffing behind me.
The man has the best laugh of anyone I ever knew. He really knows how to have fun. I have never met anyone like him. GUSH GUSH
He runs a small shop out in Tehachapi, California. He also runs a small ebay store at: eBay Seller: skinhead661: Parts Accessories, eBay Motors items on eBay.com
Sorry Mystic for the thread jack! And don't worry, I'm sure they are much more civilized where you work.
Take care,
David
Mystic said:
Hi Mystic,
Well, I was pretty young when I knew him, but I will try to build as good a picture of Jim as I can. You also need to know that some of what I will say is from my perspective of the man, how I saw him.
As you read above, I went to work for Jim when I was only 15 and still in High School. Jim owned his own company in Azusa California called Challenger Street Rods. Just before I worked for him, there was a big multi-month "build it yourself" spread of a T-Bucket he designed in one of the national Street Rodder magazines. It was because of that series of articles I approached Jim about a job. I told him I would work for free, if he would just give me a chance. He did, and I even got paid!
From what I heard in the shop from the others while I worked there, Jim was a somewhat known Drag Racer in the mid sixties in a category of race cars known as Gassers. He raced a Blown Willys called the "Challenger." I think a guy on the Hamb called Dragwillys owns the car now.
Jim's eye for details and steady hand with the Tig torch, made him famous in the LA area for being one of the best fabricators around. He was well known for being able to solve all kinds of chassis problems people where having with their cars.
Even though we primarily focused on making the parts for T-Buckets and other related Street Rod components at Challenger, the shop was always full of race cars. Rails, Sprints, Funny's, you name it and it came through. It seemed racers from all over would bring their cars in to get some kind of attention from Jim.
Oh, and off topic a bit, if you ever get a chance to stand next to a Top Fuel Funny Car being started up and run for a few seconds, INSIDE AN ENCLOSED BUILDING, get ready for the shock of your life! You can't cover your ears hard enough to stop the pain. The sound pressure pulses from the exhaust events prevent you from even being able to breath!
Jim is retired now, and getting up there, but back when I worked for him, Jim was a formidable man. He was the kind of person you wanted next to you in a dark alley, or a bar that was ready to go critical. He was rough on the outside, but a super nice guy on the inside. He was also fiercely protective of his friends. He wouldn't think twice about spending a night in jail from knocking the teeth out of anyone who was messing with one of his friends.
Jim also loved life. He was always pulling gags on people for fun. He also liked to host small shows for the local rodders. Even though Jim put a lot of energy into being what I would describe as "Bigger Than Life," I always suspected Jim was actually a bit shy. He never showed his emotions, probably a generational thing, but you knew deep down when something was bothering him. That's when he would get the most obnoxious, and pick on you in the most cleaver ways!
I feel lucky as hell to have known the man. I was raised without a father, and Jim just knew that. So he became a sort of role model for me when I was younger. Jim taught me the most important role a man has in his life. That role is to watch over and take care of the people that he cares about, no mater what! A mans family and friends always come first. This is a quality I find lacking in a lot of guys I have met in my life.
I know I painted a shocking picture of the man in my previous post. But in real life, you would be honored to know him.
Hows that for a touchy-feely reply! Oh my god! What is the world coming to! Men with emotions!!!
Take care Mystic,
David
Even though I never ment Jim in person, I did talk to him on the phone a couple of times. He always seemed like a cool guy on the phone. Two calls 3 or 4 months apart and he remembered me. His knowledge was so impressive. I told him about a problem I was having and before I could finish, he had the answer.
David, from my limited experience with Jim, you couldn't have had a better role model. The series you spoke of has been like a bible to me for countless years. I think that orange T bucket has been a benchmark for all the buckets in my past and future.
Ron
David, from my limited experience with Jim, you couldn't have had a better role model. The series you spoke of has been like a bible to me for countless years. I think that orange T bucket has been a benchmark for all the buckets in my past and future.
Ron
