AL RUOZZI, Schnecksville, PA My First Car

I’ve been thinking about cars as long as I can remember. During my childhood back in South America, I was always reading and watching everything about automobiles, with a special interest in American models equipped with V-8 engines. Attending a German school helped me to get close to German models, reading everything about them. But the passion for the American V-8 engines dominated my heart.

My desire to restore classic cars came through an unpaid internship at 11 years old, working as an assistant at Izzo & Izzo, a still-operating shop, where the owner Milton Izzo – one of the best in the country on carburetors – taught me the secrets of how an engine should breathe properly. It was a fantastic education, and one year later came my first major restoration project: to rebuild a 1964 VW Beetle engine. The engine ran perfectly after the restoration, but my dad said, “No driving around yet!” (Test drives were performed in the large parking lot of a business complex nearby… when dad was not watching.)

As a teenager with my brother Alex, other Volkswagen projects came along. We would improve performance in VW AP-1800 engines, but my eyes and heart were always thinking American V-8s, which were short-produced in Brazil due to expensive gasoline prices, but still had a loyal audience. On my 18th birthday came my first dream car: a fantastic, one-owner, Regio Silver 1978 Ford Maverick Super Luxo – the last production year – equipped with the desired and beloved 302 cid engine.

The Maverick in Brazil was a fancy car! In a market dominated by 4-cylinder engines, a V-8 model was a powerful, sporty, and luxurious automobile. The car was bought new by a successful supermarket chain owner and was in good shape, requiring only cosmetic repairs. It was hard to keep up with the gas costs, but the pleasure and satisfaction of feeling the torque, and listening to the unique sound produced by a V-8 engine was all I needed. Weekends were dedicated to improving the car, from washing the engine bay to disassembling the parking lights for cleaning. After a year of ownership, the Maverick looked like new, grabbing attention wherever it went.

On one beautiful Wednesday afternoon while waiting at a stoplight, the driver of the car to my left asked if the Maverick was for sale. My first reaction was to say no, but his incredible offer and my wish to acquire another car – an outstanding 3,000-mile, red 1973 Ford Maverick GT 302 equipped with a manual transmission – overrode my instincts. Later, I met with the new owner who informed me that he was very happy with my Maverick. He also disclosed that he had to borrow money from multiple sources – including his mother-in-law – to buy the car, since it was the most beautiful Maverick he’d ever seen and would not let it go. I couldn’t have agreed with his statement more.