Getting dirty and sweating is a 100 percent guarantee when working on cars daily. 

“I bought a Volkswagen super beetle from 1971 last summer, and currently I am rebuilding the engine due to a rod knock,” senior Kolby Gardner said. 

As a high school student, it is sometimes a challenge trying to maintain a first car. 

“In total, I have invested about 5 grand into this car so it means more to me than to just go buy another car. I spent about $2,000 on the car itself last summer, and since then, I have put in about another $3,000 in fixing it,” Gardner said. 

Completely revamping a car takes lots of time, money, and energy. 

“In my Jeep, I have $12,000 in, ‘78 regal. I have about $6,000 after buying it, and in my truck, I have about $5,000 or $6,000 after buying it,” senior Carter Swain said. 

Fixing a car to be as good as it once was is not an easy job, especially as a student with other priorities. 

“Money is a really big obstacle for me because I am just a high school student along with time and knowledge. When I started, I didn’t really know a whole lot about cars or how to fix them, but now when my vehicles break, it’s not really a question of can I fix it. It’s more of I have to fix it or when can I. It takes a lot of time to fix a car, and I don’t have much of that,” Swain said. 

However, money is not the only obstacle. 

“Some things that make it significantly harder is trying to figure out how to do it myself, but currently it is not running, and my engine is all in different parts so I’m trying to make it a bigger and better engine,” Gardner said. 

To get the job done right, it is vital to have the correct tools. 

“Having the right tools makes it so much easier. I have had to do it both ways, where I have broken down on the highway and all I had was a little rally tool box in the back of the Jeep and I just had to fix it right then and there. I have also fixed cars in shops that have entire tool boxes full of everything I would need so having the right tools can make a big difference,” Swain said. 

Teaching the way around a car can be challenging but a great skill to have when mastered. 

“I have mainly just been researching things in class and working on it in my free time along with watching Youtube videos and teaching myself,” Gardner said. 

There is no denying that it is many countless hours of time and research to master the anatomy around a car. 

“I learned by myself just in my backyard, and if I ever got stuck or did not know how to keep going, I would watch Youtube,” Swain said. 

Passion and determination are important. 

“It really all started when I bought a really crappy car that broke down all of the time so it was kind of essential to know how to fix it. It is also just a passion to me and my biggest hobby that I spend a lot of time and effort with,” Swain said.