I’m just a guy who likes cars. My parents drove me home from the hospital in a ‘64 Cadillac Sedan de Ville. I have early memories of cruising around in my babysitter’s ‘65 Mustang. My dad had a ‘71 BMW 1600 which was totaled in a wreck (I was in the back seat with my brother). My dad replaced the Bimmer with a ‘74 FIAT 124 coupe, then a ‘75 Saab 99. I learned to drive in my mom’s ‘77 Cadillac Coupe de Ville, learned to drive stick in my dad’s ‘82 Ferrari 308 (heavy clutch, but nearly impossible to stall out). My high school autoshop teacher gave me the Mopar bug, and I’ve owned various old Mopars ever since. I also like boxy RWD Volvos, and some day hope to own a ‘74 Alfa Romeo GTV.

When I’d ride around with my dad as kid, he’d quiz me about the cars we’d pass on the road. I loved playing that game, and occasionally, I catch myself calling out makes and models as I drive. My first car was a two-tone blue, ‘84 Pontiac Grand Prix, with every factory option—save the tape deck and sunroof—and a 305 V8. Aside from a pronounced tendency to fishtail in the rain, it was a total blast to drive, and I spent the majority of my teens and early 20s flying around the Florida countryside behind the wheel. When I moved to Seattle, my best friend and I made the drive in three days, and it still stands as one of the coolest experiences of my life. Currently, I own a ‘78 XJ6 that’s more “project” than “vehicle” and I’m looking to pick up an old Miata to autocross.

I’ve been a car nut since around the time I learned how to talk. In one of my earliest childhood memories, I’m at this toy store in Hawaii begging my grandma for a Snoopy Dragster when I’m supposed to be picking out a Strawberry Shortcake doll. My weakness is oddball cars with lots of personality, the ones the collectors tend to overlook. I love the idea of building something completely unique out of a hulk that any rational person would’ve long since sent to the crusher. Consequently, my rides include a restored and modded ‘82 Ford Escort GT and a daily-driven ‘81 AMC Eagle.

My passion has always been cars, and I guess it comes from my dad. He’s always been a car person even though, like me, he grew up in the metro New York area. Between parking, insurance and other expenses, New York isn’t exactly the best place in the world. He didn’t get his first real car until getting married, when my mom’s parents bought them a brand-new ‘67 Pontiac GTO. They had to sell the car once I came along, and I grew up in a household that usually had an Oldsmobuick of some sort. Still, cars were our passion. We had a killer AFX set, built tons of model cars and made the occasional trip to one of our local tracks. Today, as Editorial Director at Grassroots Motorsports, I get to do that stuff all the time.

Some of my earliest childhood memories are riding around in my mom’s 1977 MGB, setting up road rallies for the local MG club.  And, since my parents were both president of the MG club at one point in time, I also got to tag along to plenty of British car shows.  So I guess British sports cars really turned me into a “car guy” at an early, despite several memories of their questionable reliability leaving me stranded on the side of the road.  As I got older, my attention turned from British sports cars — although I still have a soft spot for them — to American muscle; there is just something about the sound of a big V8 I can’t get enough of.  I began racing at my local drag strip and with the SCCA as soon as I got my license and finally got my first muscle car — a 1993 Chevrolet Camaro Z28 — three years ago.  At age 21, I was the only one of my friends to have two cars — my Infiniti I30 is my daily driver –and a motorcycle.  But this is just the beginning of my collection, I’ve already put my name in at an area Chevy dealer for the 2009 Camaro.  Thankfully, my lifelong obsession of cars has finally paid off and I now have my dream job writing about cars for Leftlanenews.com.

When your dad’s daily driver for most of your childhood is an Austin Healey 3000, reliability scores are not something you know anything substantial about. That explains why I’m happy if two of my three cars run at any given time. I caught the car bug early on and from my dad – my first memory is scrubbing valve faces from the 251 in our 66 Mustang with him. I love to work on my cars – I’m not afraid of getting greasy and I’m working my way up to learning bodywork. I’ve owned or been responsible for Fords, Hondas, a Renault, the VWs I own now, and some assorted GM iron. Right now, I’m (slowly) restoring a 1982 VW Rabbit Convertible and daily driving and tracking my modded VW Passat stick shift station wagon. My dream project car is a 1.9l Opel GT. One of my biggest challenges is keeping the car parts out of the living room – I totally fail. My day job involves helping OEMs and Tier suppliers make car parts as part of the Metals team at Henkel. Yay for free Loctite. I’m geeked to be here on CarDomain!

Growing up as a kid in the 70’s in Bay Ridge, Brooklyn I was surrounded by the sound of old school muscle cars cruising up and down 86th Street. Big blocks, small blocks, modified sixes - you name it, they were there and absolutely nothing was stock. On Friday and Saturday nights I could hear the sounds of drag racing going on under the Verrazano-Narrows Bridge and became hooked on the concept of speed. I learned to drive stick in my Dad’s 1984 Datsun (remember them?) 300ZX and it was from that point on that I was forever hooked on rowing through the gears. In my early 20s I was heavily into motorcycles until one day I was riding in Manhattan and was struck by a women making an illegal left turn in front of me, so two surgeries and two years of PT later I was back in the four-wheel drivers seat. I am a diehard muscle car guy and have owned a 1970 split bumper Z/28 Camaro and a 1969 Grand Prix SJ, but my first love and my first muscle car was and always will be my 1968 Dodge Charger - AKA “MR ANGRY.”

Regarding cars I must admit that I’m a late bloomer. I live in Hamburg, and growing up most of my favorite cars like muscle cars or hot rods weren’t available over here, or were really hard to get. I started building up several cars (a Ford ”Knudsen” Taunus with a flame paintjob, a Mercedes 280 SE, a Mini MK I). Then my online ”Motorkultur” magazine, called Chromjuwelen (chrome jewels) finally helped me act out my car neurosis. Well, this might be good for me, but whether the German ”Rennleitung” (race organization/police) or the German TÜV (an institution which checks your car every two years to make sure it is street legal) likes it, I am not quite sure. My current project is a 1972 Pontiac LeMans painted matt black. And if this wasn’t enough for the German police, I swapped a Toyota ”7M-GTE” Supra in it. Street legal?

Given the chance, I’d alternate among an Advanced Design GM COE, a Subaru Sambar van and a replica of the Sakai-Campbell lakes modified roadster as daily drivers. I’d also have a shop twice the size of my house and a dog that won’t bark at the neighbors. But I have student loans to pay back, so that’s why I work for a living. Though I can’t complain – I write and shoot for Hemmings Motor News, which means I get to travel across the country in search of great cars and great stories. At home, I wrench on my 1979 AMX and dream about old race cars and little vans.

Richard Truesdell is the Editorial Director of the online-only digital magazine Automotive Traveler, a leading authority on the world of automotive adventure travel. Rich currently contributes to more than 20 publications worldwide, including Musclecar Enthusiast, european car, and Car Audio and Electronics in the US, Octane, Mercedes Enthusiast and Classic American in the UK, and InCar Entertainment in Australia. Rich is a former editor of Car Audio and Electronics and is a life long AMC nut verified by his cardomain.com and vehicle profile “1968Rogue.” Rich lives in Sun City, California where he may be the town’s only resident who isn’t using a walker or bottled oxygen. His current fleet includes three Rambler Americans from the sixties, a 1969 Jeep Super Wagoneer, 1984 and 1988 Fieros along with a mint 1969 Mercury Colony Park station wagon that takes up as much road real estate as a contemporary Chevy Suburban.

Jason Siu is currently the editor-in-chief of Tunerzine.com and was the former West Coast Editor of Modified Magazine.  Involved in the industry for over 10 years now, Jason has gone from working at high profile shops in Florida including Titan Motorsports and Enjuku Racing to being involved with all forms of media, both print and online.  He helped establish Tunerzine.com in late 2004 and has been part of its growth ever since.  He currently owns a 2007 BMW 335i, 2006 Lexus IS250 and 1994 Integra sedan project car.  His previous project cars include a 1999 Honda Civic Si, 1992 Nissan 240SX, 2004 Infiniti G35 and 2005 Scion tC that was also a Modified Magazine tech vehicle. He has a passion for photography and writing and just loves anything automotive related!

Gary Faules is a former Oregonian who still holds records as a former Olympic skeet shooter, racecar driver and team owner. He has traveled the world as both a big-game hunter and angler and has been a freelance writer for both racing and automotive as well as sport shooting publications. Besides winning numerous wins and championships Gary is the only driver to have won the Timex 12 Hours Of Thunderhill three times in a row and the first to win the 25 Hours of Thunderhill, the longest endurance race in North America. In his first attempt at the world famous La Carrera Panamericana he finished 8th overall against 100 of the top teams from around the world. Gary has been a race instructor for many years but he is also the Mentor Director for NASA where he helps mentor new students into the world of competition racing. He is also CEO of California’s Best Auto Service Center.

Ben Schaffer is the founder of Bulletproof Automotive and Bespoke Ventures, amongst others. He also is the exclusive North American distributor for many high end Japanese tuning brands ranging from celebrity tuning shop Top Secret to Super Taikyu car builder Tracy Sports to Honda specialist Backyard Special to VIP experts Kenstyle. Ben’s companies for the past decade have introduced North America to top end Japanese tuning products and trends as he actively imports and distributes for more than 200 Japanese brands. An avid enthusiast of JDM tuning, Ben is even referenced in Wikipedia when looking up the definition of JDM. His car projects can be regularly found on magazine covers internationally, with his own gold S2000 being his most popular and strongest JDM statement. His popular magazine column “The Real JDM” continues on through his popular blog www.bespokeventures.com/blog as he continually releases the latest news about JDM tuning.

Ryan Douthit has the dubious distinction of rolling his car in the Great White North while on the 2002 Alcan Rally. In the back seat at the time was National Public Radio reporter Patricia Murphy. Her report on the incident won the Public Radio News Directors award (NPR equivalent of an Emmy.) You can still catch repeats of the episode on Savvy Traveler and other NPR programs from time-to-time. Ryan has promised to never again attempt the Alcan, and is currently trying to convince his wife that the Dakar Rally is a safer option. Good luck with that, Ryan.

Highlights of his career include driving Pikes Peak at top speed, competing in several Time Attack races (and doing poorly in every one of them), having lunch with rally legend Colin McRae (okay, he just happened to be eating at the same table), driving an Audi R8 at 160mph on a public road, hosting the low-budget car program Driving Sports TV, creating a string of car enthusiast sites and publishing several print magazines: Subiesport, the Subaru magazine; Mazdasport, the Mazda magazine and Forever MX-5 the MX-5 Miata Magazine.

He lives in Kirkland, Washington with his wife and daughter who both wonder if he’ll ever manage to keep a car in running order for longer than a fortnight.

Justin Karow is the Editor and owner of www.7tune.com JDM Automotive Lifestyle Magazine, an online source of anything related to the Japanese automotive industry and Japan in general. He has called Japan home since August 2000 and started 7Tune in December 2004. Previously owned cars include many Nissans from 1970 Datsun 510 Bluebird to an R32 Nissan Skyline GTS-t but currently he drives a much loved AE86 Toyota Corolla Levin. Being based in Kobe, Hyogo-ken makes it easy to frequent the many race tracks and tuning garages that the Kansai area of western Japan has to offer. The AE86 Corolla Levin is about to become the next project car with a Toyota Altezza 3S-GE engine and six speed gearbox ready to be installed and waiting at Powersports Garage in Yao City, Osaka.

The car is increasingly a complex extension of your person and, especially if you’re into car audio, it’s an extension of your house — often I’m on my couch listening and evaluating music or watching a movie; pretty much what I do in my car! Of course, for some, for brief periods of their lives (very brief, one would hope), cars ARE their homes. The car isn’t just about getting from A to B or individual expression, it’s about a high level of functionality as well. Just as the mobile phone is basically an add-on appendage stuck to your ear that connects you to everyone else, the car is like a robot you wear that cocoons and connects you to everywhere. Car Audio has always been about SQ and custom cars. And it’s also about the evolution of the automobile from a mode of transportation to, well, a giant gadget on wheels.

Best known for a long-running collector car newspaper column “Sound Classics” and his infamous “Sam Barer’s Four Wheel Drift” news and opinion site, Sam can also claim automotive-related freelance work for print publications, online sites, television, and movie productions around the globe. Over the years Sam’s garage has seen seven Corvettes, six Triumphs, four Mopars, two Porsches, two Miatas, a Ferrari, a Packard, and plenty of others. But his favorite purchase was the 1964 Lotus Elan S1 that he (along with his brother) gave as a 70th birthday gift to his father.

When I was born my parents brought me home in a vintage black Volga GAZ-24 and I think that started my interest in cars. My first car was JDM 1992 Toyota Corolla. Now I have Lada Samara and daily ride MMC Diamante. Here in Siberia I’m co-founder of the largest local automotive community and chief editor of automotive blog vokrugavto.ru.

Craig has always had a passion for cars, even though his father had absolutely no interest in them whatsoever! Maybe the interest comes from where Craig was brought up? The motoring Midlands of England. With an Aston Martin Factory and Prodrive next door and only a stonesthow away from the Silverstone circuit. With his first job in a supermarket he spent all his money modifying a Peugeot 306 ­ he now has his 2nd one and looking for a third. While at College writing for his student paper Craig realized he could turn his life-long obsession into a career. Before joining the iMOTOR team he worked behind the scenes on Fifth Gear. When not working he’ll be looking at eBay adding more cars to his watch list. No longer in Oxfordshire, he now lives in central London, finding the congestion charge and inability to blast down country roads every day rather depressing. Be sure to check out his Peuget 306 on CarDomain.