Who were your greatest building influences?

[DIYer]

Ha. My "formative" years saw me devouring subscriptions from Car Craft, Hot Rod, and Road & Track. When I started working on cars myself, I graduated to Cars & Car Conversions and Grassroots Motorsports. For my first major teardown, I had a mechanical engineer buddy who showed me the ropes. Track time crewing and marshalling in rallies and karting events honed my knowledge, as well as teaching me how to patch things up.

[knoba]

Greatest influence was my Dad, he had me stick welding at the age of 8; auto mechanics, fabrication, carpentry, building, etc.. Next best advances have come from someone I've been working with, in the countless jobs and trades I've been fortunate enough to play in. Books & manuals have been good.

How about you, Ken (you didn't say)?

Jon, c'mon, fess up?