Turning a wreck of a Chevy into a dream car.

• Author: Rudolph, Dan
• Position: Voices - 1991 Chevrolet Beretta GTZ - Column

Getting your first car is a high point of any 16-year-old's life. It was a cold day in January 2000 when my father told me that nay cousin, who is a mechanic at a local dealership, had a car that might interest me: a 1991 Chevrolet Beretta GTZ. I didn't even have a license yet. Still, I was ecstatic.

When we got to the dealership, the car was covered in snow. Perhaps it was that, or my youthful excitement, that blinded me to all its flaws. I loved it. After a few days of paperwork, the car was mine, and we drove it home. Then reality set in.

There were many problems: a broken windshield, rusty fenders, ugly wheels. I ran to my computer to learn everything I could. For that first week, I lived and breathed information about nay car. I soon decided that I needed to make a list of repairs the car needed.

The engine was the first major problem. About a month later, the head gasket, a crucial engine part that seals in fluids, burst, making the car undrivable. Although it was a hefty job for a talented mechanic, I wanted the experience of fixing it myself. Besides, the estimate was $2,000--more than the car cost. The parts were less than $100, so the real cost was the labor. I spent three hours every day after school staring at the shop manual and taking out one part at a time. My father offered help whenever he could, and in two months we had the engine...