It's exactly 11:28pm on Friday January 3rd, 2014 and after reading several articles and looking at several images of cars I wish I could build, stories I wish I could tell and pictures I wish I could shoot from www.stanceworks.com I decided it's time to write again. I used to write this blog for my photography only and for one reason or another I stopped LONG ago. Why start writing now? Because I want this blog to be more personal, because I want to share with you not only my accomplishments, stories, thoughts, etc. as a photography business but also as a human being.
So going back to stanceworks and cars. Where to start. I'm the youngest out of 9, huge age difference between me and my older siblings and with that came, torment, not having 1 dad and 1 mom but 7 dads and 3 mothers. I'll put it this way, the oldest of my brothers (male) is 19 years older than me and the youngest of them is 10 years older. The girls are 17 and 5 years older than me; therefore, they all had a hand at raising me. They were ALL involved with the car industry, some more than others but they all shared the same passion. For as long as I can remember they could not leave a vehicle in stock condition (maybe my sister before me, I'll explain more later) they had to either do repairs, paint jobs, suspension work, sound, MOTOR WORK and everything in between to whatever car, truck or anything with wheels they owned (including motorcycles, more on that later as well).
Now you may ask yourself, where did the passion or taste for custom cars come from, well, thats' due to the fact that my father himself decided at some point in his life, after many marital battles and trips to Chicago decided to open up a auto part store in town and a few years later the shop had a full time mechanic, body and paint shop attached to it, how that came about I can explain if any of you kind readers decide to ask. Well, the auto part store is what pointed all of us in a direction that I believe chose us more than we chose IT. It's like it was meant to be, prior to my father opening up shop none of my siblings (as far as I know) was remotely interested in custom cars or maybe they were too young to be but at some point in their life, cars was and still is mainly the topic of conversation.
All of them still build cars, my brother Hector puts cars shows together in Mexico and he's even involved in big things down there such as "West Coast Customs Mexico" and promotional rallies for "Furious 6" movie in Mexico City and is probably the one that has completed the most projects (he always sells them for some reason). The oldest, Mario, has a Plymouth Satellite project he's working on (and has been working on for at least 7 years) my brother Oscar is ALWAYS working on something, mostly VW's and anything that catches his attention, The twins are huge veedub heads as well with their own GTI and GLI cars that they're always doing something new to them.
I remember my brother Javier tearing an old school Suburban down and redoing the whole thing from the ground up, not exactly a restoration but more of a 'let me put my own touch on this huge biatch' type thing. So there you have it, a bunch of guys raising me around nothing but car talk and slaps to the back of the head. I remember bringing my Hot-Wheels to the body shop and ask my uncle (the painter) to spray them with whatever color he was about to lay down on whatever car he was painting at that particular time racing stripes and everything. I remember popping the rubber tires off my other toy cars out so they can poke out of the body and have a meaner stance. I remember stepping on my hot wheels so the tiny axles could bend enough to where the car looked lower than normal. I remember having an electric car my brothers called the UFO to which they put a larger battery in so it could go faster. I remember them taking the training wheels off my very first bicycle the same day I got it so I could learn faster how to ride it but offered no help whatsoever to teach me. I remember home made "Avalanchas" which are those carts with a piece of wood, 4 tires, a seat, steering wheel and a brake except my version was 2 wooden axles, a plank of wood, instead of tires it had metal bearings, the steering wheel was a rope attached to each end of the front axle which would swivel left and right because it was attached to the front end of the wooden plank with a nail bent at one end and the brake was my right shoe first and if I was going too fast both of them. I remember a lot when it comes down to wheels and motors and cars and how it all started for me I love those memories, I didn't have the best of childhoods by far but most of the good memories are somehow always attached to motors and wheels.
If you're still reading I thank you if you stopped long ago then I understand. Thank you all for reading, I truly appreciate it.
MORE TO COME SOON!! This fawesome story can't just stop here, duh!
May your dreams come true, may your cookies be chocolate chip and may your milk be whole.
Cheers to the burnt rubber, the unfinished projects and the phenomenal stories they all make along with the amazing pictures that make every single experience a point in our own history we can always look at and remember.
Sincerely,
Your new best friend or drinking buddy at the very least,
Julio Knapp
Knapp Photography
P.D. Here's a picture of the last "project" I couldn't get to finish but was a blast to start. 1991 BMW 325i.
Also a picture of the very project I started that also never completed. 1989 VW Jetta.
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