Behind the Rust: Why Cars?

If you’re a car enthusiast, you’ll know exactly what I’m talking about. Trying to explain the reason why we love cars can be difficult because, well let’s face it, many people don’t seem to get it. They don’t understand why we get goosebumps when we hear our favorite automobile fire up, they don’t get why we spend an entire Sunday cleaning our pride and joy or why we obsess over details as small as a scratch on a lug-nut or the perfect door panel alignment. Not everyone understands and that’s okay.

My name is Drew Somers. I’m the Lead Detailer and Social Media Manager here at Renown Auto Restoration. My life (as you can imagine working here) revolves around cars. My great grandfather raced a 1928 Model T Speedster, and my grandfather’s pride and joy was a 1968 GMC C-10. That C-10 started it all for me. Six-year-old me heard the loud roar of a Chevy small-block v8 and drooled over the bright red paint and I immediately knew that this is something I would be in to. My next birthday, my grandfather bought me a subscription to Hot Rod Magazine. I would sit for hours reading the articles and studying the cars, trying to figure out how they worked. I saw the stories behind the cars in the magazines and the attachment their owners had to them, however I never quite understood why these people were so passionate. At the time, I just saw them as cool cars.

Six years later my Mother passed away from ovarian cancer and her last gift to my Dad was the permission to live out his “mid-life crisis” and buy his dream car, an Acura NSX. Little did I know that this car would influence the way I perceived automobiles for the rest of my life.

My Dad and I spread my Mother’s ashes over a cross country road trip in the NSX, going through the Blue Ridge mountains on the Tail of the Dragon, and exploring the American Southeast. We’ve road-tripped the car all over the country, and in 2015 we got a call that we were invited to Tokyo, Japan for the 25th anniversary of the NSX. We spent 10 days with an amazing international group of enthusiasts at Suzuka Circuit, Fuji Speedway, Tsukuba Circuit, and Twin Ring Motegi. We spent hours searching for the best meals across the country and formed priceless memories along the way.

That’s really what it’s all about: the memories. At the end of the day these cars are material items or modes of transportation. However, for my family it represents the bond I have with my parents and the ability to form lifechanging memories, adventures I will never forget. Everyone here at Renown from our Employees to our Clients all have similar stories, and over the coming weeks and months it’ll be my honor to share with you the stories behind our technicians and our restorations: the incredible lives the cars we restore have lived, and the countless lives that they have touched. This is Behind the Rust.