Abby Daines (12) was only 6 years old when she began working on cars. That year, her dad bought an old Chevrolet square-body truck in need of restoration. At first, he asked Daines to help him with simple tasks, like handing him tools and screwing on replacement parts.
“I was called his tool assistant,” Daines said. “Then I started learning how to change the oil and restore brakes, which I’d mainly do.”
Restoring that Chevy truck developed into a regular bonding experience for them both, allowing Daines to grasp important knowledge about how to maintain oil and how to spot car shop scams long before she would learn to drive.
“My dad was also teaching me real-life skills that other people probably didn’t know at my age, and I’m thankful for it,” Daines said. “He always tells me not to get ripped off when I take my car to a shop. If a mechanic told me I needed to pay $400 for a transmission flush, I’d know they’re just trying to get money out of me because I’d know that it’s not a real thing.”
Daines’ dad sold the Chevrolet truck when Daines was 8, but her involvement in the process of restoring it sparked her passion for cars. Now, Daines owns her own truck, a 1966 Chevrolet C20 Custom Camper finished in sky-blue paint, that she drives to school every weekday. Her favorite parts are the new stereo that she installed and old-fashioned windows that she takes pleasure in manually opening and closing by turning a window crank. The car is the finished product that came after a lengthy process or restoration, much like the first truck long ago.
“My dad bought the C20 Custom Camper truck when he was in his 20s,” Daines said. “He put it in storage in Utah, but every time we’d go to Utah, twice a year to visit family, we’d take it for a test drive. It was my favorite thing to do.”
With each biannual visit, Daines and her dad made a new repair to the truck before putting it back in storage to await their next trip. This continued for several years because they didn’t see a safe or easy way to bring it back to San Diego, especially with its reputation of breaking down often.
“Every time we went up [to Utah], something new was broken,” Daines said. “The thing about classics is that if you don’t drive them for a long time, they get used to sitting. Then once you start driving them more, parts break faster.”
In Daines’ freshman year, her family was tired of paying for storage and worried that the truck would break down more in Utah, so they towed the truck home to San Diego.
“It started out with [my family and I] just not wanting to pay for storage anymore, so we decided to take the truck home, park it, and then we would figure out what to do from there,” Daines said. “I didn’t want to sell it because I love that truck. It had been present in all my childhood. I said we could just fix it up, and then I could learn how to drive it.”
The truck was far more intimidating to drive than Daines’ family’s other more modern cars, due to its size and old, rumbling engine.
“I initially learned how to drive an electric car, and then driving a really loud, bigger, truck was harder,” Daines said. “When I first started driving the truck, I forgot to turn the key to start the engine. I thought it was normal that I couldn’t hear the engine because electric cars are silent, but then I realized I was pressing the gas but not moving.”
Despite the longer process of learning how to drive it, Daines has fun with the double takes she receives from other drivers on the road who seem to admire the bright, classic model.
“I remember the first time that I drove it, a man in a bright yellow Corvette waved at me on the road and it made my day,” Daines said. “It felt so special because I used to think that people who drive nice cars are super cool, so I felt that he thought I was super cool too. That’s when I knew I wanted to drive it more.”
Today, the truck has been fully restored and repaired, and Daines drives it daily. She also uses her skills as a mechanic to make extra cash and help her friends, family, and dad’s coworkers save money by changing their car oil for them for far cheaper than most car repair shops.
In addition to changing the oil for a different car nearly twice a month, Daines volunteers at Henry’s Auto Repair, a car restoration shop in Ramona, with her dad. Eleven years since she first became her dad’s “tool assistant,” Daines still loves bonding with him over cars.
“It’s just a really unique thing I do with my dad,” Daines said. “I’ve made so many memories with him that I couldn’t have made if we didn’t take trips to Ramona or wake up early to change people’s oil. I’m really thankful that my dad is so skilled in knowing and modifying cars, that he could pass it on to me, and that we can help people with our talents.”
