There was little doubt that Waterdown, Ontario Canada’s Mark Robert would be wheeling some sort of fast car on the street—and eventually the dragstrip—as soon as he was old enough to drive.
“I can remember my dad bringing a transmission into our apartment living room to rebuild it, and he was repairing and rebuilding cars constantly,” tells Robert. All through his childhood and into his teens Mark remembers his dad having some sort of fast car that he raced on the street and he even keeps a photo album filled with cars that he had lost, won, or bought over the years.
As Mark grew older, he took an interest in anything mechanical, and could often be found taking things apart just to see what made them tick. When it came to anything motorized he had, it wouldn’t stay stock very long.
“I remember the first snowmobile I bought brand new. Three days later it had new pistons, clutch, pipe, and a re-jetted carb, all because I had lost a race,” he recalled with a grin. It was at the pre-driver’s license age of 15 when Mark bought and built his first car and says that he would spend his nights just looking at it completed and waiting for his 16th birthday.
After high school, the now car-crazy Robert went to work at Supreme Auto and Collision where he eventually became the painter. On top of regular collision work, the shop became known for quality restorations and Mark would witness many high quality rides pass through the paint booth doors, but one in particular stuck in his head, a 1966 Chevy shortbox. The truck, once completed, would… Read more of this article. Just click on the digital feature below this introduction.
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