Today we’d like to introduce you to Tommy Cooper.
Hi Tommy, thanks for joining us today. We’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
I am a 4th generation San Diegan. Born and raised in east county. My great-grandparents had a dairy farm in El Cajon and my great-grandma was the first graduating class from Grossmont High School.
I enjoy typical San Diego activities like surfing, skateboarding, desert trips, and hiking in the mountains.
From a young age, I was always fascinated by hot rods and fast cars. Sometimes I felt like I was born in the wrong decade.
When other kids asked for Legos and toys for Christmas, I asked for a minibike powered by a lawnmower engine bought at the neighborhood garage sale.
As soon as I could get a job, I saved to buy my own classic car.
My first old car was a Volkswagen bug. It snowballed from there. Since then, I have owned well over 50 cars, most of them classic or vintage.
That is how I learned to work on and fix cars. I had a car that either didn’t run or barely ran. Had rust and missing windows.
None of that bothered me. That is was fun to me. The character of each car was fantastic! The old pennies found under the seats, the old receipts for all the dates the car had been on.
My love for cars continued through college. But I did have to sell a car to pay for college. At the time it was the right thing to do but I am still bummed I sold that car.
It was a 1962 dodge 880, had a 361 ci big block, lowered and painted flat black.
After college, I continued the passion and would buy old cars, fix them up, drive them for a little bit and then sell them.
After getting married and having a few kids a family friend told me he had an old Cadillac in his garage. He was not into cars and didn’t know anything about it.
I went to check it out and by that afternoon it was in my driveway!
I really dove deep into this 1960 Cadillac. I got it running, redid the entire braking system, redid the suspension, and installed air ride suspension. Reworked the exhaust and drive it everywhere!
This last year I have taken my passion for cars one step further. I joined the long-standing San Diego Roadster Club.
This is an incredible group of car enthusiasts and racers! The club is over 80 years old, and the knowledge of land-speed racing is second to none.
This is where my journey of building my own land-speed car started. I picked up a 1931 ford model A 5-window coupe and went to town.
It is not the most aerodynamic car, but it will look good racing down the salt at the Bonneville Salt flats in Utah.
I also began to share my journey and passion for cars through social media. This has connected me even more to incredible people in the car world and led to a few sponsorships for the race car.
I am not sure where this passion for vintage cars will take me, but I have a saying:
“Don’t die with a dream”
What I mean by that is we all have dreams, and most decide that’s is all they will ever be.
I don’t think that needs to be true. I believe that we can live out dreams. We can find our passions and live them!
Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way? Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
It has not always been smooth. There have been more times than not when I had to sell a car I didn’t want to.
But I can’t keep them all and letting a car go and continue to be used and make memories with someone else helps.
Working through the quirks of vintage cars can be a challenge also. The have been around so long they have had all kinds of weird repairs and fixes. Working through though has its own unique set of challenges
That is all part of the fun. You are always learning.
We’ve been impressed with Vintage Dreams Auto, but for folks who might not be as familiar, what can you share with them about what you do and what sets you apart from others?
Vintage Dreams Auto started as a clever name for my social media.
Since then, it has grown into something bigger than that. It is a movement to motivate the “regular car enthusiasts” to live their vintage car dreams.
Vintage Dreams Auto aims to inspire and motive you to find the car of your dreams, fix it up and drive it!
Build new memories with you family and friends. Live your dream so you “don’t die with a dream”
I am living my vintage dreams, are you?
Can you talk to us a bit about the role of luck?
I don’t think luck is the right word. I truly believe you get what you put in.
The more kind you are the more genuine you are the more service minded you are…
The more you receive
I have had some incredible opportunities to purchase, drive and see some of the coolest cars in existence.
I believe it is because I live my passion. Because of that, my passion finds its way to me.
Contact Info:
- Instagram: @vintagedreamsauto
