I love learning about young people with a passion for the car hobby. I love it even more when they take that passion and do bigger things. Of course, that perfectly aligns with the purpose of Vehicle Nanny: Nurturing your automotive interests.
A great information source for automotive hobbyists is Hagerty Insurance, a collector car insurance company that supports the hobby through car shows, auctions and lifestyle events. They have also supported my work with the automotive summer camps at Northwood University.
Related article: Automotive Summer Camp: 2022
Hagerty has helped me learn about some truly interesting people. The purpose of this article is to update you on an old friend of Vehicle Nanny and share details about someone new.
Grady Eger
In the November/December 2019 issue of Hagerty magazine (now Hagerty Drivers Club magazine), they featured five young adults and their automotive pursuits. Grady Eger was one of those “kids” featured in the article. I found him through Facebook in December 2020, and shared an update on his activities in the article below:
Related article: Profiles of Young Car Enthusiasts: Grady Eger
From that connection, we’ve stayed in touch on a regular basis. At the time, Grady was a student at Northwood University. He has since graduated with a Bachelor’s degree in Automotive Marketing & Management and is still pursuing his automotive dreams.
Almost three years since that Hagerty article and a year from graduation, Grady is still on the go. This is a 23 year old who has had the experiences of a person twice his age! Listed below are just a few of his accomplishments:
- Graduated from Northwood University
- Sold cars at Serra Automotive in Traverse City, MI
- Got married to Caylin, a pediatric nurse
- Bought and sold a new Dodge Challenger Scat Pack Widebody and a Jeep Wrangler 4xe
- Bought two motorcycles
- Started a job at Hagerty Insurance in the billing department, then was promoted to insurance sales. He gets to talk to car collectors all day long. Nice work!
He doesn’t show signs of slowing down, as he plans to expand his YouTube channel with more automotive content and pursue a new hobby collecting watches. Grady jokingly says he is a 155 year old man in a 23 year old body. I tend to agree.
I can’t wait to see what is next with Grady. He has a bright future ahead of him as he continues to find ways to turn his automotive passions into something great.
Riley’s Rebuilds
Earlier this week, I received an email from Hagerty with a feature story (found HERE) about 17 year old Riley from Tampa, Florida. Riley got the car bug when she was 14 years old, helping her dad work on his fun cars. This turned into a dream of buying a project Jeep to fix up for her to drive when she got her license.
Riley wasn’t able to find a decent paying job at age 14, so her dad taught her how to rebuild carburetors. She turned that knowledge into a small business known as Riley’s Rebuilds, and within four months earned enough money to buy that Jeep. Most cars from the 1980s and newer are equipped with fuel injection, so it is the hot rodders and track racers that seek her skills.
She has since recruited four of her girlfriends to join her rebuilding carbs in her dad’s garage. The business started by word-of-mouth, then it really took off after launching her Facebook page. From one post, she received 2.5 million views, over 500,000 interactions, 10,000 shares, and 12,000 followers in four days.
Riley plans to keep running Riley’s Rebuilds, even if she goes away to college. Until then, she will continue the rebuilds in her garage and sell other rebuilt units at hot rod shows.
Hobby Pursuits
Stories like these warm my heart and serve as a reminder that a hobby followed with passion can take you to great places. Whether your hobby is cars, sculpting, painting or any other creative endeavor, do something great with it.
If you can think it, you can do it.