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Edited to Add: here's the two photos, sorry they are small, but it was the only way I could copy it, ha!
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On todays paper, he is on the front page, with his 67 beetle and the 2nd photo is with Miles, HOW NEAT IS THAT! Anyhow, here is the article about him. The reporter tried to get some "dirt" from him, but he didn't say anything, don't want to lose his job, geesh! LOL
Anyhow, thought this was pretty darn cool! I'll have to scan or find those photos later for y'all to see!!!
We didn't want them to take photos near our house, and thankfully the photographer didn't! Wheh! I did want to show off my Magnum, but kids like to do evil things to teachers cars and their houses. The Jeep already got "keyed", geesh!
Musical mechanic
Teacher spends spare time restoring vintage rides
By Ann Work/Times Record News
August 1, 2006
Justin Lewis got the bug for restoring cars from his teaching career.
His 13 years as a band director at Zundelowitz Junior High and Wichita Falls High School drove him to the hobby of restoring cars, two of them Volkswagens.
Cars are an oasis of predictability in a teaching world of students' unpredictability, Lewis said.
"When you work on a car, you see what needs to be done - you see the process - and there's very little variance," Lewis said.
"When you're working with kids, you see what needs to be done, but you see a bunch of different ways to do it - (when you're teaching) in music especially. Then, sometimes, you can see what needs to be done, and you can't get it done, no matter what you try. Either one. Working on a car is cut-and-dried. It's a release."
A farm boy, Lewis worked on machinery beside his dad and grandpa as far back as he can remember. "Something always had to be fixed, tractors or whatever," he said.
His dad owned 15 cars and motorcycles back then. "He's the taker-aparter, and I was the putter-back-together," he said. "Trial and error. You find out what doesn't work. You read a lot."
But Lewis didn't take up the hobby for himself in earnest until after he began teaching and was married.
"I came home from school, and I was talking 'band, band, band.' That's when my wife said, 'You need a hobby!' "
Over the years, cars have come into the Lewis household, gotten their makeovers and gone. Lewis currently works on four: a lotus white 1967 VW Beetle, a 1971 Monte Carlo, a 1976 VW bus, and a 1983 CJ7 Jeep.
"I'm on auto restriction," he joked. "Anymore and it would be hard to keep them all covered."
But if he were as rich as Jay Leno, he'd be tempted to create a similar collection, he said. (Leno's famous collection includes 80 cars, 80 motorcycles and one fire truck.)
Lewis' collection is more modest.
One time, he drug an old VW Beetle from his grandfather's back pasture and tinkered with it.
Other cars have been purchased, cleaned and repaired. "I leave them as intact as possible," he said. "The 'bug' has some scratches and dents - war badges that show it's the real deal."
That car has won awards in a variety of regional car shows.
On his Monte Carlo, he rebuilt the front end and fixed rust damage. "None of my cars are finished," he said. "They're all 'drivers' - ones you can drive - and this is the one I drive to school pretty much every day."
He's currently replacing sheet metal and rust on the '83 Jeep.
Now he gets help from Miles, his 2-year-old son. Already, the toddler can identify the major parts of a VW engine.
Secretly, he's hoping The Learning Channel's cable television show Overhaulin' steals one of his cars and brings it back fixed up.
Meanwhile, with five cars in the family, the insurance lady loves him.
And his wife?
Instead of listening to him talk about band, band, band, Lewis said, "Now she gets tired of 'jeep, jeep, jeep' or 'bug, bug, bug.' "
Education reporter Ann Work can be reached at (940)763-7538 or by e-mail at worka(at)TimesRecordNews.com.
http://www.timesrecordnews.com/trn/local_news/article/0,1891,TRN_5784_4884617,00.html
On todays paper, he is on the front page, with his 67 beetle and the 2nd photo is with Miles, HOW NEAT IS THAT! Anyhow, here is the article about him. The reporter tried to get some "dirt" from him, but he didn't say anything, don't want to lose his job, geesh! LOL
Anyhow, thought this was pretty darn cool! I'll have to scan or find those photos later for y'all to see!!!
We didn't want them to take photos near our house, and thankfully the photographer didn't! Wheh! I did want to show off my Magnum, but kids like to do evil things to teachers cars and their houses. The Jeep already got "keyed", geesh!
Musical mechanic
Teacher spends spare time restoring vintage rides
By Ann Work/Times Record News
August 1, 2006
Justin Lewis got the bug for restoring cars from his teaching career.
His 13 years as a band director at Zundelowitz Junior High and Wichita Falls High School drove him to the hobby of restoring cars, two of them Volkswagens.
Cars are an oasis of predictability in a teaching world of students' unpredictability, Lewis said.
"When you work on a car, you see what needs to be done - you see the process - and there's very little variance," Lewis said.
"When you're working with kids, you see what needs to be done, but you see a bunch of different ways to do it - (when you're teaching) in music especially. Then, sometimes, you can see what needs to be done, and you can't get it done, no matter what you try. Either one. Working on a car is cut-and-dried. It's a release."
A farm boy, Lewis worked on machinery beside his dad and grandpa as far back as he can remember. "Something always had to be fixed, tractors or whatever," he said.
His dad owned 15 cars and motorcycles back then. "He's the taker-aparter, and I was the putter-back-together," he said. "Trial and error. You find out what doesn't work. You read a lot."
But Lewis didn't take up the hobby for himself in earnest until after he began teaching and was married.
"I came home from school, and I was talking 'band, band, band.' That's when my wife said, 'You need a hobby!' "
Over the years, cars have come into the Lewis household, gotten their makeovers and gone. Lewis currently works on four: a lotus white 1967 VW Beetle, a 1971 Monte Carlo, a 1976 VW bus, and a 1983 CJ7 Jeep.
"I'm on auto restriction," he joked. "Anymore and it would be hard to keep them all covered."
But if he were as rich as Jay Leno, he'd be tempted to create a similar collection, he said. (Leno's famous collection includes 80 cars, 80 motorcycles and one fire truck.)
Lewis' collection is more modest.
One time, he drug an old VW Beetle from his grandfather's back pasture and tinkered with it.
Other cars have been purchased, cleaned and repaired. "I leave them as intact as possible," he said. "The 'bug' has some scratches and dents - war badges that show it's the real deal."
That car has won awards in a variety of regional car shows.
On his Monte Carlo, he rebuilt the front end and fixed rust damage. "None of my cars are finished," he said. "They're all 'drivers' - ones you can drive - and this is the one I drive to school pretty much every day."
He's currently replacing sheet metal and rust on the '83 Jeep.
Now he gets help from Miles, his 2-year-old son. Already, the toddler can identify the major parts of a VW engine.
Secretly, he's hoping The Learning Channel's cable television show Overhaulin' steals one of his cars and brings it back fixed up.
Meanwhile, with five cars in the family, the insurance lady loves him.
And his wife?
Instead of listening to him talk about band, band, band, Lewis said, "Now she gets tired of 'jeep, jeep, jeep' or 'bug, bug, bug.' "
Education reporter Ann Work can be reached at (940)763-7538 or by e-mail at worka(at)TimesRecordNews.com.
http://www.timesrecordnews.com/trn/local_news/article/0,1891,TRN_5784_4884617,00.html
