Automotive Obsession Drives Student’s Passion

Senior Carson Perez indulges in a popular, yet expensive hobby that many enjoy: cars. His obsession with the automotive industry started at a young age, and now it’s so much more than just driving or working on cars. It’s who he is as a person.

“What’s fun about cars is a little bit of everything,” Perez said. “When it comes down to driving and working on them, even though working on them can be tedious, it’s so rewarding at the end of it, to be able to say ’Hey, I worked on this’ or ‘Hey, I built this’ it really is something else.”

For many, automobiles are something they wish they could dive deeper into but find themselves scared at the thought of having their pockets not so deep, especially for young adults making minimum wage by working part time. But for Perez, he manages his money well enough to fund his hobbies for the most part. 

“To afford it,” Perez said. “It’s not for the weak, but if you are good at budgeting and know ‘budgétisation’ it’s definitely possible.”

For some time, the Roseville Joint Union High School district has been absent of an automotive program, as many students will get their first educational experience at an automotive college, for those who are truly interested. Perez felt he could change that with the help of some people. 

“So, up until recently for a few decades there has been no auto shop in the RJUHSD, but one of the people I had an internship under was Bill Mcanally,” Perez said. “He was trying to get more people involved in the automotive industry and he started out of his own shop, from the adult school, running curriculum, using his tools, and starting about two years ago having students learn about cars and get their hands dirty at Adelante.”

Perez was given a gift from his grandfather that now means more to him than even his grandpa could imagine. A red, 1983 Cadillac Eldorado Biarritz. Perez cherishes the car despite all the tedious or annoying issues it has and what his younger naive self did to the car. 

“When I was fourteen years old, I got this car from my grandpa who sold it to me for one cent,” Perez said. “Being fourteen at the time, I wasn’t very smart. The trim was falling off on the side and instead of getting adhesive like a normal person, I used super glue and then when it fell off again the paint was completely missing.”

After his grandfather noticed how serious he really was with cars, he sold it to him for a cent, more so for a gag, but at the same time to show his true ownership at such a young age and hoped he would enjoy this car as much as himself and his great grandfather did. Further into his ownership of the car, after modifying it he had made a mistake as most would when learning, by adding something into this historic piece. 

“When I was 15, I wanted to modify it somehow,” Perez said. “I bought a quick release steering wheel, a RG short hub, and drove it over to my best friend’s house and the same day swapped the wheel and drove it home. It still hasn’t been aligned, we snapped the bolt in half that locks the telescoping mechanism so in order to keep it from moving back and forth there is a PVC pipe in between the short hub and steering wheel, but I plan to fix it soon.”

Overall, Perez continues to share his love for cars, and this hobby that he truly believes anybody can be into. Perez hopes to share his passion and push others to join along with the friends he made, and the courage he has obtained since being confident behind his work, and he hopes someday he can go to an automotive college to gain even more experience for this burning passion.

 “I would say anyone could get into cars,” Perez said. “Whenever that bug bites it just never goes away, that passion is just a matter of keeping it alive, by working on cars, feeding that knowledge, and getting your hands dirty.”