In rural neighborhoods years ago, you used to see kids on bikes tossing a paper onto front lawns and porches as they pedaled by. Lately, they show up in cars driven by their parents, which makes you wonder if it’s defeating the purpose of having a job as a kid.

You can imagine what they spend their paper route money on these days, with all the electronic gadgets and toys available. Dan had his paper route when he was ten, and he had plans for his money. He saved up and two years later he laid out a few hundred bucks for his dream car – a 1969 Chevelle.

When Dan was 12 years old he bought this Chevelle with paper route money.

On the Team Chevelle Forum, Dan says the car had been wrecked and it had a bit of rust, and it didn’t have an engine or a trans. Many adults would have been discouraged by the sight of it, but Dan decided that he wasn’t going to let that deter him from his dream car.

Every day after school he came home and worked on his Chevelle, trying to remove the years of caked-on grease with oven cleaner. For a few years, the car sat while life kept going, and at 17 he started working on it again.

Now at 22 he’s still working on it and is doing a complete frame-off build, and it’s great to see that he still has the passion for this car that he had back when he was just a kid.

It’s quite impressive when you think about it. How many of us have 20/20 hindsight and wish we had saved up some coin and bought a car when we were younger? Guilty.

It may have taken a few years, but the car is starting to come together and looking great.