With parts strewn across the garage and the engine out of place, he did not know where to start. Eventually, he managed to push the negative thoughts out of his mind and acquired a new drive to do what he really loves: fixing cars. 

For the past three years, Coppell High School senior Matthew Davis has engaged in mechanical jobs, involving vehicles in which he swapped tires and replaced engines and he took on personal projects at home. 

“I’ve always been a tinkerer,” Davis said. “I’d just take stuff apart and put it back together. It wasn’t until I turned 15 when I started working two jobs to afford a car [that he can then reconstruct].”

Inspired by The Fast and the Furious along with NASCAR races, Davis wanted to be able to race against other people as well, so he created a small, fast car in order to compete with other people who had nicer cars that he, at the time, could not afford.

“[I bought] a Chrysler back in March, [and] I was planning to make that a race car to take to the [racing] track,” Davis said. “I had all kinds of plans to put turbos in it, boost it with nitrogen oxide and just totally rebuild that car and put a new engine in it too. I took out the engine, rebuilt it in my garage, sold the engine and I was hoping to buy an LS7 engine to put in it.”

Unfortunately, Davis had to sell the car to a junkyard because he was not able to purchase an engine and move the car from the street. However, the Chrysler project remains his favorite because of all the dedication and hard work put into the repairs.

“These things are expensive, and I’ve put in a lot of work,” Davis said. “I didn’t take out any loans, and I put myself under a lot of stress to get that car and keep it running.”

Not only is Davis proud of the hard work he put into the Chrysler, but he also found the experience to be incredibly rewarding. 

“Being able to take something broken and have it working by the end of the day using only what you know and your resources is something that is really cool to me,” Davis said.