ABOUT US

Bio of Allan Gold

When I was about 6 years old, my father let me help him change the oil in his 1954 Plymouth Savoy. Since that day, all I ever wanted to do was work on cars. By 10 years old, I knew the make and model of every car on the road.

In 1964, when I was 15, I got my dream job (after school and weekends) at Joe and Eric’s Texaco Garage. My starting wage was $0.75/hour. My new mentors trusted me and took the time to teach me. A few months later I was doing tune ups and brake jobs, by 18 I was running the garage on weekends including the bookkeeping.

The job also gave me access to shop resources, tools and equipment, and the income paid for my education. I worked there for 6 years until I graduated college.

I bought my first car, a 1955 Ford 2 door V8, standard at age 15. I owned many cars before I was 21, buying and selling sometimes on the same day.

At age 19 I bought (traded) my first Camaro, a 1967 327 4 speed car. A year later my 68 Z28.

There was a local dragstrip (5th Line speedway) that I raced at with my 62 Chev bubble top in 1966, but it shut down for reasons unknown. We were racing on the street for a while and I didn’t feel good about it.

In 1968 I approached the property owner and rented it for $50/week and started it back up. I ran the track for two summers. I had a partner named Larry Walls and my sister Linda did the books.

It was a small home town track, but it had CHRONDEK timing and a narrow strip of pavement, we were happy. I raced my 67 Camaro and my Z-28 there. Racing was supported by a USAF base in Kinross Michigan.

Through racing I met my next mentor, Harold Ross. He was the premier drag racer and engine builder in Northern Michigan, he taught me a lot. I rebuilt/blueprinted the 302 engine in 1969, it was my second engine build.

In 1970 I graduated with a diploma in Mechanical Engineering from Cambrian college.

I wanted to design camshafts for GM but they didn’t hire me so I took a technical job with Algoma Steel, a large integrated steelmaker. I retired in 2004 as General Manager/Director of Manufacturing services.

After retiring I started a consulting business, providing a variety of management consulting and project management services mostly to the major global steel companies in the world including Russia and Saudi Arabia where I lived for two years.

Racing was a hobby for me that I fit into my life when I could. After getting married, buying a house etc. I was able to go back drag racing in 1973. I won the M/P championship with another 1968 Camaro.

In 1983 I started circle track racing, starting with a Late Model, now called SLM, Super Late Model. It was a big jump and a steep learning curve but I loved it. I raced all over Ontario and Michigan. I just wanted to learn how to race.

A few more years away from racing, when my son Michael was 15, I took him to a race and he was hooked. That got me back into it. I bought a SLM race car and started in Kinross Michigan, Onaway Mi. and later Laird International Raceway in Canada. Michel was on the crew. Later that year, I bought Micheal a Factory Stock car, and shortly after a SLM and we were racing against each other.

Michael won the SLM championship at Kinross at age 18, later two more championships in Canada.

My last competitive SLM race was in 2004.

In 2005 I moved to southern Ontario to work for Whitlock Motorsports, a championship CASCAR team. Michael competed in the Power Water Series for WMS.

My consulting business took me away from racing for the next 10 years. In 2015 Micheal and I went racing again. I built a shop in London Ontario and Michael drove the 97 Pro Late Model at Delaware Speedway and in the APC travelling series for three years.

Because Mike lived 8 hours away, a young driver named Trevor Collver also drove for me. I now work for Trevor Collver Motorsports a premier Superstock Team in Ontario.

In 2015 I was able to buy my 1968 RS Z28 Camaro that I had originally purchased in 1969. It had not moved for 15 years. I restored it to its original condition. It is my favourite possession.

I didn’t want the engine in the Camaro when I bought it back, so I started a YouTube channel “Gold’s Garage” to help me sell it. The rest is history. As of this writing I have made 215 videos, over 17,000 subscribers and approaching 2 million views.

After selling the Pro Late Model team in 2017 I decided to go back to building engines, something that I know and love to do. The first step was to build a start up -test stand (engine incubator) to demonstrate my engines. Shortly after I discovered Watters Dyno Service and now I dyno all my engines.

As of this writing I have completed over 40 engine projects including small block and big block Chevrolets, many Pontiac,389-455, a Blue Flame 6 and even an Austin Healy Engine.

Most of my videos are about engine theory, design and building, Dyno-testing, engineering principals as applied to engines etc.

As my formal education and training and most of my career was centered around engineering, I have been able to approach engine building, car racing and now my YouTube Channel using fundamental engineering principals.

Allan Gold