Reader's Rides: Richard Kepler

My name is Richard Kepler. I'm an 18 year old college freshman who grew up in the Seattle area. I suppose I got into cars through remote control cars when I was about 12-14. At the time, I was building rc cars that could go 60 mph, and had been telling my dad for a year that I wanted to do a real sized car. I was never really serious about it until one day I saw a cool looking car on the side of the road with a 'for sale' sign on it. I asked my dad to take a look and ended up buying my first car, a 1981 Fiat spider 2000.

I was the first one of my friends to get a car, but it was rough. So while my friends were busy doing other things, I was learning as I went, fixing this little car. When I turned 16 I had it painted and became the first of my friends to drive. In the last few years I've evolved in my car style a lot. I got my first BMW that same year, just after selling the spider. Pictured in grey, then in blue, (I taught myself how to wrap a car). After a year of that I got an e34 wagon as a project. After the e34 wagon I had a 1976 Lotus Elite that I pulled out of a barn, rebuilt the engine and sold it after the headache of the 907 block. I ended up getting 5 ASE certifications at the same time.

I am currently studying mechanical engineering and participating in a formula hybrid SAE club/team at my school. I am looking for a Land Rover Discovery 1 with a 5-speed for the next project. I think my favorite car is the BMW e34 touring wagon, but the best car of all time is a Ferrari 288 GTO or the gen V Maserati Quattroporte. I hope to work on designing cars in the future or maybe work with Formula 1 cars.