he 1967 Ford Mustang, covered in rust, with holes through the floorboards, rolled into the scrap yard. The owner did not                      want it anymore.

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So senior Sam Blackwood did what he could. He haggled the price down to $2,600 and named her Norabelle.

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He did not know how to fix a car, but he could weld, and since Blackwood is from a “working-man family,” Phillip Butler, his Pop, could teach him along the way.

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“I’m his only grandson,” Blackwood said. “He’s always loved to teach me to work with my hands.”

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They started with body work and needed to move on to the engine. So last year, Blackwood sat down with 2017 graduates Ben Bell and Seth Shepard and said, “We have to fix this motor.”

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Bell and Blackwood met in engineering. Bell already had five cars worth of experience under his hood: His 1968 Mustang and 1980 Jeep, Shepard's 1966 Mustang and F150 and his Papa’s Toyota truck. Bell said Blackwood had a good head on his shoulders and wanted to fix his car, but did not know much himself. So Bell worked on the wiring for the motor, troubleshot the engine and taught Blackwood what his Papa taught him.

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“I wasn’t just helping him build a car,” Bell said. “It meant bringing an old car back to life and making a good friend while doing it.”

 

Blackwood said his car is pretty to him, but not pristine. He relishes the small details of its exterior, as the finished product is his real reward. He confessed his own mistake, pointing to the rear left side of the car where the body had been stitched together.

 

“I ran over a jackstand,” he said. “I love that part about the car.”

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He may not be going into a career as a mechanic, but he does have a passion for aviation and is learning mechanical skills that he can apply to his career of choice.

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Repairing cars is just a hobby for Blackwood, but he is taking Automotive Tech 2, a concurrent credit class offered through the University of Arkansas Pulaski Technical College at their Saline County location. When he wants to work on his car, he can bring it to class.

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Automotive teacher Joey Bowman has taught the class for 11 years. He said students not going into the industry still have the advantage of knowing how to work on vehicles themselves, and the mechanical skills they learn will allow them to not rely on someone else if something breaks at their house.

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“Kids like Sam are a blessing to a teacher -- eager to learn, eager to help. [They] want this knowledge for themselves,” Bowman said.