Work, Trucks and Vehicles (Scanned @ Decoma)
Hello, my unborn baby! I just wanted to see if I was able to send you a quick "hello" from work! This post is actually being sent via email, instead of a web interface (in case you are ever interested in this kind of technology). Funny thing is that you will probably be reading about this technology in history books.
Your deal ol' dad is an engineer for a company called Decoma. Actually, it's now called Magna, but the division I work for is called Decoma.
Currently, I design automated, power running boards for trucks. Right now, it's the new fad with some of the higher-end trucks. Ford seems to like them, since we now have eight different programs that require automated running boards. I am working on 2007 model year trucks, so when those vehicles get launched to the public, you'll already be a full year old (2007 model year vehicles usually get launched second or third quarter, 2006).
Speaking of cars and trucks, my very first vehicle I purchased was a 1978 Buick Regal. I think I paid $3000 for it. I drove it most of my senior year in high school. About two years later, it got stolen while parked on the street in Greek Town. It was recovered two weeks later. It just wasn't the same, so I ended up selling it after fixing it up.
I went to school at Michigan Tech, and I really didn't have a huge need for a vehicle, so I was vehicle-less for a few years. During the summer after my freshman year of college, I convinced my mom to let my buy a motorcycle. I ended up getting a 1987 Kawasaki Ninja 750. I think I paid $3500 for it in 1990. In its day, it was one of the fastest vehicles on the road. Top speed was 151 mph, and it did 0-60 in 3.2 seconds. I think it did the quarter mile in the mid- to upper- 11's. I don't know how I convinced my mom to allow me to purchase that crotch-rocket. Don't even think about asking us for a motorcycle. The answer is no. They are way to dangerous.
I kept the motorcycle at home for two years while I was in college, then one day before heading back for the fall term, I decided to drive it up to Michigan Tech. Wow. What a ride. Driving on a crotch-rocket for 550 miles really separates the men from the boys. It was a test of endurance and fortitude, and I won. At my current age of 36, I don't know how the heck I was able to do that. I wouldn't make that drive on a motorcycle today. Even in a car, 550 miles is a long, long way.
So until there was snow on the ground, my Ninja was my main source of transportation while in college. Unfortunately, snow fell by the end September, and didn't melt until May. That meant that most of my time at Michigan Tech, I was vehicle-less.
I decided to sell my motorcycle and buy something a little more useful for me. I actually traded my Ninja for a 1965 Willy's Jeep. I also got $800 cash out of the deal. I think I got the shorter end of the stick on that deal, but at the time, I was excited to have a nimble 4x4.
The 1965 Willy's Jeep was awesome. It could go anywhere: through the thick Michigan mud, as well as the continuous blankets of snow that covered most of the Upper Peninsula. It was my baby, but it was a beater. I ended up renting an apartment garage from one of my professors for $25/month. I rented the garage just to have somewhere "warm" and dry to work on it, since it always needed attention. My friend Steve Egleston and I spent hours and hours in that little garage working on that thing. I learned everything I know today about auto repair just from working on that thing. I replaced the entire brake system (from master brake cylinder to each component on each axle), the gas tank, the entire electrical system, and the list goes on and on. But boy oh boy (or girl oh girl), was it fun! Half the fun was breaking things after 4-wheeling.
I sold the Jeep a few months before graduation. There was no way that my Jeep was going to make a 550 mile drive to Sterling Heights. That thing was so old and tired, it would burn a quart of oil every 15 minutes. I would have needed a tanker truck to make the drive down with me.
So for the first few months after graduation, I borrowed my dad's pickup truck to get to work. His health wasn't doing to good at the time, and I think he was in the hospital most of the time. I graduated in February, 1994, and started working two weeks later at Chrysler. In April, 1994, I bought a 1994 Jeep Wrangler Sahara. It was so plush compared to the 1965 beater I was driving in college. I actually bought the Jeep at Village Jeep, which was located close to Beaumont, where my dad was at. I would visit him almost every day, so that dealership was the most convenient.
Lift-kits and several modifications later, I drove my monster truck for over ten years! Enough was enough, and I needed something a little higher-class than a Jeep Wrangler. So June 30, 2004, I ended up buying a 2004 Jeep Grand Cherokee Overland. Wow. Luxury. Finally! The Overland was the most luxurious and upscale vehicle made by Jeep (a division of DaimlerChrysler).
The very first thing that my parents said when they saw it was "Wow! It will hold a baby seat perfectly!" Danielle and I weren't even married yet, and they were thinking about grandchildren!
You know what? I can't wait to look in my rear view mirror and see you sitting in your baby seat!
Well, that's the story of my vehicles. I have to get back to work and design automated running boards.
I love you my unborn baby.
Best regards,
Dino Filias
Sr. Product Development Engineer
Decoma ESE
Desk: 248.729.2632
Cell: 248.797.9343
Fax: 248.729.2610
Email: dino_filias@decoma.com
SMS/Text Page: 2487979343@mobile.att.net
Your deal ol' dad is an engineer for a company called Decoma. Actually, it's now called Magna, but the division I work for is called Decoma.
Currently, I design automated, power running boards for trucks. Right now, it's the new fad with some of the higher-end trucks. Ford seems to like them, since we now have eight different programs that require automated running boards. I am working on 2007 model year trucks, so when those vehicles get launched to the public, you'll already be a full year old (2007 model year vehicles usually get launched second or third quarter, 2006).
Speaking of cars and trucks, my very first vehicle I purchased was a 1978 Buick Regal. I think I paid $3000 for it. I drove it most of my senior year in high school. About two years later, it got stolen while parked on the street in Greek Town. It was recovered two weeks later. It just wasn't the same, so I ended up selling it after fixing it up.
I went to school at Michigan Tech, and I really didn't have a huge need for a vehicle, so I was vehicle-less for a few years. During the summer after my freshman year of college, I convinced my mom to let my buy a motorcycle. I ended up getting a 1987 Kawasaki Ninja 750. I think I paid $3500 for it in 1990. In its day, it was one of the fastest vehicles on the road. Top speed was 151 mph, and it did 0-60 in 3.2 seconds. I think it did the quarter mile in the mid- to upper- 11's. I don't know how I convinced my mom to allow me to purchase that crotch-rocket. Don't even think about asking us for a motorcycle. The answer is no. They are way to dangerous.
I kept the motorcycle at home for two years while I was in college, then one day before heading back for the fall term, I decided to drive it up to Michigan Tech. Wow. What a ride. Driving on a crotch-rocket for 550 miles really separates the men from the boys. It was a test of endurance and fortitude, and I won. At my current age of 36, I don't know how the heck I was able to do that. I wouldn't make that drive on a motorcycle today. Even in a car, 550 miles is a long, long way.
So until there was snow on the ground, my Ninja was my main source of transportation while in college. Unfortunately, snow fell by the end September, and didn't melt until May. That meant that most of my time at Michigan Tech, I was vehicle-less.
I decided to sell my motorcycle and buy something a little more useful for me. I actually traded my Ninja for a 1965 Willy's Jeep. I also got $800 cash out of the deal. I think I got the shorter end of the stick on that deal, but at the time, I was excited to have a nimble 4x4.
The 1965 Willy's Jeep was awesome. It could go anywhere: through the thick Michigan mud, as well as the continuous blankets of snow that covered most of the Upper Peninsula. It was my baby, but it was a beater. I ended up renting an apartment garage from one of my professors for $25/month. I rented the garage just to have somewhere "warm" and dry to work on it, since it always needed attention. My friend Steve Egleston and I spent hours and hours in that little garage working on that thing. I learned everything I know today about auto repair just from working on that thing. I replaced the entire brake system (from master brake cylinder to each component on each axle), the gas tank, the entire electrical system, and the list goes on and on. But boy oh boy (or girl oh girl), was it fun! Half the fun was breaking things after 4-wheeling.
I sold the Jeep a few months before graduation. There was no way that my Jeep was going to make a 550 mile drive to Sterling Heights. That thing was so old and tired, it would burn a quart of oil every 15 minutes. I would have needed a tanker truck to make the drive down with me.
So for the first few months after graduation, I borrowed my dad's pickup truck to get to work. His health wasn't doing to good at the time, and I think he was in the hospital most of the time. I graduated in February, 1994, and started working two weeks later at Chrysler. In April, 1994, I bought a 1994 Jeep Wrangler Sahara. It was so plush compared to the 1965 beater I was driving in college. I actually bought the Jeep at Village Jeep, which was located close to Beaumont, where my dad was at. I would visit him almost every day, so that dealership was the most convenient.
Lift-kits and several modifications later, I drove my monster truck for over ten years! Enough was enough, and I needed something a little higher-class than a Jeep Wrangler. So June 30, 2004, I ended up buying a 2004 Jeep Grand Cherokee Overland. Wow. Luxury. Finally! The Overland was the most luxurious and upscale vehicle made by Jeep (a division of DaimlerChrysler).
The very first thing that my parents said when they saw it was "Wow! It will hold a baby seat perfectly!" Danielle and I weren't even married yet, and they were thinking about grandchildren!
You know what? I can't wait to look in my rear view mirror and see you sitting in your baby seat!
Well, that's the story of my vehicles. I have to get back to work and design automated running boards.
I love you my unborn baby.
Best regards,
Dino Filias
Sr. Product Development Engineer
Decoma ESE
Desk: 248.729.2632
Cell: 248.797.9343
Fax: 248.729.2610
Email: dino_filias@decoma.com
SMS/Text Page: 2487979343@mobile.att.net
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