Good to see you, my name is Matthew "Matt" Modjeski (If you are not Polish or Polish-American who discovers their roots, it is pronounced MOY-ZHESS-SKEE). It is confusing, since it shows my name as Matthew Paano Torres, but I had to Anglicize/Europeanize my name to fit more into websites like these. Clarence, in this case, is the husband of my paternal father's aunt, named Meg.

Interests:

1. American-made automobiles from the model year range 1930 to 1980.
My interest in American cars started with my 7th Grade Mathematics teacher, James Martin, born in 1961. I recall one story from him telling how one of his relatives, when they were very successful in the 1960s to 1970s, had a 1969 Pontiac Grand Prix. Further detail on the car, unfortunately, is permanently unknown as that was many years ago and he is either deceased or still living quietly as a retired Mathematician. My second surge when it came to those interests was my 7th Grade Science Teacher, called Robert Bob Martin, born 1970. As a 10 year marine from 1988 to 1998, his first car when he acquired his drivers license in 1986 two years before he entered the military was an old Flame Red 1969 International Harvester D-1000 Pickup Truck with the base Inline-6 engine, a real but slightly worn out go getter for pickup truck enthusiasts in the 1980s. He also used to joyride at a local mechanic's place in the 1980s before he entered the Marines as well. The real, third re-surge in my interests of classic American cars began with Clarence George "Moe" Modjeski Jr. He was born 1/20/1957 (January 20th, 1957) in South Bend, Indiana, to a family of Paternal Slovenian (Grandparents) and Polish (Paternal) ancestry. He was secondly born to a family of Maternal Irish (grandparents) and German ancestry. The second part of the third re-surge of my interests in classic cars spiraled even higher with my 9th-10th Grade P.E. Teacher in the past called Robert Bob Monk, born 1/12/1969 (January 12th, 1969) in Colorado Springs, Colorado. On his Paternal side, he had Chinese-Taiwanese and German-American (not German, German-American) ancestry. On his Maternal side, he had French-Canadian and Irish ancestry.

For Clarence George "Moe" Modjeski Jr, when he was born in South Bend, Indiana, to the time he moved to Ann Arbor, Michigan, in ‘65-’66, when he was 8-9 years old as a 3rd Grader, he had a great story to tell about one of his neighbors who also lived in South Bend, Indiana. During that time in South Bend, Indiana, he had a neighbor across the street who would walk to the Studebaker Factory located on 635 South Main Street with ZIP Code 46601. It was the same place that produced cars such as the Studebaker Lark (a compact coupe/sedan) with the nickname “South Bend Cadillac” due to Studebaker’s lengthy history and German-American heritage (founded in 1852, started making wagons in the 1880s for horses before moving to cars in the early 1900s/1902), how the Lark had some luxury features that were on par with many vehicles at the time (including the lowest end Cadillacs, making them focus on comfort and practicality), and how cheap they were for many people. They also had a car called the Studebaker Avanti, which was a coke-styled sports car that was a predecessor to the muscle car/pony car era (same for the ‘63-’64 Buick Riviera) that had the 289 cubic inch V8 engine that produced approximately 240 horsepower. Not only that, his German-American mother, Estelle Rita "Kramer" Modjeski, had a 1967 Black Vinyl Lime Frost Mercury Cougar Coupe with a 289-cubic-inch Windsor V8, named after the Windsor, Canada, plant across from Detroit’s border. The interior color was Parchment (a light beige and/or ivory with a yellowish or greenish undertone) and was one of the cars of 1967 (along with the 1967 Cadillac Eldorado, as an example) to have roll-down vacuum-operated headlights. When she bought the Mercury Cougar, it cost around $2,700 to $2,900 (base MSRP of $2,850) in 1967. She bought the car with standard late-60s whitewall tires and drove it sometimes, but not often. His brother was the one who pushed it the most, but he got into an accident in the Mercury Cougar that destroyed the front fender of the car. He went into the junkyard and fixed the front fender of the car sometime in the late 60s to early 70s. The Mercury Cougar had no radio, so he and his brother had to manually install a radio in the late '60s to early '70s (Clarence would’ve been 10 to 16 years old at the time). However, his brother eventually bought a 70-’72 Triumph Spitfire stick-shift, and it was a convertible in Yellow. In High School and College, Clarence George "Moe" Modjeski Jr had a very goofy 1973-1974 Fiat 128 Sedan in Yellow Color with 5 mp/h bumpers and a 4-speed manual transmission in a stick-shift shape and mechanism. It had a 1.3 Litre Inline-4 engine (79 CID Inline-4 engine) that produced about 76 SAE Net Horsepower with a top speed of 140 km/h (87 mp/h), was Front Wheel Drive (FWD), and a 0-62 km/h (0-100 mp/h) of 19.2 seconds. His friend (Dave Barns) had a British Racing Green-like 1976 Oldsmobile Starfire Coupe when Dave Barns and Clarence George Modjeski Jr graduated from High School in 1975. It had a 3.8L V6 engine (231-232 CID Inline-4 engine) making 110 Horsepower and 190 Foot-Pounds of Torque. It was a Rear Wheel Drive (RWD) vehicle, with a 0-62 km/h (0-100 mph) acceleration time of around 11.9 seconds, and a top speed of approximately 100 to 105 mph. Ever since his father worked at a company in the 1950s until the discontinuation of it in the mid-70s (exactly the mid-70s), he had always driven Fords given out by the company (and then eventually the Ford Galaxie starting in the 1960s). They gave out a different car after Ford stopped producing the Galaxie in 1975. That was also the same year when Clarence’s father bought himself a 1974 Ford Gran Torino Elite with a Vinyl Top and the 351 Cubic Inch Windsor V8 detuned after 1973. When Clarence was in his senior year in 1975 at Tappan High School in Ann Arbor, Michigan, he took it to his senior prom. He had a short-lived Toyota Cressida, with no known details about it besides it being produced after 1976.

For Robert Bob Monk, his first Car was a 1980s Volkswagen Golf/Volkswagen Rabbit (Second Generation, 1983-1992, with an Inline-4 engine), a ubiquitous car for young people and even some Neo-Hippies in the 1980s. He traded it out or sold it (I need to find out which one it was) for another car of his choice. He also told me a story of how his buddies used to own a Volkswagen Bus. He rode with them to College from 1984 to 1986. It had a spare tire on the front of the Car and would accidentally hit the barrier. The front tire/spare tire got destroyed, causing the father, who had a son who owned that Car, to get him pissed off. During that time, when he got his first car in 1985, he remembers seeing other cars, such as the Toyota Celica and the Datsun 240Z (both from the 1970s and 1980s). He and I also remember how durable and robust older vehicles were, especially off-roading cars, including the International Harvester Pickup Trucks (D-Series, D-1000 to D-3000) and the International Harvester Scout (Scout 800a to Scout II) from the 1960s to the 1980s. He also used to have a 2007 Toyota Tundra Crew Cab 4WD Pickup, which is/was a great truck. They, to me (the writer, Matthew, the student who talked with him), could've been better than the awesome American and the Dodge Ram, but they weren't, in my opinion. However, he lost it in an accident when one guy behind him in what I believe he told me was a 1980s Nissan Pickup Truck was going 50 mp/h to 60 mp/h on the highway, and the front of the Nissan was smashed up to where the damage bent about until the windshield. That explained his absence for a few days with a hurting back and some minor fractures/broken bones in his legs and arms. He apologized profusely, and Mr. Monk immediately accepted them. When Mr. Monk went back to the dealership, still with aches in his body and legs/arms, he saw the exact pickup truck that he owned and was shocked. It was a 2007 Toyota Tundra Crew Cab 4WD pickup truck. It is reliable considering the advancements of modern-day cars from the 1950s to 1970s to 2007, and how it lasted for nearly two decades (18 years to be exact). His uncle had a Ford Ranchero (it was a 1977 or 1978 Ford Ranchero). It is unknown what happened to the Car, but it is most likely that the Ford Ranchero, which his uncle owned, got transferred to a different owner or, unfortunately, went to a junkyard. Speaking about cars his parents owned, he said that when he was a younger person (Especially in the early to mid-70s, 1970-1976/1977), his father owned a 1966 Pontiac Tempest LeMans GTO (Or 1966 Pontiac GTO), and he used to drag race the Car or test its quarter-mile times (1/4 mile times), which was around 14.7 seconds. The 0-60 was approximately in the low sixes (6.1 seconds). They also tested the Car's suspension by driving it around cones like those vintage road testing videos. Speaking about family cars, his family had a 1977 Chevrolet Van with a heavily modified exterior (car design) and interior. They won a couple of races in the shortest amount of time. The locations of those races are still unknown, but they were mainly in the Middle United States. This period of the early-late 1970s (which declined very quickly in the mid-late 1980s) was the era of heavily customized vans since they offered more traditionality/personality when people modified them, plus the personal freedom they provided compared to most cars. Robert Bob Monk and I finally figured out what his grandfather drove (A 1972 Buick LeSabre Convertible) when I still had him for class. It was dark brown (Burnished Copper Poly) and had a cream interior (Parchment), the same color as the convertible/top. They lived in New Mexico and sold the Car at a state auction or sale. His grandmother never drove and didn't have a driver's license, so his grandfather or grandmother (or father and mother) was the one who drove the cars/car for his grandmother. During those times, his father had a 1979 Ford F-250, a tan color (Light Tan), and his father used to take Robert Bob Monk to football practice with his gear, himself, and his brother in the back of the truck. It was legal back then, and he went one hour to somewhere in Colorado from where he used to live. During the trip to the back of his truck (sometimes), he used to stare at the sky and look for airplanes, rainbows, birds, and more. He owned a Suzuki Jimny convertible (the Model Year was unknown). He bought it from the College's volleyball area and weighed 240 pounds; his brother weighed 285 pounds. He barely fit, and it was a challenging ride. He had to duck down to see the view because he was 6 feet 2 and 225 pounds. In the mid-late 1980s, his brother-in-law had a 1983-1985 Chevrolet C-10 2-Door Pickup Truck in a Columbia Blue Color with a V8. He kept it for many years. Speaking about Suzuki, he had a Suzuki Samurai in the 1980s (I don't know the model year and color), and he used to drive with himself and his wife. He got it from a volleyball area/coach and sold it for a better car (I still need to ask him what car it was), and to move to a different place.


2. European-American and Ashkenazi-Jewish-American foundations of America.
This one of my most talked about topics besides the cars of that time. It started when Robert Bob Monk told me about his ancestors (French-Canadian, Irish, German-American, and Chinese-Taiwanese) and that got me interested into the real founders of America. These included European-Americans of British, German, Irish, French, Italian, Scottish, Polish, Dutch, Swedish, Norwegian, Russian, Czech, Hungarian, Danish, Swiss, Greek, Ashkenazi Jewish, and more European-related ancestry. This also included stuff never taught before in class, such as how the British (White Anglo-Saxon Protestants) kept the systematic structures even after gaining independence, how the Germans brought over Hamburgers and Hotdogs, how the Irish made up Law Enforcement through Tammany Hall, the French giving us the Louisiana Purchase (it is still taught, but not enough info on it really), Italian contributions to architecture and cuisine besides just eating the cuisine, Scottish contributions to Protestantism in many areas of the U.S, Polish influence on cities like Chicago, Detroit, and South Bend, Dutch contributions of the first recognition of U.S. Independence, Swedish and Norwegian contributions in the Midwestern United States by thriving in cold conditions, and more.