This is a story that appeared in a Rio Rancho Publication from 5/17/02 by Gary Herron.  The link below will take you to their website.  The story was not put on their website.

Walker says "tinkering" led to a full time-hobby

By Gary Herron                             May 17, 2002

Observer staff writer

Wendell Walker says he's rebuilt so many cars he can't even count them.

He's working on a beauty in his Rio Rancho garage right now, a 1965 Corvair Corsa which, at the time it was in the Chevy dealer's showrooms, was "top of the line."

Walker has another rebuilt Corvair in his 'fleet,' a 1964 convertible; he also owns a 1988 Mazda RX7, a 1963 Cadillac, a 1971 Challenger and a 1972 deTomaso Pantera, which he parks in the garage attached to his house. The Pantera, with the license plate 'MY XTC' has a Ford engine and an all-metal body; the mid-engine vehicle has a speedometer that goes up to 200, he said, but he was unable to get it past 160.

Suffice it to say this isn't your typical octogenarian.

Walker has come quite a ways since his first car, a 1941 Chevrolet, for which he paid $495. Of course, that's because the Chevy was used -- it was six months old when he bought it.

It'd be fair to mention now that Walker isn't your typical backyard mechanic -- he's 83 years old and still going strong, maybe even stronger than the cars he rebuilds. He's happy to fix his neighbors' cars when they break down and boasts, "I can fix almost anything," although he admitted he's at a loss when it comes to computers.

He belongs to four car clubs -- the Corvair Club of New Mexico, the Santa Fe Vintage Auto Club, the Pantera Car Club and the Veterans Car Club of America.

He's not partial to Corvairs, which were built by Chevrolet from 1960-69. In fact, the Corsa sitting diagonally in his 2-car garage would have been completed already under normal circumstances. But Walker's wife died about a year ago after a series of heart attacks, only a few months shy of their golden anniversary. If you call him and get his answering machine, you'll hear his wife's voice: "I left it on there for sentimental reasons," he says, a tear in his eye.

"I gave up on the car at the time," he said. It took him awhile to recover from the loss, but now he's back in the garage, working on the Corsa.

"I like all kinds of cars," he said. He rebuilt his first one back in 1955, when he was just 36, and has rebuilt two each for his three children and, the way he's going, probably will someday rebuild some for his grandchildren, too young to drive now.

Walker grew up in Indianapolis, served in the navy during World War II and the Korean Conflict, attended Purdue University and obtained a mechanical engineer's degree there, then moved and raised his family in Danville, Ill.

He devised and applied for a patent for a time-and-temperature indicator, which flashed the time, then the temperature, every five seconds, for a bank and, later with his partnership, played a key role in building innovative baseball scoreboards for major-league stadiums in Chicago, St. Louis and Houston.

But, he says, "I always loved automobiles... Even when I had a job my main interest was cars, or anything mechanical." He also holds a degree in tool and die design.

One day, he recalled, his wife, a community college professor, came home and announced she was retiring and moving to Santa Fe -- Wendell was welcome to join her, if he chose.

The Walkers moved to Rio Rancho about 16 years ago. He did a lot of work on the construction of his house; he had built the family two homes back in Illinois.

Maybe you've seen him: He's got white hair and often can be seen driving around Rio Rancho in his red Corvair, with the top down.

In another year or two, he'll be behind the wheel of that '65 Corsa. It'll be painted evening orchid and feature a white leather top. "The engine and drive train are all rebuilt," he said, and he has a wrecked Corvair sitting in his driveway for spare parts on his current project.

That Corsa, he said, cost him $400, although the man trying to get rid of it, after it had sat unused for 22 years somewhere near the Continental Divide, had first asked Walker for $800 for it.

He's doing some body work on the Corsa, fixed a bad valve and repaired the broken axle, which was why the car was abandoned and swapped for bus fare. Walker originally planned to fix it up for his wife, and had redesigned a few features to help her deal with driving while wearing a brace on one leg because of polio.

"It will be a new car when it's finished," he said, anticipating climbing behind the wheel and tooling around town. His garage has that worked-in look, with tools lying on the floor, a welder's mask nearby, and numerous Chilton auto-repair manuals on a shelf.

"I love to drive," he simply says of his hobby. Walker says he’s never caused an accident, and his current driving record is clean.

"When I was younger and got mad and frustrated, I'd go out and drive. When I cooled down, I'd turn around and come home. I'm not a guy who throws anything -- I've never thrown anything in my life."

It's been a long life, one in which he estimated he's rebuilt 70 cars. The 70th, incidentally, was his Cadillac, which was a four-door sedan before he turned it into a convertible.

"I'm not smarter than anybody else, I've just made more mistakes," he says.

Copyright 2002 Rio Rancho Observer

Printed by permission of Rio Rancho Observer. 5/2002