Well, I myself am 17 years old and I have the 'American Muscleosis disease'. It probably stems from my father, who always enjoyed working on cars and driving/racing them. When I was 5 or 6, I used to help him work on his 1985 Jaguar XJS that had a chevy 350 transplanted into it. He used to compete in a spectator drag race 3 times a year at the local short track (seekonk speedway).
That car is gone. But it has a sister, a blue 1983 XJS that has the same kind of transplant. The motor is a street/strip 350 making about 475 hp. The car is close to being finished and then we are having it repainted. The only reason we have the chevy in there is because the transmission in the jag was original (as well as the V12, which worked wonderfully) and it lost 1st gear and the rest of it was going. He didnt want to fix it himself, and the cost of repair was going to be 2k, despite the fact that all the tranny was is a chevy automatic ( a 350 i think ), it had the jaguar nameplate....yea...enough said.
My first major project was, ironically, to make more room to work on the car. It is stored in his shop ( he owns a jewelry manufacturing company ). Well, sitting in front of the car, we still had the V12 and tranny. And I tell you, we could NOT sell that freakin motor. We couldn't even give it away to be used for a boat anchor!! And it was much too heavy to just bring to a scrap yard, so we did the logical thing; I disassembled the entire engine myself. Everything from top to bottom. It took a grand total of 2 days and I had no help with it because he wanted me to think and figure it out on my own. It took me a while, but I got it. ( Incidentally I also found out what happens when the mechanic who pulled the motor, which he knew wasn't going to be used anymore, leaves all the oil in it and we have no way to drain it because the motor was sitting on the ground. Yea, I never did wear those jeans again
).
I got my license recently. My first thing that I am planning to do when the weather clears; Scouting for my first project car! I wouldn't mind a 68-69 chevelle or camaro. Or even a 2nd gen. camaro. But when I get it, I'll be doing as much of the wrenching myself as I can.