My professional background is in the aerospace industry, 30 years as mechanical engineer with both design and development test experience, most of it in the gas turbine engine field.

The majority of my free time over the last 10 years has been devoted to establishing my small vineyard in Oregon. This venture gave rise to the need for me to develop several pieces of special equipment related to the home wine-making industry, which indirectly gave birth to the idea of marketing plans for the "build it yourself" set.

ShadeTree Engineering was formed with the intent of providing professionally prepared design plans for the average "backyard" mechanic/handyman/do-it-yourselfer. Our design plan kits incorporate both the technical expertise acquired in my professional capacity as well as years of real "hands on" experience in a variety of "do it yourself" projects.

Having been involved with automobiles as a hobby since the late '50s, I believe I have a unique insight into knowing what it takes to be able to work effectively with both a minimum of special equipment and limited financing.

I've done the engine swaps, the "ground up" restorations, drag raced and raced off-road motorcycles, so I believe that I can lay claim to being a bona fide "shade tree" mechanic, with the bonus of having a degree in Mechanical Engineering.

My involvement in various hobbies over the years gave me occasion to build a number of special tools/fixtures as well as "one off" parts that were either unavailable, over priced, or just made doing many of the routine tasks a whole lot easier. These original concept parts were usually fabricated using a sketch of an idea and fabricated from whatever material we had on hand at the time. Needless to say all of these pieces were not exactly perfect, but most worked the first time. Many of these items are still in use today and now incorporate design modifications which have helped improve their overall performance and efficiency. --Vince