Matt Bergin is from a big Irish family. His dad Terry (East Street Garage) is the middle boy among seven siblings. Matt has a few dozen cousins, and a bunch of second cousins who live in Ireland’s County Mayo. He visited in 2002, when he was 11.

“The first place we went was Killarney. There was a traveling carnival there, and we could not get enough of the super dangerous, rickety, rides. They had one of those big wheels that spins so fast you get pressed against the wall and then the floor drops away. One guy’s teeth came flying out of his mouth!”

Matt grew up in Coal Creek. “There was never a dull moment. I’d start out to the deck to grill, only to have to wait for the bear to leave.”

He and his older brother Chris used to snowboard and ride their bikes. They played baseball and joined the Scouts. “We would go to the winter campouts and dominate everybody in snowball fights, to the point they shut the fights down. It was because of my brother’s arm, he knocked three kids down, one of whom was knocked out.”

Matt went to Ralston Valley High School in Arvada. He and his friends had movie nights. They’d go to Colorado Mills Mall to play glow-in-the-dark puttputt, and they’d ride the Alpine Slide at Heritage Square (a cart, a handbrake, and a mountain.) “Winter Park still has one, if you get the opportunity you should try it.”

Like father like son, Matt has been a motorhead his whole life. “My dad got us into cars with Hot Wheels. We’d go to the Arc Thrift Store in Arvada and buy a bag of 20 or 30 Hot Wheels cars. Then we’d eat at a diner while paging through a Hot Wheels value book. Once I had one that was worth $25!”

The Bergin boys helped their dad around the shop. “My dad likes to say I’m 30, with 25 years experience.” They helped at home too. “My dad was a single dad, he bought it and we made it. My brother and I both turned out to be darn good cooks.”

Matt’s first car was a 1998 Ford Explorer, six cylinder stick shift. “My dad knew I didn’t need a V-8 back then.” It lasted a year and a half, until he rear-ended someone whose tail lights were out. The next car was going to be a father-son classic car rebuild project. “We were looking at a 1966 Plymouth Satellite. But I had the accident with the Explorer, so my dad said I didn’t need a big block with a six-pack (three twobarrel carburetors.)”

Then Terry found a 1976 Bronco for sale. He snatched it up and told Matt, “This is your classic car.”

Disappointed at first, Matt came to love it after it snowed – it went through four-foot snow banks. It was one of the coolest cars at his high school. Five years ago a moose ran him off the road, and he’s been rebuilding it ever since.

“I’m making it look the way a classic Bronco should look. Daniel Murphy (Murphy’s Garage) built the bumpers, it’s freshly painted and almost ready to go. I’ve just got to finish up the seats and the wipers.”

He’s had several other vehicles, but the Bronco is still his favorite. “I’ve been through so much with it, so many adventures, it’s a part of me, of my identity. I’ve had it for half my life.”

Matt works at East Street Garage. One day a young woman, new to the mountains, came in to pick up her aunt’s car. Matt’s dad Terry talked to her about mountain driving. “Kara, do you drive with one foot or two?” Her answer was not what he expected. “Well Terry, I drive with one foot if it’s an automatic, but if it’s a stick shift I damn sure better drive with two!” Matt overheard this and said to himself, “I’ve got to meet her.”

Like father like daughter, Kara King has been a motorhead her whole life. She used to work on cars with her dad, a Porsche mechanic. She loves the machines so much that, at 18, she had a Porsche logo tattooed on her ankle. Not the traditional Porsche shield, it’s a mark Porsche stamps on some of its parts. An insider’s touch.

Kara told her dad it was drawn on with a Sharpie, and he bought that for a few years. When the truth came out, she explained, “Dad, if I don’t love Porsches forever I don’t know what I’ll do.” By 19 she had her own Porsche 944.

As luck would have it, Matt found Kara behind the counter at Peak Wine & Spirits. He invited her for a ride in his Bronco. She could already see, but had to ask, “does it have two seats?” She went for the ride, sitting on a towel where a seat had once been.

Matt and Kara are a happy motorhead couple now, sharing their home with Ceiran, a gentle mix, and Moose, a goofy English Mastiff.

There you have it, neighbors. Young love, fast cars, good dogs, and a great dad. With a wee bit of the luck of the Irish thrown in. I don’t think I’ll ever top this one.

[BELLA LORENA: Buon anniversario, amore mio. Ne ho altri 17 dentro di me.]