Humans of Downey - Phillip

"I am a twin. I was born in San Gabriel, California, in 1972. My parents didn't know they were having twins so they said, 'If it's a boy, we're going to name him Hector. If it's a girl, we'll name her Jacqueline.' So, my mother goes into labor and it's a boy, yeah. His name is Hector. Fifteen minutes later, the doctor says, 'Hey, there's another one.' That's when I made my appearance. But they only had one boy's name. What to do? Well, when my mother immigrated to this country she worked for a family and one of the boys she took care of was named Phillip. So, that's how I got my name.

"I was introduced to cars in the Volkswagen brand. My uncle, one of my mother's little brothers, lived with us for some years and he had a Volkswagen. When he left to go live on his own, he gave my twin and me his car. It was a '76 Beetle. We took it and customized it to the way we liked it. Then, when I bought my first car, I bought a '59 Volkswagen Ragtop. I paid between $1500 and $2000 for it back in 1991. In those days it was a matter of bragging rights. 'Oh, you have a hard top, I have a sunroof. Yes, but I have the Ragtop.' It took me a while to fix it up the way I wanted, but the first date I had in that car was with the lady who is now my wife. We went to Subway and talked. I miss that car."

~ Phillip

P. S. Phillip is sitting in a 1963 Chevrolet Bel Air convertible that he has restored and customized himself.