[Hyde POV]
In Donna's kitchen.
"She gave you her phone number?" Donna was astonished.
Riley gave me her number after the photoshoot. She even put her hands on my inner thigh as we were sitting to sign the release contract, and pushed her body onto mine.
In the 1970s term, she was basically spreading her legs for me to get in.
Eric was so jealous when he saw it, which caused him to get into a small fight with Donna.
I went back home quickly to edit the flyers, print out the examples, and rushed towards the two places for them to pick amongst the designs.
"Yeah, she asked me out for drinks tonight." I replied easily. I didn't show Midge the flyers yet since I knew pictures needed time to be developed in this era.
I could do it tomorrow, not right now. Even the one day development process was already incredibly fast in the 70s.
"Are you going?" Donna asked skeptically.
"No." I replied easily.
She breathed in relief and said, "Thank god. I don't know what I'm going to tell Victoria if you go tonight."
"Um, I have plans to work on the cars tonight. I'll call her on Monday."
"You bastard!" Donna shouted at me angrily. I laughed and left the house after receiving the release contract from Midge.
I needed to have the contracts, otherwise I could get sued by the models and the clients. It also made the work seem a lot more professional.
"Donna! Look! It's my first salary after 16 years!" Midge said gleefully as she got the 200 bucks. "I can finally get the boots I've wanted."
"Didn't you already buy new boots?" Donna asked her teasingly.
"Yes, but that's with your father's money. This time, I will finally be buying it with my own money!" Midge said happily.
I didn't hear much about what they talked about, but Donna told everyone that her mom bought her some shoes.
After I left Donna's house, I didn't go home, instead I went to the autoshop. Red has a few customers there surprisingly, even with the thick snow.
After greeting Red, I gave him something new.
"What's this? A walkie talkie?" Red was confused.
I nodded and said, "yeah. This one is from Japan. It has a 20 mile signal radius. So we can contact each other if one of us needs something."
"Ah, alright then." Red agreed instantly. He was quite shocked about the radius since a simple walkie talkie couldn't do that.
I even gave one to Eric, so it would be a three prong communication between us, like a mobile phone. It's free, so Red was quite happy about it.
"Eric. Don't forget to shovel the driveway." Red spoke through the walkie-talkie.
"I've already done it." Eric whined.
"Do it one more time. The snow's not stopping anytime soon! If I come home to a covered driveway, I'm going to start putting my snow boots into people's asses."
Eric turned to a private channel and said to me, "You had to give him the walkie talkie huh?"
I chuckled and said, "I only want to use it to see if he has some parts in his place. I didn't expect him to use it as a method to supervise you from far away."
"This is supposed to be my time Hyde! You've ruined my private time with your technological devices!" Eric snapped and cut the talkie.
I laughed and continued setting up the workshop.
"I've bought a lot of stuff. 7 thousand dollars worth of stuff.
Everything came from Japan.
Not because it was trendy, but because Japanese industrial equipment in the future was brutally efficient.
No nonsense, no branding fluff, just machines that worked longer than people did. In 2025 money, the total came out to just under thirty-five thousand dollars.
It was enough for me to get started.
The backbone of the shop was the lifts. I ordered two Japanese two-post hydraulic car lifts, compact, asymmetric, and rated well beyond anything else in the 70s.
I got a simple one from the system, but this one was the true shop lift. Not to mention Red already took the one from the system.
In the future, each lift cost about $6,000, so together they ran $12,000. After the multiplier, that was $2,400 total in 1977 money.
With two lifts, I could work on two cars at once without juggling jack stands or wasting half my day repositioning cars.
For engines, I bought a Japanese folding engine hoist and a heavy-duty rotating engine stand.
In 2025, the hoist was $900 and the stand was $600, so $1,500 combined, which translated to $300 here. That alone turned engine pulls from a full-day ordeal into a routine afternoon job.
Air was next. I ordered a Japanese industrial air compressor, oil-lubed, quiet, and rated for continuous duty.
The future price was $4,000, which meant $800 in 1977. I would have to run hard lines along the walls, quick couplers at every bay, and never had to wait for pressure again. Impacts, sanders, spray guns, everything was always ready.
Paint was where I stopped cutting corners. I bought a compact Japanese enclosed paint booth.
"It surprised me to know that people can actually buy paint booths online."
In 2025, it cost $6,500. 13,000 in America. The Japan one was the cheapest.Here, it was $1,300.
No dust, no bugs in the paint, no need to worry anymore. Paired with that was a Japanese infrared paint-curing system, which ran $2,000 in the future, or $400 now. Paint that used to take days hardened evenly in hours.
For durability and under-the-skin work, I invested in powder coating. I ordered a Japanese electric powder-coat oven and a matching electrostatic powder gun system.
Together, they cost $3,800 in 2025, so $760 in 1977. Control arms, brackets, suspension parts need the powder coating.
Fabrication and prep filled in the rest. A Japanese media blasting cabinet for $2,000 future / $400 now, a bench drill press for $900 future / $180 now, a belt sander for $700 future / $140 now, and a set of Japanese precision torque wrenches and cordless impacts that totaled $1,600 future / $320 now.
Even the shop itself got attention. Steel shelving, rolling carts, sealed storage bins, all Japanese industrial surplus. About $1,200 future, $240 now.
"The most important thing in all of this is, a new electrical subpanel."
Heavy duty outlets, industrial conduit, modern copper wiring, ground rods, and a 200A electrical subpanel.
Otherwise, I wouldn't be able to use the things I've bought.
"It will take at least one week for everything to arrive."
And so, one week passed by pretty quickly.
…
12th February 1977.
The total for me to complete the auto shop renovation had ballooned up to 10 thousand dollars.
New flooring, insulation, the office turned into a bedroom, and everything was properly set up now.
"I've used all of my first Build Mode time, and 20 minutes from the new one."
The floors were now epoxy. The electrical was done. Hexagonal LED light was hung from the roof. The lifts, the air compressor, all of the stuff I've bought were set up properly.
There's a pressure wash station, for all the wet stuff. The car dismantling station, the shelves for parts and tools, the two car lifts, the paint booth, and the large oven for powder coating.
I even set up a small isolated room for zinc plating rare stuff.
I have a small lounge area– three seater couch, a coffee maker and water dispenser, snacks bar, and a TV for me to watch next to the office. The best part was the speakers that connected to the LP player and the radio.
Right now, I was playing, 'Hooked on a Feeling' all over the shop.
Although the autoshop had changed greatly, Red never came to my place since he was too busy with his own shop.
No one came by to visit me. I thought since I've locked the door, I couldn't hear them knocking over the sound of grinding the car body.
So I installed a doorbell on the door, still no one came by to visit. Then it turned out, Red had told them not to come in case they were disturbing me.
"Well, it's peaceful, so that's still fine."
I have flipped two cars over the week. DIY painting using the inflatable paint booth. Both had engine problems that were easy to fix.
Both gave me a profit of 1200 dollars each.
For the light bulbs, since Bob's sales had slowed down in the town, I told him to rent a truck and deliver the bulbs to neighboring towns.
He was hesitant at first, but after I told him he could sell them same price he did at his store, he had already bought 15,000 of those bulbs, and emptied them out from his stock in the same week.
That made him earn around 25,000. I myself earned only 22,500 from the bulb sales.
I was loaded with cash, but in the banks, I was poor. I only have 3000 left in my bank account.
So today, I wanted to hire some workers for the autoshop, since doing it myself took a lot of time.
I have paid for a job opening in the newspaper classified section, and today would be the day where people came to the interview.
They were already waiting for me at the lounge area outside the store. Six of them came by for the interview.
One of them wore a suit even though I said wear comfortable clothing in the classified ads.
{–HELP WANTED – AUTO SHOP–
Reliable helper needed for auto restoration & repair.
Mechanical experience preferred.
20–40 hrs/week. $6/hr. Bonus based on work.
Dress casual / work clothes.
Interview 12:00 PM sharp.
Late arrivals will not be considered.
Location: [Old Paper Mill Storage Shed, Point Place]}
It cost me 30 bucks to put that ad out for three days in the newspaper.
"Hi. Let's go inside," I told the six people there. They were crossing their arms, freezing in the cold snow.
It had been snowing all week. The snow had reached two feet high out there.
The warm auto shop took away most of their coldness, and they began to relax a bit.
"I'm Steven Hyde. The boss. I'm 17 years old. If any of you have a problem with that, you can go now," I said clearly.
The group was slightly taken aback, and one of them left—a mustached older guy who couldn't handle taking orders from a kid.
"Good. It makes my work easier. How many of you have experience working on cars before? I don't care if it's independent or professional."
All five of them raised their hands.
"Know how to weld?"
Two of them kept their hands up.
"Can diagnose problems in an engine?"
None of them raised their hands.
"Alright. Last question, and this is important." I brought them over to my freshly painted Celica. Over the last six days, I'd been fiddling with it while working on the VW.
"What do you think about the car? Write it down, or you can come speak to me privately."
Everyone looked confused about why I was doing this.
"Is this a test?" one of them asked—a macho guy with a thick mustache, a shadow of a beard on his face, wearing a flannel shirt.
"It is a test," I smiled slightly and sat down on the sofa. "Oh, the coffee's for everyone. Drink some to warm up. If you want hot chocolate, do it yourself."
They stared at the car for a while, checking every inch of it, before coming back to me.
It surprised me when I realized one of the interviewees was actually a girl.
She had broad shoulders and wore a tank top that was only revealed once she got warm enough to take off her jacket. She was quite a looker. She reminded me of the girl from The Big Bang Theory—Midwest, corn-fed vigor, blonde, big eyes.
I checked everyone's answers and picked three of them.
"Alright. The first answer is that the tires are too big, so it needs overfenders," I told them.
Three of them exclaimed in realization and lowered their heads, embarrassed.
"Second, the coat of paint is new. It's not done."
Two of them looked surprised.
"Third, it has a custom carb. The horsepower is now 130 instead of the stock 100. One of you managed to guess that."
Everyone looked at each other in shock.
"Fourth, it uses gas shocks instead of normal shocks. One of you guessed that, but not the same one as before."
I smiled and said, "So the two of you—you're now very close to getting the job."
The ones who didn't guess correctly shook their heads in disappointment.
"Last one, it has no bulb in the headlight. None of you caught that."
They all went back to check the car and saw that I was telling the truth.
"I need people with good observation skills. For those of you who didn't make it, leave a phone number. If it doesn't work out with the new hires, I'll call you."
"So, who are you hiring?" the girl asked.
I checked the papers and said casually, "Tyrell and Burton."
"Yes!" The girl threw her hands up in excitement. Everyone stared at her in disbelief. Even I was surprised.
I did the test blind, so I didn't know who wrote which answers. Everyone knew that, which made it even more shocking that she made it.
"Shouldn't you pick someone else? She's a girl. She won't be able to handle the work," one of them said.
She turned to him with a glare. "What? I did the work. I passed the test. Why am I getting punished just because I'm a girl?"
"This is back-breaking work, you know. How can you lift an engine with your dainty hands?"
"Let's see if my hand is still dainty when it breaks your face!"
Tyrell and the others stepped in before she could throw a punch. I just laughed and said, "The two people can stay. The rest can go."
I spoke to the new workers and said, "I'll pay you in cash. Is that a problem?"
"Not a problem at all," Tyrell said quickly.
"So there's no health insurance?" Burton asked teasingly. Their full names were Megan Burton and Brandon Tyrell.
"There is health insurance," I replied, surprising both of them. "Blue Cross, and workers' comp."
Five hundred a year for insurance, and four hundred eighty a year for workers' comp. Workers' comp was mandatory, but the insurance was my benefit.
"Wait. Really?" Brandon smiled slightly. "So this is real work?"
"Yeah, man," I replied flatly, staring at him. "Have you ever seen a shop with this kind of facility before?"
They were finally realizing that my equipment was all top-notch.
"There's not much back-breaking work here. I have tools for almost everything," I muttered, pulling a booklet off the table. "I planned for one worker, so you'll have to share it. Read it first."
"I'm more of a hands-on kind of guy," Brandon said, crossing his arms.
I grimaced. "You're going to need to learn a lot here. Especially that one. What do you think that is?"
"Uh… a storage unit?" Brandon guessed.
"That's an oven," I said, pointing at the powder-coating room. "You can get cooked alive if you're trapped inside. Still don't want to read the binder?"
He swallowed hard. "Alright. I'll read it."
"Wait." Megan asked in confusion. "If this is real work, why are you paying us in cash?"
"Cause it's a hassle doing checks." I shrugged. Megan snorted in disbelief while Brandon chuckled.
Suddenly, the doorbell rang again. "Brandon, go check to see if it's someone for the interview." I ordered as I was working on the VW Beetle.
I had restored the interior while waiting for the other stuff to arrive. I've welded the rust spots after a lot of training, and I've also primed it and was working on the body right now.
Once the bodywork was done, I could paint it and began reassembling everything. The engine was the easiest to work on since Bettle's engine was really simple.
"Boss, someone's here to see you. He said his name is Bruce."
"Hmm?" I was quite surprised. "Let him in."
The rich man who ordered the restoration walked in with another man with similar facial features as him. He didn't wear glasses this time, so I realized the man actually kinda looks like Paul Rudd.
Bruce looks like Paul Rudd. His brother looked like a slightly fatter, older Paul Rudd.
"Hey Steven! Amazing shop you have here! Just… wow!" Bruce Rockwell, the millionaire guy said dramatically as he turned to see everything in the shop.
"Well, thanks to you. Since you bought my car, I can upgrade my workspace a little bit." I shook hands with him and turned to the other one.
"Ross. Ross Rockwell. I'm his brother." The man in the very expensive Italian suit said with a friendly tone. Although, his eyes were pretty sharp.
"What are you doing here? I thought I have two more weeks?" I asked casually as I crossed my arms.
"No, we're not here for the Beetle." Bruce shook his hand and laughed richly. The kind of laugh that made me see money was coming out of his mouth.
Ross went close to the VW, his eyes sparkling as he saw the body being repaired.
Bruce said, "It's my Porsche. I brought you tools, so… can you tune it for me?"
I widened my eyes in shock.
A few days ago, I was thinking of adding a turbo to my Celica. So I bought some tuning equipment. It arrived this morning so I already knew how to use it. I studied a lot about turbo boosting in the past couple of days.
"I'll pay you 500 dollars if you succeed." Bruce said with a smirk. An ordinary tuning may cost him 200-400 bucks so he was being generous with this.
He even bought expensive tools for god's sake. I couldn't turn him away now.