College Admissions Essay: Significant Person

Significant Person Essay

My dad has influenced me greatly over the years. When I was too young to understand his mortality, I found him godlike. His infinite knowledge of the world has unfortunately diminished since then. Despite this he has always been someone I aspire to be, and I hope he will continue to be.

From a young age, my father conditioned me to have an interest in cars. I remember when he took me to a swap meet for the first time, and the sharp sweeping lines of a Corvette caught my eye. I was somewhat disappointed when he never bought anything at those annual swap meets, though once he began acquiring parts for the 1930 Ford Model A he is restoring, I did not enjoy being the mule carrying heavy pieces of what my mom colloquially refers to as “junk” back to the car. Once he

In an accident I would have been maimed, and a crash at highway speeds would have impaled me with the steering column. The drum brakes were barely adequate enough to stop the four thousand pound car. Despite this my dad still trusted me enough to allow me to drive it.

The Buick was in decent condition especially considering it had been on the earth for 54 years by the time my Dad’s name was on the title. The original baby blue paint was still intact and shined nicely after being waxed, though the hood had seen its share of hailstones and rust was beginning to eat holes in the rocker panels. Most importantly, the car was drivable and didn’t have any obvious problems. We ended up only replacing the worn out fuel pump before my dad sold it.

The most memorable part of that last drive was when we got out of the car and my dad handed over the keys. During the few moments we stood there, I realized how much closer the Buick had brought me to my dad. Every time we had been around the car together had been a bonding experience; from the time he brought it home until then. It felt almost as if he had originally bought the car just so I could have those experiences with