The minute the two-year-old eyes of sophomore Logan Vanlente caught sight of a 1967 Firebird, he became completely hypnotized by the car world.

“My dad was always messing around with the Firebird when I was little, and one day I decided I wanted to work on it too,” Logan said. “This is what started this life-long passion I’ve had for [cars].”

Logan’s fascination with cars only grew from the moment he encountered the Firebird. Now, you can always find him doing something car-related. Cars have become the main element in his life with which he expresses himself.

“When you’re making or working on a car, you make it the way you want it to be,” Logan said. “No one who works with cars judges the way your car is built or how it looks or who you are. You’re making it based on your own opinions.”

Yet, while Logan is constantly enjoying the freedom cars give him to display who he is, they’re not always fun and games.

It can take months–even years– to finish a car, and the journey to the final product is not easy.

“Cars are a lot of fun, yet the process of getting them where you want them to be is frustrating,” Logan said. “Everything could be fine one second, but then in the next second, something can just go completely wrong. You just always have to know that the next thing to go wrong is always around the corner.”

Even though he has struggled a copious amount of times through the process to the final product, Logan always perseveres and comes up with a solution to each problem thrown at him. In the end, the struggle is well worth the success.

“Adversity is something that you run into all of the time [when working with cars],” Logan said. “But then, after you finish, you take a step back and look at what you’ve done, and no matter how long it took, it’s all worth it in the end.”

From all the hardships that go into dealing with cars, Logan has taken time to absorb the lessons about life that cars have brought to his attention.

“When I think about something cars have taught me,” Logan said, “it’s just to not be afraid to be different, especially with what you’re doing. Cars are all made in their own way, and each one is different; the same can be said for people.”

Yet, cars didn’t just open up his eyes to being different. They also allowed him an entrance to a whole new community that is carved around the basis of being different. Cars drove Logan on the road to a whole world of people who share the same passion as him.

“Being involved with cars has affected my life a lot,” Logan said. “It introduced me to this whole new community of people. The car community is just really accepting, and everyone is just different and has their own style. You see the red, black, and gray cars out on the road, but then you go to a car event, and you see all of these amazing cars that are all different colors because they all want to stand out and be different.”

Not only did the car community welcome Logan with open arms, but it also introduced him to people with the same intentions as him, intentions to take this infatuation with cars to the next level.

Logan and his newly formed, close-knit group took their passion to real life and started up their own business focused all around cars.

“In the summer I started my own company, [Untitled Automotive], which was partly inspired by my love of cars,” Logan said. “But, the idea to start a business also came from the aspiration to be different. Everyone in high school just works the normal 9-5 shifts or normal jobs, but I didn’t want to do that. I wanted to do something different and work for myself.”

Although the business began to slow as school rolled in, Logan now knows what he wants to do with his life. Obviously, something with cars had always been the goal, but after experiencing what it’s like to actually step into the business world in the automobile industry, he knows exactly which route he wants to take.

“I would like to start my own car customization business,” Logan said, “like detailing, painting, rebuilding engines, and just stuff like that. It’s where I can express creativity and still work with something I love.”

Logan’s entire life and his life goals are built around the love he has for cars, and it doesn’t seem like he’ll be letting go of this passion anytime soon.

Logan is still as head-over-heels for cars as he was the day he laid eyes on the Firebird. From that day on, he has forever been thankful for one thing: cars.

“If there’s one thing I can thank cars for,” Logan said, “it’s showing me that people may hate you for being different and not living by society’s standards, but deep down they wish they had the courage to do the same.”