I am a product of the Detroit School System. I attended the Day

School for the Deaf and upon completion wanted to go to Cass

Technical High School, a premier college prep high school. No

student has been able to accomplish this before; therefore the

administration refused to help.

It seems some better-equipped students tried this in the past and

had to drop out. When it was apparent that Marcus was not going

to give up, the administration agreed and I was admitted.

This was the first challenge. The Detroit Day School for the Deaf

taught you how to get along in society, not how to be prepared

for college. I was in with the big boys now. My grades went from

A’s and B’s to D’s and E’s during those first semesters. Better study

habits were acquired, fast.

 I graduated in 1963 in the automotive curriculum.

I purchased a brand new high performance Mustang convertible and

took delivery on my twenty-first birthday. Preliminary research

indicates that a subsequent owner of this vehicle was the Chief

of Police, Ike McKinnon.

Next, I got a job at Bendix Industrial Controls on the drafting

board. This prepared me to produce blueprints. For a long time,

my fellow employees thought that I was making my letters with a

lettering template. Can you imagine their surprise, when I told

them I was doing it all freehand?

I became a FORD loyalist because my uncle put in 46 years at Ford

and my dad retired with 43 years of service.

A few years later in 1967, I started to design my first drag race 

vehicle. When I ventured into racing I had a 1960 Falcon with a

powerful V-8 engine. This vehicle was appropriately named “BLUE MAGOO”,

after the near-sighted cartoon character. Not knowing what would

come of my failing eyesight condition in the coming years. In 15

meets I only lost twice and both times, to the same car, A 1965

Mustang called “COBRA II” driven by Bob Corn, then the muscle parts

 program Coordinator for FORD. He later went into partnership

with Jack Roush at Roush Industries. One year he showed up running

the quarter mile a whole second quicker, so I asked him what he

changed. Bob said it was a new BOSS 302 engine, to be released

for 1969.

My second new car was a 1970 BOSS 302 Mustang ordered in November

of 1969 for $3258. This vehicle was originally to be painted

Acapulco blue, medium metallic Blue, and delete racing strips,

but FORD said “no” and I had to pick a color over the phone

without the benefit of actually seeing the pigments. As it was

later known, one other person ordered the same color on a 1970

model BOSS 302 and it came through. If I had this knowledge, I

would have been more persistence. Anyhow, I picked bright gold

metallic “baby poop brown” as some call it. I was so excited

about taking delivery; I was at the dealership less than two hours

after it arrived off the transporter one afternoon. A bribe of

 a 6-pack convinced the dealership mechanic to stay over time and

we both prepped the car for delivery that evening. At the first

opportunity, the color was switched to blue and the stripes

went white.

Now my focus was on getting an engineering degree to make myself

a better hot rodder, so I went back to school.

On my first attempt to enter Wayne State, I was informed that I

was not college material. My best decision was to complete a

junior college and then reapply. In 1969 I entered Wayne County

Community College. After two year and a 3.75 GPA, I was allowed

to enroll at Wayne State to pursue a degree in engineering. This

also presented itself as a greater challenge. Academic probation

mend that more effective study habits were required. Attending

school was a part time proposition at this point, because I still

had a full-time job at Bendix on the drafting board.

In 1971 I was laid-off from Bendix and I then found employment

with Fords Engine Electrical and Engineering buildings Diagnostic

Lab to make every thing “super”. The head of engineering stated

Ford would plan my work around my classes. Apparently, this message

didn’t filter down to my supervisor. After a few years at the

Diagnostic Lab, the supervisor approached me. He asked me what

my goal was. I responded without hesitation, “I want to be the

Diagnostic lab supervisor”. Somehow, I don’t think that sat very

well with him.

Then there was the time when my supervisor came to me with lips

ripping with words of interposition, to inform me that I had to

replace an engine, which I had serviced the week before. It turned

out, that the oil filter was installed incorrectly.

While the owner was driving the car over the weekend, the oil filter

failed and dumped all of the oil out and the engine died. Since

I worked on the vehicle, he demanded that I replace the engine

on my own time. However, I directed him to the work order, which

showed that I did not do the oil change. It was the technician

on the nest shift that completed the task.

Later, he approached me again. This time the question was,

"What is your focus? Wayne State or Ford Motor Company? It has to

be one or the other” and not both. Of course, I picked the third

option, an educational leave from Ford and a full time load at

Wayne State.

Graduation from Wayne State and a B.S.M.E. came in 1977 another

goal accomplished.

At This time, the BOSS was a street cruiser with 100 watt headlamps;

regular vehicles use 55 watts lamps. Since I had no night vision,

this is how I adapted to my changing environment.

In 1972 I rebuilt the engine for more performance. Soon after the

rebuild I broke-in the engine on the complete route 66, start

 from (Chicago) to finish (Los Angeles). On the return trip, I

soloed from L.A. to Detroit in 33 hours; however, I was still

late for work by one day.

After my employment with Ford, I moved to GM Truck and Coach in

1976 because they had a project engineer’s position available,

whereas, Ford did not. This job lasted until 1980, when there was

a massive layoff of employees with less than 5 years of tenure,

at GM and I was furloughed.

Up until this time, I was driving to work on 50% of what I could

see, 25% on what I remember and 25% on lady luck. This was a

perfect time to quit.

I gave up driving because of failing eyesight from retinitis

pigmentosa. This should have been the end of my story, but this is

where it gets interesting.

The next goal was to use the degree and build a car from scratch.

I then chose a replica 1965 427 Cobra. After one year of research

the work started. A frame of two by four steel tubing was welded

together. A fiberglass shell was purchased and prepared for the

frame and drivetrain. I decided to use my spare parts motor and

transmission from my Boss 302 Mustang for this project. To add

emphasis, a 600 horsepower Gale Banks twin turbocharger induction

system was included. Also a MGB front suspension and a Jag rear

end was assembled because they contained genuine “knock-off wire

 wheels”, much like the real Cobra used from 1962 to 1964. The

vehicle was designed to “win” on the show car circuit, not to

“compete”. In another words, if I got to the show on Thursday night

“move-in and set-up your display night” (the shows are open to

the public on Friday); I had my first place trophy. The other

competitors in the class could fight for second, third and fourth

place. On the circuit I got first place in twenty events and

missed the mark only three times. That feat earned me the class

championship in “Hand-built Sports” in the Great Lakes Division

of the International Show Car Association (ISCA). My four

consecutive first place wins at the prestigious Detroit Cobo

Autorama inspired others to try to duplicate my feat. It got so

bad with so many Cobras in “hand-built sports” class; they had

to create a special class for Cobras, separately from the rest.

In 1985, I gained employment with the General Motors Technical

Center in Warren Michigan. This position was procured strictly

on the strength of my resume. My first job at Truck and Coach

was as a sighted engineer. This time I came to work as a blind

engineer. GM did not know that I was blind, however they did find

out when I reported to work, white cane and all!

The position opened up rather unexpectedly, the Federal compliance

coordinator developed a serious health problem and had to retire

immediately. This caused some concern with GM because a replacement

was needed in a hurry. The federal compliance coordinator is

responsible for assembling all of the documentation so the automaker

can sell vehicles to the general public. There was no one available,

at the time that had the specialized knowledge except me.

The boss of the department didn’t know the job; the other workers

didn’t know how to do the job either. So I came in the door, tapping

with my long white cane.

Shortly after that feat, a Detroit businessman contacted me to build

 a 1931 Chevrolet sedan for the ISCA show car circuit.

Construction took 3 years, working at night, and this vehicle was

also a winner and not a competitor. We won every class we entered,

finishing 25th in the nation. We traveled to shows from Chicago

to Texas and to London Ontario.

The next project I was involved in was the Boss Mustang. The

vehicle was stripped completely down to a bare shell, all rusted

panels replaced and modified for very large rear tires, 14 inch

wide. I had decided to return to drag racing again. The Mustang

now sported a 560 horsepower “Ford Motorsports crate” motor. Best

time to-Date was 10.79 seconds @ 126 Miles Per Hour in the

standing quarter mile.

I then decided to open an engineering agency called Simmons BOSS

CREATIONS, where I provide services to the show car, street rodder

and drag race community.

Presently, I travel to the local schools with one of my vehicles

and put on presentations on topics such as goal setting and careers

in the Motorsports field.

Sometimes my presentations come off as unbelievable to the students.

Animated discussions with the class instructors revealed that

they thought a blind individual could not build a car.

Using the slogan: A man convinced against his will is of the same

opinion still.

Therefore, I have changed my presentations a little by including

this statement, “In my hand is a $50 bill. If someone can ask

me a question that I can’t answer about this vehicle, the money

is yours”. Since I have had and worked on this vehicle for over

40 years, it can’t happen. I won’t try to change the student’s minds; I

let them reach their own conclusions.

The Mustang has now been upgraded to a Pro-Streeter. It carries

all of the required appendages, windshield wipers, turn signals

and a full exhaust system terminating under the rear valence.

To give back to the community, a group of businessmen, including

myself, from the Motown Automotive Professionals car club,

decided to create a 501(C)(3), public charity, called Motown

Automotive Professionals nonprofit (MAPn).

This is an automotive vocational training facility to provide

a route for the economically and socially deprived youth as they

leave the public school system, this includes the blind. MAPn

will provide for them a way to become a productive member of

society. This facility will provide no-tuition training for the

 youth to obtain the skills of an Automotive Service Excellence

(ASE) nationally certified technician.

This is our way of improving the aggregate value of the neighborhood,

by providing a productive outlet for the individuals that don’t

finish school, we reduce the numbers of young adults that get into trouble.