Bob Everett’s love for tinkering and building came early.

“Back in the ’70s, you could buy these color TV and radio kits and put them together from scratch, soldering the components to the boards and going from there,” said Everett, the 48-year-old owner of Auburn’s Evergreen Muscle Car Supply. “They were called Heathkits.”

After receiving a color TV Heathkit from his parents at age 12, Everett said it became immediately apparent he had a knack for putting things together. Although he didn’t know it at the time, his natural ability to break things down and assemble parts eventually would lead him to opening one of the region’s premier muscle car parts shops.

From HeathKits, Everett moved on to bicycles.

“I was the bicycle czar of the neighborhood, and I’d fix everybody’s bikes,” he said.

But it wasn’t until he was 15 that he found his true passion – Detroit muscle cars. He passed by and noticed a 1970 Chevrolet Camaro Z28 while working his daily newspaper route.

“It had a bad (transmission) in it, so I made a deal with the guy to buy it for $600,” he said. “I pushed it in the garage, and with the basic tools, I had from fixing bicycles. I ripped the tranny out and repaired it in three days, using the manual. At the time, I didn’t even have a driver’s license.”

After a stint in the U.S. Navy, Everett opened his first shop on Whidbey Island in 1987.

Everett soon progressed from just helping out a few friends with their projects to taking on full-blown rescue jobs.

“I started picking up cars from other shops where people had taken them to get fixed up,” he said. “They had been there eight or nine months, had a few thousand sunk into them and they just weren’t working on them.

“What’s the first thing they do when you take a car into a shop to get restored? You break it down to the last nut and bolt,” he added. “When you want it back, they just hand you a bunch of boxes with parts in them. So where do you take that? Find that place in the Yellow Pages. I put them back together.”

In 1990, Everett moved his shop to Bellevue before relocating to Kent. He moved his operation to Auburn in 2001.

Although he builds cars – including a 1969 Chevelle he restored for former Seahawks fullback Owen Schmitt – his main business is reproduction parts for General Motors muscle cars.

Unlike many parts stores, Everett takes pride in not just selling parts, but also helping people get their projects on the road. Mike Weinert helps him in the shop.

“I’ve helped hundreds of people in Auburn get their cars done,” Everett said. “We get phone calls from all over the country. A lot of people say, ‘Why don’t we just go with a national place and not pay the tax?’ The difference is that I’ve bolted this stuff on the cars before, and I know how to get your car together. I can help you. It’s a full-time deal. It’s a lifestyle.”

For more information, visit www.evergreenmusclecars.com.