orn and raised in Ohio, Josh Baker spent most of his childhood dreaming about fast and flashy muscle cars. Baker’ s father, Don, always had some kind of kickass car around, fueling a growing passion into his teenage years, but“ as my dad started getting older and the family kept growing, the fun cars started disappearing for vans and work trucks,” Baker recalls.
“ My father has always been in construction and my mother is a nurse. She made it through college with five kids, had a 4.0 and worked two jobs while doing it. I still don’ t see how she did it, but those were the kind of people I was raised by and they taught me to always work hard for what you want.”
Most of Baker’ s family worked in the automotive field, especially at the General Motors Plant in Lordstown, Ohio.“ My dad and family have always been gung-ho GM for as long as I can remember,” Baker says.“ But when it came down to getting my first fun car, I somehow steered the opposite way.”
Josh had always loved driving fun cars, but never had one of his own until at 23 years old, he finally decided to pick one out.“ At the time, I had really wanted a Pontiac Trans Am, but they were a little out of my price range, so I settled looking for the next best thing, which was an F-body Camaro. I took a few out for a test drive,( but) me being the big guy that I am, it just didn’ t feel like a suitable daily driver for me. So I ended
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JOSH BAKER’ S BAGGED AND BOOSTED 5.0
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By Kevin Cox Photographs by Lars Jepsen
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