Blog2025-04-23T01:36:08+00:00

About The Owner

picture of the owner

Melvin Sancho Hodges II is a lover of life, with a passion for people, travel, learning, and vehicles. With over two decades of professional and personal experience in the automotive world, he has developed practices and a rolodex of peers that allow him to reach spaces that few others can when it comes to blending skillsets to create amazing interactions for anyone he comes into contact with.

Hodges has travelled far and wide to learn as much as he can in his automotive journey, and he has been known to share his knowledge with a keen emphasis on the passion that drives all enthusiasts—regardless of where they stand in the lifestyle. His authenticity has lent him a unique and innovative voice that reaches destinations using different roads than many of his counterparts. These adventures have been coined ThisFastLife because there is no telling how each day will turn out, but there is a solid conviction that it will be different than the one before it.

1808, 2020

Hot Wheels!

By |August 18th, 2020|Categories: For the love of it|Comments Off on Hot Wheels!

If I told you I had a Bugatti Veyron, a Porsche Carrera GT, and a Pagani Huayra, would you believe me? If I added in a Monte Carlo SS, a ’69 Ford Bronco, and a Mini-Cooper with a roll cage in it, would you think I was selling wolf-tickets? Well, I do have all of those cars, and as long as my sons let me have access to their garage, I can pull these cars (and several hundred others) out whenever I want to. While some may actually have the privilege of maintaining such robust collections, the only means I [...]

2206, 2020

In the Blood

By |June 22nd, 2020|Categories: For the love of it|Comments Off on In the Blood

For as long as I remember, I have absolutely loved cars, trucks, and motorcycles. There seemingly was never a choice in the matter for me, and I have been living this fast drive with vehicles ever since I was a small boy. Over the years, I have met legions of people who have lived the vehicular passion all their days as well, and what I’ve found is that the presence of this trait does not discriminate when it comes to who it attaches itself to. Of course, there are external elements that may play a part in directing one’s passion, [...]

905, 2020

EXHAUST

By |May 9th, 2020|Categories: For the love of it|Comments Off on EXHAUST

There is something about a car’s exhaust that really does it for me. The sound, the look, and the smell... There is nothing else like it. The sound. The characteristics that are defined by an engine’s configuration and the way it's tuned are unleashed through the exhaust. It tells us if we are listening to a cobbled together time bomb, or a finely engineered work of art. We can detect ambition, purpose, and sheer power from the sound that a vehicle emits, and, if it sounds “right,” it excites me to the point of hypnotism. “I will do whatever it [...]

904, 2020

10 Rules for Driving Older Cars, Part 2

By |April 9th, 2020|Categories: Driving, Driving Rules, For the love of it, Nostalgia|Comments Off on 10 Rules for Driving Older Cars, Part 2

Picking up from where we left off in the conversation about driving older cars, here are rules 6 through 10 that one should abide by when spending time enjoying vintage vehicles from the driver's seat. Rule #6. Create some errands to run There is nothing better than having an excuse to be driving around in something that is involving, garners attention, and eclipses barriers.  Fortunately, old cars check all of those boxes, so it only makes sense for the owner of a vintage pick up truck to help a friend move an item that won’t fit in the trunk of [...]

503, 2020

10 Rules For Driving Older Cars, Part 1

By |March 5th, 2020|Categories: Driving Rules|Comments Off on 10 Rules For Driving Older Cars, Part 1

As most of us know, driving older cars is a lot different than driving a brand new ____ (fill in the blank) off the lot.  The term “older” is subjective, of course, but for the purpose of this piece, we’re going to say any vehicle that was manufactured before 1980.   The traits you’ll see described below are common to almost all cars from that era, and with that being 40 years ago, it certainly qualifies as vintage, classic, or just downright older. Rule #1. Give yourself a lot more braking room. A lot of older cars still have weak, wood-feeling [...]

2904, 2019

The Family Car, Pt. 2

By |April 29th, 2019|Categories: Nostalgia|Comments Off on The Family Car, Pt. 2

Since the last time I wrote about The Family Car, a lot has changed.  As I mentioned in the last line of the story in ThisFastLife back in 2017, I had a vision in mind for the car.  Being true to my word, the car is currently undergoing a bit of a transformation.  Before I tell you about all of that, however, I want to give you a little background as to how we arrived at the point where we are now. In September of 2018, my brother-in-law, Washington, and I took a trip to Berkeley (California) to to visit [...]