Scott Cranston
I grew up in Billings, Montana, during the same era as Jim Coons. My dad was in the oil business, and I graduated from Billings Senior High School in 1966.
My first experience with cars was a 1940 Ford 2-door sedan with a 303 CID Oldsmobile engine. It was truly an “experience” insofar as it had a “flex-tubing” exhaust. (The neighbors called the cops, complaining about the noise, during my first test drive.)
My first notable foray into motorsports was at the end of my junior year of high school, when I “borrowed” my mother’s Triumph Spitfire and ran the Black Otter Hill Climb.
Over the course of the next ten or fifteen years, I became a real car “nut,” buying and selling almost anything that tickled my fancy, starting with a Triumph TR4 and a TR3. After my tour of duty with the U.S. Coast Guard, I returned to Montana where I worked as a land manager and owned a right-of-way business catering to oil-related businesses.
By the time I had been married for two years, and I had been the owner of 22 different cars, most of which had been two-seat sports cars. The advent/blessing of children put a stop to that, so I focused on BMWs which I used for company cars.
I was a charter member of the Absaroka and Dakota Regions of the Porsche Club of America and the Badlands Region SCCA. Later, I became involved with the Sports Car Club of Montana—which later became the Yellowstone Region SCCA.
To the best of my recollection, I have owned the following special-interest vehicles: Beechcraft Bonanza; 30-foot sailboat, 3 Triumphs, 5 BMW’s, 11 Porsches (starting with a 1964 356 SC), 3 Mustangs, a 1989 Thunderbird Super Coupe, 1 SS Camaro, 3 VWs, a 1975 Mercedes 450SLC, a 1953 Mercury pickup, and several other cars and pickups.
I have been (mostly) retired for the past few years and my current passions are my 2007 Porsche GT3, 2 radio-controlled electric gliders, and my sweetheart, Kathy.
