At just 10 years of age, Giuseppe Iatarola is “on a mission to shape the next generation of gearheads,” as he says in his new video series, ‘Giuseppe’s Garage,’ with Popular Mechanics.
Iatarola lives in Hellertown, Pennsylvania, with his parents, who own Lucky’s Auto Body shop, where Iatarola puts his mechanic skills to use and continues to hone his craft.
“I’ve been watching my dad for as long as I can remember, Iatarola told his local newspaper, The Morning Call. “He was building a drag race car and I started drawing drag race cars on paper or pieces of cardboard. I was in the shop at 2 or 3 years old, working on my pedal car. When I was 5, I started taking out tail lights and taking off bumpers and fenders on real cars. Then later, I started welding and doing other things.”
That’s right, this kid knows how to weld, and weld well. He shows off his skills in the first video of his series with Popular Mechanics titled “Welding 101.”
But his skills don’t stop there; he’s also mastered oil changes, can create custom bodywork, paint like a pro, and even drop a subframe.
“He learned through play,” Iatarola’s mom, Rachel Iatarola, told Popular Mechanics. “Our work was his play, small things like removing bolts and license plates, holding screwdrivers – it all helped develop his fine motor skills and we saw that this was something he really had a passion for.”
Throughout the summer, Iatarola has spent all day in the garage working on cars with his parents.
“He’s with me in the garage all day, starting at 9 a.m.,” his dad, “Lucky” Luciana Iatarola, told the paper. “A car comes in and I sic him on it.
“Giuseppe knows not to do anything he doesn’t yet have the size and strength to do, since he’s still just a kid.”
Iatarola started uploading how-to videos to YouTube and sharing his mechanic work on Instagram.
“A couple of years ago, Giuseppe, like your typical child his age, started going on YouTube, looking for things to watch,” Rachel Iatarola shared with The Morning Call. “He basically told me he saw nothing showing how to do anything useful, so he wanted to do his own YouTube videos showing things like how to change a tire and change the oil.”
When he’s not working in the garage, posting YouTube videos or filming his new series with Popular Mechanics, Iatarola likes to work on his model car collection made up of a ’71 Chevelle, ’67 Camaro and a ’55 Nomad.
See more of Iatarola’s work on his Giuseppe’s Garage YouTube channel and Instagram.
