CARB-HEAVY DIET

RILEY SCHLICK-TRASK AND HER FAMILY ARE ON A MISSION TO GET KIDS INTO OLDER CARS.

- BRETT BERK

A. Father and daughter work on a Ford small-block V-8 in the family garage.

B. Brother Graham (left) now acts as shop foreman for the business.

C. The black art of carb restoration is no problem for Riley and the other kids on the crew.

D. Riley now attends Connecticut College, where she maintains a busy course and extracurricular schedule.

TO EARN MONEY for her first car, Riley Schlick-Trask was told by her father, Dane, to scrounge around in the family's garage for stuff to fix and resell online.

This wasn't a punishment. “I grew up in a very tomboy house,” she says. “So, I grew up around cars and being in the garage.”

On the shelves, fortune struck. “There was a carburetor there!” Riley says delightedly, as if the archaic device that mixes fuel and air were an alchemist's cipher. “My dad explained the logistics of it to me and sat through the first couple of breakdowns and rebuilds. But it was really basic.”

Riley readily flipped that carb online, saving her earnings to put toward her dream vehicle, a used Jeep Wrangler. Since she played on a travel soccer team at the time, when she was away for matches, she started scouring Facebook Marketplace for more carbs to rebuild and resell. Eventually, she posted a request for battered carburetors on a Facebook group for tips and trades. The post went viral. Within a week or so, hundreds of carbs arrived at her home near Sarasota, Florida.

Shortly thereafter, during a college-tour trip on the East Coast, she and Dane, a 50-year-old serial entrepreneur, decided to launch a business. Riley's Rebuilds was born.