MANCHESTER — Although John Winters owns just two vehicles worthy of a car show these days, the longtime Saints Car Club member estimates that over his long life, at least 100 cars — with engine and chassis parts on the floor of his garage — have been rebuilt and restored by his own two hands.

At one time many years ago, Winters said he had 12 cars in various stages of “undress” on his property and at his business. Today, though, the Watauga Beach resident said he’s sadly has been forced to leave behind his all-consuming avocation that has occupied his time since he was 15 — owning fast cars, tinkering with their engines, restoring their chassis and racing them.

It’s not because the 83-year-old retired mechanic has tired of everything having to do with cars. That’s simply not the case. Winters, unfortunately, is dealing with the effects of congestive heart failure. He said that in the last decade, his quality of life has gone down mostly because he’s now unable to work on cars.

“I can’t work on cars anymore,” the soft-spoken retiree said at his waterfront home. “That’s been frustrating because all I did was build cars.”

His health issues go back a quarter of a century ago when he suffered a heart attack in 1998. After open-heart surgery, Winters asked his physician how long he had to live.

“He said, ‘I’ll give you five years.” Decades later, he’s still with us.

“I’m still going — not strong — but I’m still going,” he chuckled.

Retiring at 62 from the South Kitsap Fire District, where he was a mechanic from 1984 to 1996.

Winters now lives quietly with his wife Jenny — they have two adult children, Jenee and Johnny — in a compact manufactured home overlooking the busy route of the Bremerton-to-Seattle ferry boat sailings. Nonetheless, Winters said he’s still active in the Saints Car Club and was a charter member when it started in 1953.

It stands to reason Winters has had a lifelong love affair with cars. After leaving the Army in the mid-1950s, he joined Bauer Brothers Chevron and worked as a mechanic there, then later joined Howe Ford in Port Orchard, where he worked for 18 years. He took a two-year leave of absence in 1969 to join a Ford-sponsored drag racing team in Portland, led by Bill Ireland, Ford’s top Northwest drag race representative.

Ireland and Winters drag-raced in Portland — Ireland steering Pro Stock factory hot rods and Winters racing Ford Mustang Cobra Jet Super Stock cars.

“Ford decided in 1972 that they were spending too much money” in the racing business and shut down operations in Portland, he said, so Winters and his wife returned to Port Orchard, where he rejoined Howe Ford.

Considering his history, it shouldn’t be surprising that Winters is a confirmed Ford man. But his favorite car was a 1960s-era Fiat X19, a small sports car in which he dropped a Ford 289 engine into its sideways compartment.

While working at the fire district in the ’80s, Winters sold the Fiat to a fellow employee, “who just had to have it.” He recounted a story about how the little sports car nearly ruined that veteran firefighter’s retirement plans.

The new owner later had taken the Fiat to Bremerton, where he pulled up to a stop light. Pulling up next to him was a rider atop a blazing-fast 1000c Kawasaki motorcycle.

“They both knew they were going to race,” Winters recalled. “Unbeknownst to them, a cop was parked watching this whole thing transpire. When the light turned green, they both took off. He beat the Kawasaki, but the cop caught the motorcycle. The fireman knew that if he got caught, it’d mean reckless driving and he’d lose his retirement.

“He had a friend who lived in Bremerton, and he went to his friend’s place, where it turned out the garage was open and empty. He drove right in and shut the door. The guy left it in there for two weeks. Finally, another buddy of his had this truck. They put the Fiat on it and covered it up and brought it back over here. Then he came to see me and asked to sell the Fiat back to me.”

Winters said the man was afraid he’d be tempted to race it again, and couldn’t take a chance on getting caught.

While there’s little danger of him tempting fate with local law enforcement, Winters said his two current vehicles are fast little numbers. His black 1997 Mazda Miata convertible, which he’s owned for 15 years, is a screamer with a 5.0-liter, V-8 engine. He rebuilt it in 2008, replacing the entire running gear.

While Winters won’t have a newly restored racing machine on display at the CRUZ Car Show Aug. 12, he will have on display there his other mechanized beauty: a black 2002 Ford Thunderbird.

It’s a beautiful fast-moving machine in its own right. And Winters, ever the car man, will be nearby selling Saints Car Club t-shirts and spinning a few of his favorite racing tales with fellow club members.