Robert Lane, Eng.55 ROBERT T. LANE, 28, of New York, was a firefighter and self-taught mechanic who hoped to take a souped-up 1983 Pontiac Grand Prix through its paces at a New Jersey race track in the spring. “It’s a piece of junk as far as I’m concerned,” said his mother, Janet Lane, “but he loved that car.” Her son is among the firefighters missing at the World Trade Center site. Lane had always aspired to be a fireman. He was sworn in to the New York department in 1998, just days before his 26th birthday. Before that he had had a variety of jobs, from school bus driver to chef to bartender. “He did every odd job you could think of,” his mother said. “He would just take these jobs and knew it wasn’t going to be forever, because he was getting into the fire department and that was it.”
