Official introduction from Captain Morgan (New Jersey)

Hello H.A.M.B.ers & Happy 2010,

After 3 weeks and 20 posts, I figured I would make a formal thread and say hello to everyone.

My name is Morgan ("Captain" got added on in college) and I hail from southern New Jersey, born & raised on L.B.I. to be exact. I've been a motorhead/car junkie for as long as I can remember. I purchased my first car (1970 El Camino) when I was 15 years old with my own money I saved from working as a bike mechanic when I was 13 & 14, recycling cans & scrap metal and saving up any money I got from birthdays & holidays. I still have it today, but it's seen better days and I'm on the fence with selling it or parting it out.

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I drove it during my senior year of high school where I also enjoyed 3 years of auto mechanics. I must have really enjoyed it because I went on to get my bachelors degree in technology education and I am now the auto mechanics teacher in the high school from which I graduated. It's different being on the other side of the desk, but its a lot of fun teaching the little tips & tricks that have helped me over the years.

My most recent purchase for myself, my class and the reason I'm on this forum today, is a 1952 Cadillac Series 62 Coupe. I won it on eBay on December 7th and trailered it down from Boston the following Saturday. She's an extremely solid car, no rot at all, garage kept most of its life, 99.9% complete, power windows, seat & steering as well. It came with new shocks, new brakes, new tires & wheels, reconditioned gas tank, radiator, water pump & carb. The engine had been removed, disassembled, cleaned, baked & magnifluxed by the previous owner, but thats as far as he took it.

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At the moment, its sitting in my classroom where my students have already removed the interior and trunk kit. We will be starting the new year off with the removal of the old exhaust, transmission & front clip in preparation for removing the body from the frame. I suppose I can start a project thread on that as we get deeper into it.

Prior to teaching, I ran my own auto/marine fabrication business for a couple years doing custom machine work, welding and a little powder coating & body/paint work. Unfortunately without a gigantic shop or nice weather like SoCal or Florida, the winters were slow and hard, so I turned that into a part time gig and went to work for another friends business as a mechanic. In addition to that, I have also enjoyed being a volunteer fire fighter for the past 15 years.

Some of my other mentionable rides (which dont exactly fit in here) is my limited production 1993 GMC Typhoon #0180 of 2200. My personal project which I was hoping to start 2 years ago and still havent had the time do yet is my GM LS2 swap into a 1998 BMW 540i. Odd project I know, Im not expecting anyone here to dig it, but I figure I can build an 800HP Twin Turbo LS2 and stuff it into the 540i for well under half the original price of a M5 and have more fun doing it.

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My next big project will be trying to buy a house with enough space to park all of my little projects, we'll see how that goes in the new year

So that me in a nutshell. If you're still reading this, I really have no clue what you might be thinking, but if you wish you can check out some pictures of my toys here : [B]http://www.fquick.com/CaptainMorgan[/B]

Again, Happy New Year and I love the site so far. It's definitely fast paced, but seems to be filled with good people and I look forward to seeing and sharing ideas with everyone.

 

Welcome, Captain. I'm sure we all look forward to posts on the Caddy project as it progresses. Enjoy your HAMBtime......Don.

 

Thanks. I'm hoping the project isnt too overwhelming, but so far so good

 

Welcome from Kansas. Glade to have you here and hope to see more on the Cadillac in the future. Also, if you have room, keep the El Camino. If you get rid of it, you will be wishing that you did not, some twenty years later. Don't get rid of your first girl.

 

yeah i dont want to, I really need to pull it out of mothballs and see how bad she has gotten over the years. If anything, Ill turn that into a long term project.

 

Welcome from Wisconsin.