June 2007 LXOM: Tmagnum

**DMAG** · 06-03-2007, 08:30 PM

written by: Tmagnum

LXOM, wait let me say that again, LXOM.

I can truly say I am surprised by this and since the day I joined this great group of people here at LXForums and learned things about my car from some great pioneers of these cars before me, I can truly say that I am honored to be listed amongst them and to have people and friends believe that I was deserving of such an honor.

With that said I guess a little background as to how I got here is in order. I will attempt to make it short so hopefully you won’t fade away but my story starts here.

My love for cars started with my dad. He was a race car driver before I was born, starting with micro midgets, midgets and then into Porsche touring the southern states on the SCCA circuit. Why the southern states, because I grew up in Pensacola, Fla. As I got older I was able to join my dad during the summer at some of the events. I was able to go to a lot of unknown tracks and a few tracks that some of you may know like Talladega (Infield Course), Road Atlanta and few I didn’t get to like Sebring, Watkins Glen and the one that I have this most pride for was the 1968 7th running of the 24 hours of Daytona where my dad, in a Porsche 911 finished second in Class behind Peter Greg and 11th overall.

Well, that was how I found my love for automobiles and going fast. I’ve owned many a car in my 51 years, but the few that stand out were a 71’ Chevy Nova and a 1956 Chevy 2 Door, White on Black with a 283 V8 a Carter AFB 4 barrel carb and a 2 speed Power Glide Tranny and boy was that thing fun. But it was the 55,56,57 Chevy’s and the Nomad’s that I really liked and what eventually sold my on buying the Magnum. I knew the day I saw it as a concept car at the LA Auto show I was going to own this car if it was produced, and in August of 2004 I took delivery of this.

And soon after that I joined the Magnum Owners Club which eventually led me here to LXForums and boy did the modding begin.

From here the story really gets good as I started chatting a bit on the forums. I then met a few guys at a Hooters in Anaheim for my first Meet-n-Greet and then I hooked up with some new found friends on my first co-assisted Meet-n-Greet and then a little larger MnG in a back parking lot in Huntington Beach and from that more meets and two very large Spring Flings and all the while meeting some great people and awesome cars. As things continued to grow and a few people will attest to this, I became fairly vocal about organizing this great bunch of people and cars into a club, almost to an annoyance.

Last year was the point where I really knew there was a real potential for this to come together but still was not quite sure how to pull it off. I was fortunate to do 5 MnG’s in 5 different states, California (duh), Arizona, Nevada, Ohio and Washington and at each location the people were as friendly as if we’d known each other for years, I am forever thankful that this car and this forum has opened doors to some great new friendships.
I’ve learned at lot from you all and I’m sure I will continue to learn more from you. When I’ve asked for help on things with my car not one stepped up but a community stepped up and I hope to continue to payback that same freely given gesture in kind.

The car currently looks like this:

So anyway, this has led me to what we (as I only took the lead on this) have currently created, which is SoCalLX . This was a long time coming and with LXForums offering a place for clubs to get started and have a place to chat, I knew the time was right and I am ever so grateful to the Staff & Moderators for opening the doors for all of us who have started clubs across the USA.

There are a ton of people I would like to thank but I’m afraid of naming you all, as I would hate to miss a single individual as each meeting and friendship is special but you know who you are and I am grateful to call you friends.
I will leave it as a Heartfelt and very Humbling “THANK YOU” one and all.
If you’re ever in Southern California and you’d like to come out and join us for a Meet-n-Greet just drop by the website at www.socallx.com and we’d be more than happy to have you.

Regards to all,

Tom
Tmagnum.