The Legend of El’Tanque

 

Our story begins a long time ago in a galaxy far far away. Our Hero was introduced into the gearhead world at a very young age. Back then he was known as Tommy. Tommy’s father, a mechanic by trade, baptized his son into the wonderful world of cars at about the age of 5. The first car Tommy worked on was a 57 Chevy 150 model. Pop Kortman removed the hood emblems and replaced them with molded “bullets”, dropped in a 327 w/ a 4 speed and added a tuck & roll interior. All of this work was done by Pop Kortman himself. At that moment, Tommy’s journey toward the “Dark Side” of automotive modification was started. He has NEVER looked back! Tommy’s pop also introduced him the scale automotive world as well. Hubley kits were the first kits Tommy saw. The 1^st kit he remembers was a 34 Chevy Phaeton. From there came a Boy Scout Pine Wood Derby car sporting a beautiful hand rubbed lacquer finish that was just about banned from competition. Tommy was hooked on cars and scale models from then on. Tommy continued to build models through his teens. His production did slow down after High School. Yes, our hero did discover girls, but the actual reason for the decrease in model production was a Race Car. After graduation, Tommy started racing on the local dirt track circuit. They ran predominately at East Windsor Speedway . The team also raced at Flemington (both dirt & asphalt), Bridgeport , and Wall Stadium. Tommy has raced Street Stocks, Late Models, and 1 time in an asphalt modified. He has a bunch of heat wins and a feature win. In the late 80’s and early 90’s, Tommy and the team attempted to go big time and were building a NASCAR Sportsman Series Car. During this time Tommy had the opportunity to work as a gasman for a couple of teams during the 90 & 91 season. This was a blast!! At the end of the 91 season Tommy was injured in a late model wreck at Flemington. This was the last time he drove a stock car. Although, he still maintains that he hasn’t retired. Tommy was married in 91 to his lovely wife Tammy.  They live in Edgewater Park NJ .

With the racing career temporarily shelved, Tommy returned heavily to the scale model world. While Tommy builds mostly cars, he enjoys building all types of models, especially armor. A Few years ago, Tommy had the fortune of finding the guys at Delaware Valley Scale Modelers. Through them he has been introduced to some other fantastic modelers & Clubs ( PACM, JSMCC, MAMA’s, Silent Traffic). It was from one of these other modelers that El’Tanque was born. Because of his affinity for armor models, fellow modeler, Ariel Hernandez, gave Tommy the nickname El’Tanque (Spanish for “the Tank”). This alter ego has been cultivated ever since. There is even a drink named for him. On the Island of Puerto Rico , during a trip to a model show, El’Tanque mixed Bacardi Rum with Gatorade. The “El’Tanque” was born. (The rest of the trip was a blur.) This is an amazing concoction. You get the benefits of some premium rum, with none of the side affects. That’s right, NO HANGOVER!! The Gatorade keeps you hydrated. De-hydration is the number one cause of a hangover. (Bet you didn’t expect a science lesson here did you?)

 Anyway, El’Tanque now resides as the minister of propaganda for the PACM club. You can read some of his rants in the DMZ (When he gets around to writing one). He really enjoy traveling to model shows with the other members of the PACM posse in the prison van. So far they have not been tossed out of any events, but there’s still hope. Having attended almost all of the local model shows down the Atlantic seaboard from NY to Md. and PR. El’Tanque still hopes to go to the NNL South in Atlanta and Tamiya-Con in California .

 El’Tanque’s current projects include trying to convert those poor unimaginative factory-stock builders to the dark side of modified automotive art!!

That’s all Folks, NOW GO BUILD SOMETHING!!! And remember…

IT”S JUST A FREAKIN’ HOBBY!!