What is happening in the lives of the “baby boomers” these days? 

According to Richard Johannsen, a recent student in the Gas Tungsten Arc Welding course at the Hobart Institute, “The baby boomers are going back to their youth.  They have raised their families and are now building and buying motorcycles and neat cars while the youth are building bikes and race cars and street rods.” 

Some examples Richard cites include the rebirth of the Harley Davidson® brand and the advent of the Discovery Channel’s “Monster Garage,” “American Chopper,” “Motorcycle Mania,” and “A Plane is Born”.  Other channels feature shows such as “Two Guy Garage” and “Trucks”.  There are also record numbers of owners of registered show planes. 

Richard brings with him a wealth of knowledge.  At age 54, he holds a master’s degree in Mechanical Engineering and Applied Mathematics along with an MBA from the prestigious Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania.  He has spent 26 years in corporate finance working worldwide with the oil industry and is recently retired.

“I needed a project to keep myself busy until something else developed and I first thought about building a plane.  A flying lesson later, I was back looking for a different project,” says Richard.  “I am a great fan of the “Prisoner” starring Patrick McGoohan, a 1968 television show featuring a Lotus 7.  From the first time I saw it, I knew that I wanted that car.” 

 “I have the mechanical skills to build it rather than buy it,” says Richard.  “I began searching on the Internet and found several references that provided some design ideas.”

He already owned a Millermatic® 251 welder and found that welding training in addition to the gas metal arc welding course he had taken in junior college would be useful to him.  He then located the Hobart Institute on the Internet. 

“There is no other place that I know of that is as fine as Hobart,” Richard says.  “I wanted to learn from the experts and Kevin Scott (HIWT Instructor) was that expert.  Hobart Institute is an outstanding physical plant with excellent instructors.”

Richard is documenting his efforts, step-by-step on his own web site at http://www.locost7.com.  Keep your eye on this site and watch it develop!  Richard also called to our attention the interesting site http://www.tinmantech.com .

“It is important to me as I create this project to document everything,” comments Richard.  “Most of the books I have found have not been totally complete or contain errors.  Most serve well as guidelines rather than cookbooks.  I have learned that you cannot assume that because it is published or on the Internet, that it is correct.  This is a complicated project that should be fun to build.”