New Guy

[Mike-Casella]

Hi everyone. My name, as if you didn't know, is Mike Casella. I was referred here by Reijer. I've been lurking for a while and figured it was time to say hello. I'm sorry to say that I don't own a Lincoln or anything Ford powered for that matter, but I sure do work on a lot of parts for them and enjoy every minute of it. My daily job consists of rebuilding and/or repairing mechancal parts for vehicles built from 1909 and up. I work mostly on mechanical screw-together fuel pumps. We are also one of the very few shops around that re-vulcanize engine, transmission, and just about any other mount or support that uses rubber. Favorite hobby? Oh, that would have to be drag racing. My son and I have been racing my 1960 Chevy BelAir in the Outlaw class. He does the driving, and I just pay for everything. It is the only 1960 BelAir in the country to run 7 second 1/4 mile times at over 182mph. It is powered by a 707 cubic inch Donavan engine. Ok, that's enough blabbing for me.

[Theo]

Hi Mike, I'm the "Welcome Girl" . and I'm also trying to answer questions once in a while. MEL engines and sometimes MEL owners too are relics. Only a few of this species have survived. So don't be surprised when traffic appears to be slow at the salt lick.
Mike, Mike, Mike,..eh? You guys are incredibly fast w. that yellow car. Cool.
Thanx for joining the forum and have fun.

[Theo]

Oh, and BTW Mike, it doesn't matter at all what car our participants drive. The forum is MEL engine biased but in many instances a basic understanding and experience in engines is all what it takes to get involved.
It's nice to see participants from all kind of different branches chiming in and making discussions interesting and helpful to the OP (opening poster)
There are quite a few participants that don't own a MEL powered car but enjoy helping MEL guys as much as they can. I have no MEL car too and I have to admit that it's the great FE plains that I call my home land. Glad you made it to the forum.

[reijerlincoln]

Welcome Mike. I hope your presence will be beneficial to both your business and the forum members for whose cars very little specialists exist.

[Shelby#18]

Mike to bad we didn't know about you sooner. My restorers just received all of the mounts, etc. for my '59 Colony Park restoration. But don't fret we'll keep you in mind for the '59 Parklane restoration job.

All the best....
Rick

[Mike-Casella]

Thanks for the welcomes. I would have been back sooner but didn't get notified of replies. I'll have to check that out in my profile. The molds for our mounts started out being strictly for Chrysler products. The equipment I use came directly from the Chrysler R&D department in Detroit. Over the years we have added many new molds to the collection for numerous different vehicles including boats and one of a kind custom cars. In the years since I have been in the shop, I personally have added roughly 75 molds, and as time goes by, that number keeps increasing. If for some reason I don't have a mold for a particular mount, I end up making one, as long as the customer is not in a real rush. The last mold I made took over 80 hours to complete. That was a transmission mount for a 1934 Pontiac.

[Theo]

.....The last mold I made took over 80 hours to complete. That was a transmission mount for a 1934 Pontiac.

80 hours of labour at least. How many transmission mounts for a 1934 Pontiac are you going to sell in your entire life? I highly respect entrepreneurs who take risk and expense to serve a small niche market. Driven by enthusiasm and a high ethical standard, enterprises like yours can't be advertised enough. Customer service at its' best. MHIOFY.

[Mike-Casella]

It has to be looked at as a lost leader I guess. lol If we were to farm that particular job out to a mold maker, it would have cost close to $15K. The fact that I did it in-house and got paid regular wages while doing it, somehow justified the cost. I talked to the owner of the Pontiac and he mentioned that he has 4 friends that need their mounts done also, so there are at least 5 of those cars left on the planet. If the customer wants to own the mold, they can pay for the time involved, but that's only happened once in over 25 years.