Sean Morris – Bio
I was born 1974 in Christchurch , New Zealand. Lots of people can't believe that I am an immigrant. They think immigrant, and they think , at least in LA , Mexican. However, I am white, speak and write English. My grandparents, parents, and myself were all born in the little islands in the South Pacific called New Zealand.
In 1980, I moved from New Zealand to Los Angeles with my family.From a very young age I used to "help" my father out in the used car sales business.. At first the business was involved in selling used cars in the US. My father had a few different small used car dealerships over the years. First in Mission Hills , finally ending up in North Hollywood. By 1991 they were exporting exotic and US domestic cars to Japan. Graduated Chatsworth High School in 1991.
I didnt really want to go into the family business when I was 17.I thought about college , but I was really not sure what direction I wanted to go. Joined the US Navy in September 1991 at 17 years old. My parents had to sign for me, as I was still a minor. Not old enough to even sign my own name on a contract, but old enough to enter the US military.
Trained as a Gas Turbine Electrician in Great Lakes , IL. Graduated top of class in “A” School. Offered “C” School or more advanced training. Graduated top of class in “C” School.
Stationed aboard USS Rentz (FFG-46) from San Diego, California. Joined the ship in the Persian Gulf in September 1993. Aboard ship from 1993 – 1997 .Engineering Officer of the Watch qualified. Engineering Duty Officer qualified. Visited numerous ports around the world. Singapore , Guam , Thailand , Indonesia , Malaysia , India , Bahrain , UAE , Australia , Mexico , Canada , Vanuatu , Oman . Two Navy Achievement medals , Good conduct , numerous commendation certificates.
My first car was a Porsche 944. Well, not technically my first car, as I "owned" several cars before I could drive. The first car that I drove when I was 16 was my automatic 1984 Porsche 944. That didn't last long. I eventually ended up with a 2.8L V-6 Chevy Blazer that blew up a couple of times towing. The last time the Blazer blew up I ended up with a Jeep Cherokee 4 door, 4 liter, 2wd. After the Jeep, my parents got me a used 1992 GMC Typhoon in December 1992.
The Typhoon really lead me down the path of playing with cars. It was a fairly complicated "car" and I didn't have the money to pay for someone else to fix it. Stationed in Great Lakes, IL, I had to figure out how to work on it myself.
Left the Navy in 1997 moved from San Diego , California to
San Bernardino ,CA. Joined family business exporting vehicles to Japan.
Open road racing at Big Bend Open Road race in Texas. Dabney Crump was the driver, I was the navigator. We won our class 125mph average over 120 miles.
In
April 1999 started working for Motorex ,legalizing the Nissan Skyline
GT-R. First US DOT bond released(legal) GT-R was on November 15 , 1999 . Final publication of VCP-17 was in
January ,2000. Duties included marketing , sales ,mechanical repairs , vehicle modifications, legalization of vehicles , Liaison to the
US government , tuning for emissions testing , drag racing.I pretty much did it all. Not anything well , I just liked playing with cars.
Sport Compact Car articles .Ultimate Street Car Challenge 2001 7th place ,
Ultimate Street Car Challenge 2002 2nd place , Motor Trend , Road
and Track , Car and Driver , Modified Magazine , Turbo Magazine , Import Tuner
, Super Street , NOPI Nationals , Super Street Tour , Trek 2 Texas.
Cars I worked on – on the cover of Sport Compact Car 5 times. April 2003 , August 2002 , March 2002 , May 2001 , November 1999.
First Skyline GT-R 10 second pass in the US.
10.71 @ 137 R33 . Big Bird R33 GT-R
Left MotoRex in April 2002.
Made some PT Cruiser parts for a while. After a while, I wanted to crash into any PT Loser I saw.
Built an F150 that was on the cover of Sport Truck with pornstar Devon.
Helped to start up RB Motoring.
Consulted on a movie. There was this Mustang, with an RB26 in it.
Started helping out a guy I met though the internet with his racing aspirations. He was working on his 350Z, when we saw a 2000 Nissan Skyline GT-R N1 at the GT Live event. At the event, we talked with the SCCA Pro officials in attendance, and they gave a "sort of" pre-approval for the car for World Challenge GT.
2005 we spent the year preparing and learning about the series. Ran a Time Attack or two. Went to SEMA. Started stripping the car down to repaint and rebuild the car in November.
Raced the car in 2006. We went to five races, but only started four of them. Tough, expensive year.
Did some consulting work for G & K Automotive. Finished up a couple of GT-R's that were hung up in the whole Motorex fiasco.
2007 - Some drifting. RB25 powered S14 , twin turbo 350Z , VQ35 swapped S13. Helped out here and there. Nothing too serious for 2007. Just hanging out and taking up space.
