Cars We Love & Who We Are
More than the polished parts and hard to find pieces, the special interest vehicles people collect embody the character of each owner. “Cars We Love & Who We Are” profiles individual special interest vehicles and the proud owner committed to its preservation.
Conversations with People We Value
Talking with skilled professionals who support our passion for collectible automobiles.
Roads We Remember
Some roads discovered far from home reward us with a once in a lifetime driving experience. Others are old friends revisited to elevate our spirits and celebrate the joy of life behind the wheel.
In Search of the 7th Royale Series – All the Episodes Here
Cars We Love & Who We Are #22
What is it about a life that defines a person? I have come to believe that the world around us mimics how we define ourselves. While at a large regional classic car and hot rod event, I encountered a man showing a stunning 1912 C-Cab Ford truck hot rod. Knowledgeable, affable and friendly to all, he offered me a look at a gallery of photographs displaying vehicles he had designed and built as well as others he had modified after purchasing them for his collection. He possessed a visionary flair for bringing all types of mobile machinery to life. Clearly from his interactions and conversations with others that I observed, the world viewed him for the respected and gifted hot road visionary and fabricator that he is. Oh yeah and he was in a wheelchair. No big deal, certainly not for him. Meet Rory Sevajian.
A hot rod life defined by abundance not lack
Rory Sevajian with 1912 Ford C-Cab
When Rory Sevajian flashes his ready and welcoming smile, you find yourself drawn in and comfortable in his engaging company. The fact that regardless of the event, he has brought some stunningly unique thundering eye candy that he designed makes him and his creations a magnet for interested observers and show trophies.
His passion for building unique performance and special interest vehicles came to life in Rory’s early teen years.
Rory says, “As a little kid, I was always interested in all these things. I hung around with all the older kids that had cool cars and learned from them.” Also, Rory’s father used to take him to the New York Auto Show at the New York Coliseum in the early 196os. Rory recalls saying, “I was really young. The cars there were nothing like you’d ever seen before. Even to this day, today when you go to auto shows, there’s no comparison to what was done in the 50s and 60s.”
As a young guy without a lot of money, Rory developed a philosophy that continues to guide his efforts today. Quote: “Start out with junk and make it into something special.” Almost as a design principle, even Rory’s most striking creations humbly start out as “junk. Then, benefitting from the magic of his transformative vision he brings to life something very special.
So for almost […]
Conversations With People We Value #27
Many things that were once commonplace, today, we now hold dear for their rarity. Such things as having a live and informed person respond quickly when we call customer service, or an auto parts store owned by a family not a franchise or a gas station attendant not speaking on an ear bud to a friend 10,000 miles away, all were once accepted as a given.
Now for those of us old enough to remember a time when superior craftsmanship merited respect and a plentitude of business, we sadly note the dwindling presence of those practicing craftsmen. That so few of these skilled experts at combining art and engineering exist seems incomprehensible in a way that shocks our sensibilities.
Drivin’ News believes in the importance of recognizing the remaining gifted and dedicated craftsmen who sustain our passion for the enjoyment and preservation of classic vehicles. Meet Charlie Olsen, owner of Olsen Engines.
The man they trust to rebuild history
Charlie Olsen with Ferrari Daytona engine
Disarmingly genial and engaging, Charlie Olsen resides within the sparse ranks populating the pantheon of active “go-to” machinists and classic vehicle engine rebuilders.
Charlie Olsen working on Honda 250cc engine
Though chockablock with exotic engines, parts and pieces, Charlie’s Olsen Engines shop somehow projects a reassuring sense of confident orderliness. Since opening for business in 1982 Olsen Engines, has been entrusted by some of the world’s most famous people and most respected professionals to work on some of the world’s most treasured automobile, motorcycle and inboard marine engines.
Maintaining a shockingly youthful exuberance for his passion to bring mortally wounded high performance and exotic engines back from the dead, 67-year old Charlie was born to excel at the work he loves.
Charlie says, “I always had a love for gas engines. By eight or nine-years old I was fixing all of the lawn mowers on the block.” If he found a mower that did not run, he would make it run. By the age of twelve Charlie had graduated to motorcycles. He says, “I bought some old cycles cheap and got them to run.” From then on Charlie’s budding talents for curing the ills of anything that ran on gas blossomed into full bloom.
Ferrari 4-Cylinder
In high school a stint at a local […]
Cars We Love & Who We Are #21
Crossing from New Jersey and meandering north on old Route 17 surrounds one with a picture of a region that for decades lived frozen in a faded past but recently began experiencing a quantum leap into the now. Still very much a work in progress, the scene along Route 17 features stretches of old buildings tightly snugged up against a patchwork paved narrow four-lane. Safely navigating the bumps, twists and turns demands a firm hand on the wheel and a steady eye on fellow drivers often found wandering about the narrow lanes.
Clearly, this trek offers a decidedly unglamorous journey on the way to enjoying an extraordinary classic car experience. Today the grounds of an architectural pearl of the Gilded Age will feature a delightfully understated concours.
Approaching the handsomely crafted stone guard station, I am waved though. I have entered an enclave of aesthetically integrated architectural and natural beauty born in the 1880s. I have entered a world worthy of a modern day Gatsby. Navigating the winding country roads leads me to the manicured grounds of the Tuxedo Club in Tuxedo Park, NY.
Bring what you love
Tuxedo Club “Field of Driving Dreams” registration
Gordon Borteck with his Pantera
Raising its German voice with the elevated revs courtesy of a downshift, my BMW descends the hill. As my trusty sports sedan hugs the curve of the narrow West Lake Road, the Tuxedo Club comes into view. Surrounded by a finely groomed lawn, overlooking Tuxedo Lake and set against a forested hillside, the grounds offer a spectacular backdrop on which to display priceless automobiles.
Pulling off to the side of the circular driveway at the club entrance, I am greeted by Gordon Borteck, the driving force behind the Tuxedo Concours officially titled “The Tuxedo Club Field of Driving Dreams.”
Borteck a Tuxedo Club member and guiding force behind the Tuxedo Park event conceived of the idea about eight years ago as a great Father’s Day celebration. Its instant popularity proved Borteck possessed 20/20 foresight. As with such good ideas, they exhibit a dynamic character that seeks to expand to ever greater proportions. Borteck has felt the pressure to expand which he has resisted.
Here comes a Ferrari La Ferrari. There goes a Lamborghini Countach. Step aside for the Chaparral race […]
Here’s this week’s question:
Chrysler is known for its “Hemi” engine. To what does the term “Hemi” refer?
Answer to last week’s question:
What did Felix Wankel develop? The rotary engine
About the blogger
Burton Hall has written for an automotive client list that includes Audi, BMW, Jaguar, Maserati, Ferrari, Mercedes-Benz, Porsche, Peugeot and Volvo. He has also written for The Washington Post, AutoWeek, Corvette Monthly, Jaguar Magazine, BMW Magazine, Hemmings.com, Hagerty Magazine and numerous auto restoration buff books.
A member of the Society of Automotive Historians, he, in 2014, created and has since taught the adult school program “Collectible automobiles as a passion.” In 2020 he originated and has since produced the Drivin’ News blog.
As a classic car hobbyist, He owns a 1961 Corvette that he bought in 1967, a 1953 Jaguar XK120MC Drophead Coupe that he restored after finding it disassembled in a barn in 1980, a 2003 BMW 330i he bought new and a 1951 MG TD that presently serves as a planter and centerpiece in his garden. All are great drivers, except the MG which has a few bugs.
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