Rarity is key when it comes to cars and bikes, but that value doesn’t stop Steve Clark from enjoying his collection of roughly 60 vehicles.
Despite being a collector item, the black Lotus for example, raced recently in Seattle, with Clark at the wheel.
“I’ve crashed this thing really bad several times,” he says, gesturing to the car with a gold 83 on the hood.
He’s been racing vintage cars for 25 years, he says, listing off track communities such as Monterey, Sonoma, Seattle, Portland and Sacramento.
The Lotus is one of two among the vehicles packed into a small Victoria building.
Prior to retirement, the Oak Bay man collected “incognito” but eventually started going for coffee with other car people. Now they often find themselves hanging out in the Victoria shop where he stores many while other vehicles make the rounds at various family members homes, including his own in Oak Bay.
Right up front is a ’66 Yamaha 2500 cc, the same model he first purchased as a teen.
“The first time I went out and bought a motorcycle, my mom said I couldn’t have one, I think I was 14. I’ve had probably 60 or 70 since then,” Clark said.
He rattles off years of cars, engine power, rarity and personal stories for a variety of vehicles in the space.
Next to the Yamaha is a 1978 1000 cc four-cylinder Kawasaki bike commonly called “the widow maker” not unlike the ones a young Clark would “bomb around on” when he and a couple buddies owned a dealership in Vail, Colorado.
There’s a 1960 Lola, the 34th ever built so “it’s very rare.” While its monetary value is around $260,000, the rarity holds the value for Clark – true for most everything he owns.
“I’d rather have the car … over and over again.”
“They’re all favourites,” he added, though the Lola is the worst to fix after a racing wreck.
The collection is the result of a lifetime affinity for bikes and cars, funded by decades of startup businesses – about 18 of them.
In his words, five went bankrupt and five were home runs.
Among those are names some people will recognize to this day such as Money Mart, Rentex and Cashline, borne from the brain of a man with no formal business education.
Clark says he barely got out of high school in Aurora, Colorado. Then at 19 years old, he “jumped in a car with a draft dodger and high-tailed it to Canada” with $96 to his name. As almost an afterthought, he notes the draft wasn’t an issue for him, his number was nowhere near the top.
He credits those roots with some of his successes in the fringe banking field.
“I knew what it was like to be on that side of the counter … when you need money for food and rent,” he said.
Clark built his business know-how by basically self-auditing NAIT (they lived in Alberta at the time), UVic and Camosun courses. Searching out textbook lists for specific classes, buying those books and completing them on his own time – even once on a rare trip to Hawaii.
“I’d read ’til midnight. I took schoolbooks with me and read by the pool," Clark said. “Strategy became my biggest fascination.”
Now his fascination is in the art, mechanics and history of both vehicles and the businesses that built them.
“I just like them. It’s like art. But there’s a whole bunch of other things going on,” he said.
The red 1960 Maserati 125 for example. “People didn’t know that Maserati made motorcycles,” he said.
“I’m probably into it for way too much money, but insecure old guys like me, you got to have something to brag about,” he added with a chuckle.
There may be an oil leak or two but these rarities gather no dust.
Four wheels or two, the 73-year-old routinely swaps them out for everyday driving as well as the races.
But maybe don’t ask about that last Seattle trip – daughter Shelby finished well ahead of him, and the ego’s still a bit tender.
