News and Opinion from Sisters, Oregon
News and Opinion from Sisters, Oregon
Gordon Sheward will restore this 1967 Austin Healy. Photo by Jim Cornelius
Gordon Sheward is one of the lucky ones. He has been able to make a vocation out of his life-long passion for classic cars.
He is carrying that passion on with his small, home-based business, Gordon's Garage.
Sheward's particular fascination is with the automobiles of the early 1930s.
Growing up, instead of pining for a '57 Chevy, "I was looking at all the big, old classic cars of the '30s -- the so-called gangster cars. They had a mystique and they still had horsepower," he said.
He was a self-taught mechanic and restorer at first. Even after leaving the Air Force and casting about for a vocation, he wasn't sure he wanted to plunge into auto work full-time. He was afraid doing what he enjoyed so much for a living would take the joy out of it.
Finally, though, he took the plunge and sought a job with a California auto dealership, where he took his formal training in servicing and repairing automobiles.
Soon, he moved on to become self-employed, with the first Gordon's Garage in Marin, California.
Gordon and his wife Suzi eventually moved to Portland to get out of Bay Area traffic. Gordon had a teaching job that reflected his other, related passion -- history.
But the rain in Portland got old and the couple headed east to the drier climate of Central Oregon. Gordon took a job at Carrera Motors in Bend and worked there until striking out on his own again at the beginning of this year.
Sheward focuses primarily on service work and keeps the work load to a manageable level for his one-stall garage. He offers knowledge and experience and the patience and thoroughness of a man who is doing what he likes to do, not just punching a clock.
Although he specializes in restoring and servicing classic and exotic cars, he is happy to work on folks' everyday rig. He keeps himself up to speed on all the latest equipment and gadgetry.
But he admits a fondness for working on the older cars. For one thing, they don't change. Yet it is really the mystique that draws him, the sense of history.
His expertise in mechanical restoration, in addition to pleasing his clients, has garnered him a position as a judge for several years at the prestigious Concourse d' Elegance in Forest Grove.
Sheward's current project is the complete, bumper-to-bumper restoration of a 1967 Austin Healy, shipped to him from Missouri.
But, as anyone who truly loves cars can attest, it will be worth the wait and the price tag.
Sheward's own personal favorite car was a 1930 Packard he restored to beautiful condition.
He has also won note for the restoration of a 1920s fire engine for the Mill Valley Fire Department.
The fire engine is mostly a piece of eye candy in parades, but the old soldier still has some fight in it.
According to Sheward, it was pressed into service in an emergency wildfire situation to pump water all night long.
Gordon's Garage is located off Highway 126 between Sisters and Redmond.
Call 504-9000.
Jim Cornelius is editor in chief of The Nugget and author of “Warriors of the Wildlands: True Tales of the Frontier Partisans.” A history buff, he explores frontier history across three centuries and several continents on his podcast, The Frontier Partisans. For more information visit www.frontierpartisans.com.
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