HORK Enterprises
3221 Quick Road
Holly, MI 48442, USA
 +1 (248) 328-0231
 consult@hork.com

Cars

Okay..., it is getting to be quite a collection, and currently they are all running (again), so I'd better spend a little time organizing this page now!

My Triumph TR7 is only the second car I have ever owned. I bought it right after college graduation, as a present to myself, and have had it for over 41 years now. It has driven me all over Europe from the polar circle in Norway to the southern tip of Yugoslavia, across country roads in England, through France and Spain, and cobble stone roads in Poland. All-in-all I think I have push-started it in more than a dozen countries.

I wasn't the first owner and found out it had had quite a history before I owned it. It took some love, sweat, and tears and the help from master mechanic Jan Rorije to make it into a reliable car, but it finally became that (relatively speaking, of course).
As the 1995 Dutch market for fun/hobby cars was spoiled by a new tax law, I ended up bringing the car over to the U.S. It was shipped to New York and from there driven to my home in Florida, which was quite a fun trip.

For as long as I have had my TR7 in the U.S.,  I have been on the lookout for a Rover SD1, because its 3.5 liter V8 engine fits the TR7 and would make it much more suitable for driving in the U.S. Finally in 2002 one came up for auction on Ebay. We called the 1600 mile drive to pick it up in New York a vacation trip, and there it was! While quite popular in Europe, these cars are not very common in The States. This one, with fuel injected engine and five-speed manual, was a rare find. It is so much fun to drive that I am having a hard time tearing it down for the drive train. That will eventually happen though.

Nothing but good about the dearly departed. My Saab 900S Convertible has taken us to many places, from North Carolina, Vermont, and Canada to Colorado. While the convertible top was the most appreciated feature, when living in Florida, we certainly learned to appreciate the seat heat in Michigan. I guess 150,000 miles is a reasonable lifespan for a car, but it could have been longer. Using a 50 cent plastic guide for a metal timing chain that when it fails, allows the chain to skip a couple of teeth, so the valves can slam into the pistons, is just bad engineering. Nevertheless, it was fun while it lasted.

With so many impractical cars, you may be wondering “What does he use to get the groceries in?” Well, here is your answer. This Ranger with its 4 liter V6 engine is my little work horse. It has an automatic, so “The Wife” can drive it too and is somewhat fun to drive in the winter on Michigan’s slippery roads. It holds lumber and bags of salt better than the Rover and, so far, has only needed fuel, oil, filters, wind screen wipers, and brake pads. And that’s all it has needed ... and a new seat belt pretensioner ... and a DPFE sensor, but that’s all, it hasn't needed nuttin’ else... Just this brake pressure switch pig tail thingy. But that's it! It is getting rusty though...

What can I say? I was 10 years in The States and have a buddy who is really into these big “personal luxury” vehicles. Then this one comes up in an auction. I was there only for garden hose..., really! Besides, I wasn’t going to spend any kind of real money and surely I wasn’t going to get it for free! Well I didn’t, but I scratched my nose at the wrong (my buddy would say: right) time and that was it. Sold!, to the tall gentleman in the back! 19 feet (6.8 m) long, 5145 pounds (2300 kg), a 460 cu.in (7.5 liter) engine and room for just two adults! Now what's wrong with that concept? It provoked some sympathy letters from Dutch friends and family along these lines:
“It is quite a shame to see what has become of what used to be such a nice boy. Do not despair, however, we will continue to remember you as someone with few really troubling deviations.”

Ah, yes Honey, the people from down the street say our Mark..., okay, my Mark got under the trees with their Jaguar and now they've got this litter of little ones. They insisted that I'd take one. Yeah, I know I have enough cars, but isn't he cute? He is so much like his daddy, but I don't think he will grow as big, because of his momma. He’s got a little V8, though that purrs, just like his daddy's. No, he is not red. There was a red one, but somebody else had already claimed that one. You wanna hear how he growls? It is so cute! Can we keep’m?

That’s it. That’s all of them. Except for the Dodge, but that’s the Wife’s car. It has a groceries net in the trunk for goodness sake! Oh, and the “spare” TR7 that sits under the trees, in case some part is needed for the other one. But, that’s it. Unless, I have forgotten about one, that will only show up when a mow the grass...