EVAN ZEMA, AUTOMOTIVE COLLECTION MANAGER
STORY & PHOTOGRAPHY | Karl Noakes
In my day, the standard advice from family, friends, and educators was simple. Get an apprenticeship and learn your craft. Or go to college and get a career. But a minority of people struggle with such limited options, knowing that neither feels right, sensing there have to be other ways. Often perceived as lazy, rebellious, or plain cantankerous, such iconoclasts are forced to rely on their determination and clarity of thought to find their path.
From the time he was a child growing up in Bellevue, Washington, Evan Zema’s uncanny understanding of all things mechanical steered him in one direction, but his insatiable curiosity and quest for knowledge pointed him in another. Was he confused? Not at all; he knew he wanted to work with cars, he just had not figured out in what capacity. Time was on his side.
As a schoolboy, Evan fiddled around with a very rough Honda 49cc moped for a while before heading off to study Economics and Communication at Western Washington University. Post-graduation, he entered the workforce in the corporate offices of PACCAR, working with Kenworth Trucks. Evan remained curious and contemplative about what form true fulfillment might take. But office work was not it!
One day, Evan found himself perusing Craigslist, searching for job for a friend who was out of work and needed a push. He happened upon a rather cryptic job posting for an “Automotive Collection Manager,” but the friend wasn’t interested. The job lingered in the back of Evan’s mind and several weeks later he drafted, mailed, and forgot all about a cover letter expressing his interest. A month passed before he got the call. Evan claims he naively bumbled his way through the interviews, but I suspect his natural engineering mindset coupled with this obvious passion to learn and grow won the day!
Though it wasn’t yet clear what an “Automotive Collection Manager” did, he readily accepted the position offered at Vintage Racing Motors. No job description could have prepared Evan for his first real taste of what lay ahead. Within his first month, his new boss tasked him with preparing a 1908 Mercedes Benz for a vintage race meeting that just happened to be at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. Obviously, it was necessary to complete a few laps behind the wheel just to ensure the car was in fine fettle. As he rounded the banking at the Speedway, Evan knew he had found what he had been searching for. How’s that for a bizarre spin on the boss asking you to take his car for a quick spin to check all is okay?
Six years on, Evan and I stand in Vintage Racing Motors discussing his work as he oversees preparation of the fabled 1929 Bentley “Old Number One,” which is soon to be shipped for showing at The Amelia. Fabled? Well, there are few cars that have taken an overall victory at the 24 Hours of Le Mans, and fewer still that that have won it twice.
The images here tell the story of part of Evan’s day-to-day work: ensuring cars are appropriately detailed, mechanically sound and road worthy, and safely transported to be shown, raced, or judged.
I got my very own personal experience riding alongside Evan in Old Number One during its final road test before shipment. Evan, with one hand on the wheel and the other reaching outside to shift, smiled big as he knew how lucky we both were to be riding in the multiple Le Mans winner.
It was quite the experience hearing, feeling, and sensing this 8-liter Speed Six monster from a bygone era rumbling through the backroads of Woodinville. This piece of automotive folklore is physically huge and cannot be missed amongst the sea of modern cars, all similarly colored and styled. A few heads turned, but most passersby had no clue what they had encountered as they hurried about their business. Sitting inside the car, feeling the chill air rush by as Evan expertly rowed through the gearbox, I couldn’t help but let my mind wander back to the 1930s, asking myself what it must have felt like to handle these brutal race cars at 130 mph for hours on end. Exhilarating, exhausting and, for sure, enthralling.
To manage a collection so wide and varied requires a unique kind of mechanical sympathy, an appreciation for the nuances of each automobile that belies his youth. Evan faces a collection of race cars of different eras, all built to fine tolerances with a singular objective: to win! These cars no longer benefit from a factory team attending to their every whim, but they do have the team at VRM learning the delicate, well-defined sequence needed to fire up, drive, and maintain these cars. Evan is meticulous in his preparation; like a musical conductor, he knows all the startup sequences by heart. Mistakes are expensive.
Over lunch, we explored the essence of what being a successful automotive collection manager means. Though he doesn’t use these labels for himself, I come to see Evan as automotive historian, mechanical engineer, and coordination expert all rolled into one. He works diligently researching the market, building and maintaining connections around the world, and making sound recommendations on how best to evolve the collection in line with his boss’s wishes. Evan manages a portfolio of assets—unique assets at that—which need to be carefully managed, maintained, and maneuvered around the globe. It is an act of curation, similar to that applied to fine wine, watches, and art.
Often seen walking the lawns of the world’s most prestigious automotive events, Evan has established himself as a known face in the collector car market, trusted by his peers and sought out by enthusiasts for his insights. (And he’s also at work building a collection of his own, with a 1965 VW Beetle, a 1991 BMW 325i (turbo), a 2007 BMW 328xi wagon, a 1994 Honda Elite scooter, and a 1998 Honda Z50R in his personal garage).
While Evan has had a taste of what many would find a dream job, he still has more time on his side to continue exploring. He has transitioned into a role at Hagerty that will allow him to use his talents to help many collectors instead of one, which feels like a natural progression for him.” Meanwhile, if you happen to see an innocuous looking ad in Craigslist for an “automotive collection manager,” perhaps you should consider it.
