Nick Orso's Memorial to our Founder, Nick Orso

Nick Orso
November 14,1919 - April 29, 2001

Dear Customers and Friends:

On April 29, 2001 we lost the founder of Nick Orso Collision Centers.

Like many men back in the 40’s Nick returned from the Philippines, married his childhood sweetheart and started a family. As his family grew he knew he needed to provide more than just a job if his family was going to prosper. After the war Nick worked for Halcomb Steel then he worked for Joe Orso’s Body Shop, my uncle. In the early 50’s he ventured out on his own.

Nick was self-taught and became an exceptional craftsman. For over 60 years worked everyday in the industry and loved the sense of accomplishment that it took to make broken things work again. To fix something no one would else could fix to make something work that other’s gave up on, thrilled him to no end. Working with his hands was his passion.

At Nick Orso Collision Centers we lost a founder. But I lost my best friend, brother, partner, father and confidant all in one instant. Recovery is not easy. Dad and I spent so much time together and got along so well we could work all day and never say a word to each other. We anticipated each other’s moves and needs.

Never did we not appreciate each others' help and we validated that often.

With any business, especially a family owned business transition is difficult. Traditionally the founders are slow to hand over the reins. I can honestly say that was not the case with Nick.

He never meddled in the plans I had for the business and always offered his assistance no matter what the call was. When I wanted to expand he’d say, “Are you sure that’s big enough?” or “What can I do?” While all our plans didn’t work out like we thought they would, he never faulted any failure - only tried to learn something by it - and always helped to move on.

His motto was to “learn something new everyday so the day wasn’t lost.”

At 80 years old most people are moving pretty slow. Not Nick! I remember him asking me one day in the spring of 2000, “What can I do for you?” I said, “I need the engine out of that Porsche 911, pointing to a wrecked 911 we bought, so we can do the frame work on it.” What I meant was, could he go out give the order to have our technicians remove the engine.


		An hour later I walked through the shop and found Nick with the car on a lift unbolting the engine. I said, “Dad, I only meant for you to give the order not do the work.” Needless to say a 911 engine is a bear to remove especially one that’s pinned by collision damage. His comment was, “Piece of Cake, I’ll have it out in no time.” He did! He put it back in 2 weeks later too!

As I recall he said the same thing the morning of April 24, 2001 when he went in for a second bypass surgery. I said, “Dad, are you nervous? Are you ok?” His response was, “Piece of cake, go buy a wreck or a house, so I have something to putter with when I get out of here, I can’t just sit around.” Unfortunately that would never come to be as Nick passed on April 29, 2001.

Nick started Nick’s Garage Inc. in the 50’s on Mary Street. For 27 years he made a good living for his family and built a solid reputation for quality work. Nick always attracted “the better cars.” You could always find a Cadillac, Lincoln or fancy car at Nick’s shop. Insurance companies would always cry that he wanted more for his work than some hack but they always gave in. Must be where I get it from!

Customers came from all over the country for collision and specialty custom paint-work only Nick could do. Customers would say, “Nobody but Nick touches my car.”, meaning they wouldn’t be swayed to go to another shop by a forceful insurance company.

Many awards for cars done by Nick Orso were awarded at car shows across the East Coast. While our collision service is still our mainstay business, to this day we still rock car shows with work we produce on our customers' Corvettes, Street Rods, Muscle Cars, Exotics and Classics. These cars still walk away with top honors consistently because of the quality standards Nick instilled in me.

I joined the business in ‘73 officially. By the fall of ‘77 we moved to Plum Street. We still specialized in High-Line cars but all of a sudden a new breed of High Line emerged, Mercedes and BMW’s, Jags, and Ferrari’s found their way to our door along with the Corvettes and Caddy’s.

Our growth continued over the years with Nick’s continued physical and moral support. In 1984 we moved to our current location on West Genesee St. For the last 20 years our growth has been at our pace. While we feel we are at a comfortable level now only time will tell what is next. Our goal is to make Nick proud as he looks on after us.

I wanted to share this with our customers and make sure you all know there was a Nick Orso and that he was a good father and fine friend to everyone he met. We won’t forget or minimize his involvement because it has been major! I only hope I can leave half the mark he made when it’s my turn to move on.

Sincerely,

Mike Orso, President