Petrolicious, the creator of high-quality, original films and articles for classic car enthusiasts, has released its latest video, featuring the air-cooled world of Verve Vintage Motorworks.
Petrolicious celebrates the inventions, personalities and aesthetics that fuel a collective lust for great automotive machinery, and seeks to inform, entertain and inspire the community of enthusiasts and pique the interest of those who missed out.
Today, Petroleum takes over the story…
At the foot of the Wasatch Mountains in Orem, Utah, thirty minutes from the never-ending asphalt, the roads turn to dirt, and from there you can drive to California without touching asphalt. That kind of landscape favors people who build instead of wait. Cole and Franz, the two co-owners of Verve Vintage Motorworks, both fit that profile.
They have been friends for a long time and approach cars from different angles, but with the same drive to keep them moving. Cole didn’t grow up in a shop, he learned by necessity while keeping old buses alive on climbing trips in college. Franz, meanwhile, spent years in stores in Colorado, rooted in the same air-cooled world that would later define their partnership. When something broke, neither man called for help; they grabbed a manual, some tools and time to figure it out.
Cole earned a degree but couldn’t sit behind a desk. “I could no longer sit at a desk,” he said. “I wanted to work with my hands.” That realization took his comfort and gave him purpose. He went to work for Jack Morris, a Porsche mechanic who became more mentor than employer.
Cole followed him north to Spokane, where he showed up until he was useful again, sweeping floors, handing tools and learning as he went. “He taught me so much,” Cole said. It was an education that few people received, and he treated it like a gift.
When his mentor left town, Cole came home to Salt Lake without a plan. He started repairing cars in his father’s garage. His father parked outside until there was no room even for that, and told him it was time to find a spot. At first it was big, quiet and intimidating. Then Franz joined him.
Franz was a good friend long before Verve existed. He had worked in shops in Colorado for fifteen to twenty years, where he was immersed in the same air-cooled Volkswagen and Porsche world that had attracted them both since high school. Their partnership was natural: one man was restless in building, the other brought decades of quiet experience.
They called the store Verve, a word that means ‘something with spirit’. Cole did not want his name used. Together they built a company that focused on air-cooled cars from Porsche and Volkswagen, with the occasional Mercedes or vintage racer in between. From manufacturing to engine building, they have done almost everything in-house.
The work found its rhythm through use, not perfection. “You complete a restoration and sometimes it disappears into a garage,” Cole said. “That’s hard to watch.” So they built cars that were meant to come back dirty. They’ve been racing in Baja long before they opened shop, and those miles shaped the way they build: cars as tools for experiences.
In the middle of the store is a Porsche built for Baja. It is not a canceled tram; it is a technical exercise from the ground up. Knowing the disadvantages of the Porsche suspension on rough roads, they reworked the geometry to move rearward and fabricated an all-tube chassis. The reinforced cab is built to survive crashes, and all major suspension points are attached to the chassis rather than the body. The design is not theoretical; it is a direct response to the punishment they witnessed in the desert.
That approach makes sense here. There is only one trail near Salt Lake, but endless open land. Within half an hour you can drive down a dirt road and never see pavement again. That is the area that Verve is building for.
Their philosophy reflects the choices that built the store, leaving a safe path open to the uncertain, learning through an internship instead of theory, and taking the risk of renting too large a space and filling it with ideas. “People talk about separating work and life,” Franz said. “Our products are mixed, and that’s how we like it.”
Three years later the space is full, but not yet finished. Cars come and go, sometimes back again. Cole maintains constant contact with the owners, sending photos and text messages about every decision, even down to the details. That shared ownership extends the old mentorship model, where knowledge is passed on through doing, not talking.
Both men see old cars the same way: as extensions of human capabilities. “They’re simpler,” Cole said. “If something breaks, you can see it. You can fix it.” The new ones don’t inspire that confidence.
At the base of the Wasatch, that kind of thinking makes sense. Nearby, the sidewalk ends, the road turns to dirt, and the spirit that built Verve continues to do so.
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