Joe Severns

Contributor

Joe Severns has been nursing his addiction to everything automotive for almost 30 years, and has nearly been shipped off to rehab twice for what his wife calls “a gasoline powered affliction.” Missing the ’60s by a mere biscuit, Joe cut his teeth on an arsenal of personal luxury coupes from American manufacturers before earning enough to begin intimate relationships with cars from across the pond. Severns spent his formative years in a split between Baltimore, Maryland, and the Appalachian Mountain town of Mt. Savage, where his father taught him to double clutch, heel-toe downshift, and apply MacGyver-style principals to mechanical and electrical failures. An encyclopedia of automotive knowledge from the time he was 7, Joe enjoyed boring family and friends with impromptu quizzes on the specs and technical data from most every car ever made. He began his career in automotive journalism in November 2005, but cut his teeth first as a mechanic’s apprentice and parts flunkey. Once a hobby racer, he broke more parts experimenting on his poor cars than his wallet could handle, and has since been given to flights of spectating instead of racing.

Raised with a passion for American iron, he soon graduated into European design and the collector car field. He now fancies English, German, Swedish and Italian marques as well, much to his late father’s chagrin.

Now an Auction Analyst for Sports Car Market, Joe also owns Image Matters, a communication consulting agency in South Georgia, and is Editor of Valdosta Magazine, a regional Georgia quarterly. Joe also contributes to various publications as a freelancer, with recent work published in Allegany Magazine, Hemming’s Motor News, and Primedia, among others. Joe resides in Valdosta, Georgia with his wife Jeanne. He earned his Bachelors of Fine Arts degree in communications from Valdosta State University and is pursuing his automotive writing career full time in addition to his communications consultancy.

Joe’s first car was a 1978 Chrysler Cordoba with rich Corinthian leather, and he has owned an eclectic mix ranging from a brace of Jeep wagons to a Mercedes E class, a VW Passat, and more Volvos than any man has a right to. Joe is now saving and searching for the perfect vintage BMW and Porsche to add to his garage, and he hopes that his wife will one day understand his addiction for everything automotive.