Pistons & Pizza at Hagerty Garage + Social Palm Beach
Following a successful appearance at the Cavallino Classic at The Breakers Resort in Palm Beach, Florida, on January 28, and a Piston Scholar mentor’s tour of the Mar-a-Lago Concours on January 29, the Piston Foundation returned to Southern Florida on February 16 for a Pistons & Pizza event at the Hagerty Garage + Social in Palm Beach.
The featured speaker was Pierre Hedary, a master technician and restorer of classic Mercedes-Benz cars and the owner of Pierre Hedary and Company, a Mercedes-Benz specialist in Titusville, Florida. He shared his knowledge and expertise on what it takes to own, restore and maintain a classic car.
By Judy Stropus
March 13, 2023
An Evening at Hagerty Garage + Social
The Piston Foundation’s nationwide Pistons & Pizza programs help support the Foundation’s initiatives, while guests enjoy an evening with like-minded car aficionados in a casual and friendly atmosphere.
For this particular evening, Hagerty provided a tour of the Garage + Social Palm Beach for 75 guests to view a variety of beautiful cars in a cool, authentic setting. Showcased were a 1957 300 SL Gullwing, a 1969 280 SE convertible, a 1987 560 SL – plus a selection of close to 50 cars from across the ages to admire.
Of course, the guests also dined on an assortment of all-you-can-eat gourmet pizza, wine and soft drinks, while enjoying the camaraderie among other car collectors and lovers of classic automobiles. The event raised more than $3,000 for the Sponsor a Piston Scholar campaign.
What’s Old Becomes New Again
John Margaritis, a longtime Piston ambassador and consultant at The Ledgemoor Group/Swiss Mobility/TED Cases, coordinated the evening’s festivities for the Piston Foundation.
“Pierre was very interesting,” said Margaritis. “He talked about how you can take an old classic and make it new again. We also had a collection of Mercedes-Benz classic cars and some newer models, and you could see how many of the elements of the old cars translate today in the new cars.”
“Pierre also brought two of his young mechanics and talked about their journey as apprentices. It was a nice theme between the mission of the Piston Foundation and the topic of the event.”
Pistons & Pizza Q&A
A question-and-answer session followed Hedary’s presentation. “The interest was high,” said Margaritis. “We got a lot of questions. It was supposed to be for 10 minutes, but it went for over half an hour.
“We had two types of audiences. The first one was folks like me, motor heads. We love cars and we talk about cars. The other audience was people who are casual about cars. They like to ride in a nice car, but they’re not crazy like me. I call them the easy riders. I took a poll and it was basically a 50-50 split between the motor heads and the easy riders.”
A Fun Learning Experience for ALl
It was clear that the Piston Foundation’s message came across to the audience. “We scored big time because I got a lot of emails after the event saying, ‘Wow, this was amazing, this was interesting.’ ‘I didn’t know there was a foundation like this.’ ‘What a great mission,’” added Margaritis.
“Kudos to the whole team. It’s a great cause and it’s filling a gap that’s definitely there.”
The Piston Foundation is grateful to Jason Rosenzweig and Jake Warner from Hagerty Garage + Social Palm Beach for their support, and thanks Pierre Hedary and John Margaritis for their time and expertise to make this event a success.
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Make a gift that helps the next generation access the education and training they need to begin a career as a classic car technician. Gifts of any size are appreciated and will be used to fund our scholarship and apprenticeship programs.
Sponsor a Piston Scholar
Piston Foundation scholarships are awarded to aspiring technicians to help them begin an auto restoration career. Give to the car culture you love. 100% goes to fund scholarships.
Cars for Piston Scholars
Turn your collector car into education and hands-on training for aspiring collector car technicians. Your car can change lives. 100% goes to fund scholarships.
Give to What You Love
Make a gift that helps the next generation access the education and training they need to begin a career as a classic car technician. Gifts of any size are appreciated and will be used to fund our scholarship and apprenticeship programs.
Sponsor a Piston Scholar
Piston Foundation scholarships are awarded to aspiring technicians to help them begin an auto restoration career. Give to the car culture you love. 100% goes to fund scholarships.
Cars for Piston Scholars
Turn your collector car into education and hands-on training for aspiring collector car technicians. Your car can change lives. 100% goes to fund scholarships.
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