He’s been a big fan of old cars since he was a little boy and bought his first – a Model A – at the ripe age of fifteen.

Even as a high school math and algebra teacher at South Kitsap High School, Francis “Sandy” Olson continued to tinker on antique cars, including two beloved Studebakers that periodically needed specialty parts.

In fact, it was while seeking out a couple of specialty gaskets for his babies that he came upon what was to develop into a profitable specialty business – procuring and manufacturing engine gaskets for cars, trucks, tractors and other engine-powered equipment.

While at a Seattle car parts auction in the early 1970’s, Olson bought some extra gaskets for a dime apiece; when he readily sold them for eight dollars each, this twenty-five year veteran math teacher knew the numbers added up to something special in the way of a business.

What was born from that experience was the founding of Port Orchard based Olson’s Gaskets.

“You know, gaskets are a lot like math and geometry,” Olson said with a smile. “It’s all about numbers and shapes and measurements, anyway.”

An early retirement from the South Kitsap School District in 1992 allowed Olson to pursue his gasket business full-time and now, seven years later, Olson has five employees shipping gaskets all over the world.

“Most of our business is domestic,” acknowledges Olson, “with the rest going to Canada, Europe, Australia, New Zealand and South Africa. With many of the (foreign) dollars competing poorly with the American dollar, we’re slowing down on some of our international business but that will change as their dollar does.”

Since his working the business full-time, says Olson, he’s experienced a minimum thirty percent sales growth each year and claims that Olson’s Gaskets is now the world’s largest supplier of engine gaskets for the “antique” market.

Since Olson’s Gaskets not only buys existing out-of-production stock but custom manufacturers parts to a customer’s specs, the company can, Olson says, provide parts to ninety-nine percent of the customer inquiries that come in to the company via mail, telephone and the company’s website.

Olson, 55, admits that the addition of the website to his business earlier this year came at the insistence of his children. “They had to push me into the 21st century,” Olson admits, “but we see maybe two to six e-mails a day now from people who’ve located us through the Internet.”

Actually, Olson says, they’ve had more than four thousand hits on the site since its debut in January of this year, a number that came as an initial surprise to Olson but which he acknowledges will probably be the wave of the future in terms of queries.

“What you have to remember is that many of our customers are older individuals restoring vehicles as a hobby or business people with a tractor or forklift that’s older and needs new parts. When we first started selling gaskets, almost all of our orders came by regular mail. These people were conditioned to think of the telephone as being an expensive way to communicate or order parts! Gradually, they moved to ordering by phone and now we’re moving towards e-mail and the Internet. It’s the next cycle in what technology has brought to us.”

Olson, who declined to discuss company sales figures, credits part of his company’s success with the quality of employees he’s been able to find in the Port Orchard area. The real gift, he says, is being able to find retirees who have solid working skills.

“These folks are terrific…ex-shipyard workers, ex-teachers who have a solid work ethic. With so many of our orders going to Pennsylvania (due to older farm equipment located there) I suppose it would make some sense to be located there instead of here in the Northwest, but I couldn’t see living or working anywhere else.”

Olson’s perfectly happy staying a specialist in gaskets, too. “If you think about it, every year new cars are introduced which means that somewhere out there other cars (and parts) are being discontinued. When I started this business, we never heard from anyone about a vehicle newer than maybe a 1950…now we’re hearing from people owning cars and equipment from the 1960’s and 1970’s who can’t locate parts.”

“As long as there are engines, I’ve got a business.”.