Behind The Gold: Eric Mark

At Secret Society, we want to make sure that anyone who comes to our meets feels like family. It’s our goal to help you meet our members so that when you meet them in person, you can break the ice with a few talking points. Today, we talk to Eric Mark, or Rick. Here’s a bit more about him:

Location: I live in Santa Clarita currently -

Occupation: I’ve worked in IT as an outsourced CIO/CTO for 35 years. I currently work for a Managed Services Company - TPX Communications. I work from home and have for 4 years now.

If you could only drive in one car for the rest of your life, what would you pick?: This is a very tough decision. It would have to be a Ferrari 812 Superfast.

Do you have a name for your current car? What’s the story behind that name?: I've always named my cars either Angelina or simply Bitch. Angelina for Angelina Jolie…beautiful, charismatic, unique, and you almost always have to do a double take when you see her, and always have to look back when you walk away from her. Bitch…for obvious reasons, lol. I have not actually named this car yet because it’s undergoing a lot of transformation since I bought it a year ago, October 14th. It should be done in about a month for what matters as far as taking in a persona, if you will. I’m hoping to have a name in mind and solidified before the LA Auto Show, as the car will be there on display and I’d like to have a banner on the windshield, or other sticker somewhere with the name.

What's your favorite car movie?: Tied with Gone in 60 Seconds and Ford vs. Ferrari. I watch each of them at least once a month.

What/who brought you into the car culture?: My dad started it all for me when I was 8. Washing and waxing our cars, then other family cars, and then family friends’ cars and started a detailing business. From there I got into building race cars, consulting on builds, and designing new power technologies or at least improving existing ones in the automotive market. I stopped wrenching a good 15 years ago, as a hobby, but have been a build consultant for 4 decades for Japanese cars (Nissan/Infiniti Primarily), and American Muscle (Mustangs primarily). My start was with 260/280 and 300Z’s, my ‘66 Mustang, then Lexus, Infiniti, Mustang again, and now back to Infiniti.

What's your favorite part about car gatherings?: Family, commonality of the social environment and cars, good stories to hear and tell that we all have…basically just having good times without caring about a specific brand etc. It’s about people and a common love of cars.

What 3 words would you use to describe Secret Society?: Cars, culture, and family.

If you ever see Rick at one of our meets, feel free to say hi!