When Joe Bortz was 8 years old, his father bought him a bicycle. This was no ordinary bicycle; it was a newspaper-delivery model—one with a smaller front wheel, which was necessary to accommodate a large frame-mounted basket just below the handlebars. Whether or not the bike was the elder Bortz’s idea of a subtle hint remains a mystery. Bortz never picked up a paper route, but the bike still saw plenty of use.
As a boy, Bortz was fascinated by automobiles, and he spent his afternoons riding his bike to the di…