The Scenic Route

STORY Mark McWaters PHOTOS Matt Tullo

Sal and Carol Seda have spent their lives cruising, racing, taking vehicles apart and putting them back together. It’s a practice that requires patience, persistence, and a whole lot of love.

Salvatore “Sal” and Carol Seda have been building their life together for almost 36 years—July marks their 36th anniversary. Their first years as a couple started off up north in New York. For the past 11, they’ve been living their dreams right here in Lake Cove Pointe. It should come as no real surprise, especially for those who’ve known Sal Seda for any length of time, that putting things together is what Sal has always been good at....

The Sedas display Carol’s impressive collection of matchbooks. Each one carries a special memory, including the one she is holding, from theplace where they were married 36 years ago.

According to Sal, “For as long as I can remember, I was always mechanically inclined. One of my favorite things to do as a kid was to take things apart. Sometimes I’d even put them back together. Sometimes not.

“I was a kid the first time I ever went to an airport. My dad took me to LaGuardia and I got to see an airplane up close. Wow! I wanted to fly one, take one apart, and see how it worked. Whatever the future held for me, I knew I wanted it to have airplanes in it.”

But it would be a few years before Sal got his wish. He had a lot of tinkering to do before airplanes would become his reality. “Cars, we were all about cars. It was the time for it back then. We’d hot rod them, race our cars before classes got started in high school. Motorcycles were also a lot of fun.”

For Carol, an affinity for Florida also took root at a young age. “From early on, even as a girl,” Carol says, “I’ve always had an attachment to Florida. When I was young, I took a trip with my grandmother. We drove down all the way from New York. It was all back roads then, no I-95. We drove down the west coast then up the east coast.

“In my twenties, I actually moved down to Orlando. Lived here, working various jobs, for eight years. But, I wanted to be closer to my family, so I moved back home. I dated other people, nothing too serious. Then I met Sal.”

A Bag of Ice

That first meeting happened by chance. “I was hanging out in The Hamptons,” Sal remembers, “having a great time. And I got invited to a party I didn’t really want to go to. I went anyway, and stopped off at a 7-11 to pick up a bag of ice. Then a Cadillac drives up and parks.”

“It wasn’t my Cadillac,” Carol laughs.

“These two girls get out of the car and come in. I’m not done shopping before they leave the store and drive off. I go to the party, introducing myself around, talking to people I don’t know ... and then I see her. It was her, one of the girls from the Cadillac.”

“Was I interested in him?” Carol chuckles. “No, not really. He was a little too, I don’t know, how do I say it—?”

“She thought I was crazy.”

“That’s it. Well, I mean, he rode motorcycles!”

“I also skydived. Did a lot of skiing.”

“But, he did drive an old 70s Bronco. And I kind of liked old cars. So, he called me a few times.”

“I called her, yeah. But she kept saying no. But I’m pretty persistent. I figured I’d try one more time.”

“So, I finally said, ‘Okay, okay.’ ... And that was that.”

Taking Off

After high school, Sal finally had the chance to pursue his dreams for working with airplanes. He went to a recruiting office to enlist in the Marines. “The recruiter was an hour and a half late,” he recalls. “After I waited long enough to get mad, I jumped up to leave and ran right into the Air Force recruiter just coming in. He convinced me to join the Air Force, and I did. That’s where I learned to work on airplanes. The Air Force gave me all the aircraft experience I could ask for.

He worked on transit maintenance. “Anything that dropped out of the sky, we fixed,” he says. Sal was posted to Pensacola for a while. Then, in 1972, I flew on a B-52 G to Guam so we could bomb the North Vietnamese. I went to Vietnam and worked on F-14s, then C123Ks with the 19th Tactical Airlift Squadron. My first day there, the sergeant showed me a messed up bushing. He said—‘I want you to file that flush.’ I did, but it took me hours. I found out later the thing was titanium.

“The lesson is, you need to have persistence and patience when you’re putting things together. For me, my lifelong passion has been to work on airplanes, cars, motorcycles, whatever. I like fitting all the pieces and parts, making them work, cleaning them up like new. I like most all of it, except the newer cars not so much, all that plastic and computer garbage.”

Both Sal’s and Carol’s families have a long history of service in the military. “Could be one of the things that drew me to him,” Carol says. Both of Carol’s grandfathers were with the US Army in France during World War I, and one went on to join the Coast Guard Reserves after the war. One of her aunts joined the WACs in World War II. Her father joined the Army Air Corps before the Air Force was formed and manned a ball turret machine gun in a B-17.

Getting to the Pointe

Young Sal stands in front of his father’s 1948 Ford Super Deluxe with a favorite wooden toy duck.

73 years later, Sal stands in front of the same car which he has restored. He kept the toy duck too!

Carol and Sal finally landed in their Lake Cove Pointe home after a lot of looking. “My gosh,” says Carol, “we must have looked at 50 homes before I discovered this home on the internet. Each weekend we would look and look and look and up popped this house! I called my Realtor right away. We came down from New York and I told her I actually found five houses I liked listed. But I wanted to see this one first.

“That was in 2010. We bought it then and moved down here a year later,” says Carol. At that time, the downtown was just being restored. “I liked that we had a post office ... the library was down the road. Was it a change? I mean, we lived in New York! It was loud. It was noisy. So, this was great.”

Sal smiles and remembers, “We liked the whole area right away. I used to take my hot rod out on that road out there. Crank it right up!”

“This is a really friendly place,” Carol says. “It’s a great neighborhood; it’s cozy. We like the car shows, the downtown activities, the community center with the seniors. We like Urban Flats, and I love Rosallie’s Coffee. Cappuccino is my favorite. Sal doesn’t like coffee—he drinks hot chocolate.”

“Life is pretty darn good. We’re pretty lucky,” says Sal. We’re happy. We have a great neighborhood. Everybody gets along. We love it.”

Sal sums it up this way: “I’m not going to move from here. I love my house. And I love my neighbors.”

The wall in Sal’s garage is filled with pictures of machinery he admires— some which he’s had the pleasure of working on himself.

Fast Facts

Married for: 36 years Kids: Adult son Rick, two grandchildren, Ryan and Samantha Favorite Activities: Traveling, antique car shows, museums,Disney Most used phrase: “There’s no place like home.” No. 1 rule in ourhouse: Take your phone and water when you leave One thing that willnever change: Our love for the USA Best advice we received: The onlyconstant in life is change.