Message from the founder
Cars and motors have always been a major part of my life. I grew up in rural Delmarva riding to baseball practice in the beds of my dad’s F150s, the same truck beds that hauled countless deer home from the woods, attached to the same hitches that pulled our crab boat to countless 4:30 AM boat launches on the Chesapeake, en route to catching our limit of blue crabs. My afternoons were spent drifting my go-cart around the figure-8 sand track I dug into my parents’ back property, rewelding its roll cage over and over, and doing wheelies with Honda XR's on my best friend's farm.
My grandfather, "Poppy", who bought me that go-cart, would cycle through Cadillacs, and tell stories of his gamblin’ days involving corvettes and hot rods while absolutely destroying me at game after game of 8 ball. Scotten Motors is named after Poppy, John Scotten; the Man, Myth and Legend. Love you Pop.
As a fan of Mark Martin and his #6 Roush Ford, getting a free entrance to Dover Downs on race weekends with my dad and brothers was a tradition. We’d stand along the wall, headphoneless in true 90's fashion, and feel the pressure wave as the stock cars exploded past lap after lap. My dad was a Dale Jarrett fan and my brothers followed Jeff Gordon, but they turned out alright.
Through college and my twenties, I filled my spare time buying, fixing and selling dozens of classic BMWs, Japanese sports cars and classic Fords. These were the days when I really learned to wrench; top end tear downs, greasy bloodied knuckles and lifting motors with tree branch pulleys were where I cut my teeth. Weekend autocrosses and track days at VIR became my obsession. I rode a 100cc Honda Win from Saigon to Hanoi, Vietnam over the course of a month with a brother of mine (thanks for the inspiration, Top Gear).
I obtained a PhD in chemistry from Vanderbilt and performed postdoctoral, NASA-funded research at UVA that prepared me as a scientist, engineer, thinker and tinkerer. And, after building a career in academia as a tenured professor of nanochemistry on top of my automotive obsession, I decided leave my professorship and go all in to start a business. Scotten Motors lets me do my part to preserve vehicles from the golden age of American automotive and convince the public that, “Yes, these are still the vehicles you want to drive.”
Scott niezgoda, owner & founder
Philly grown.
Philadelphia shapes who we are. It’s a city built on workmanship and resilience — a place where things are used, repaired, and used again. Our trucks are born from that same spirit of authenticity and American grit. Beyond the city streets, we draw inspiration from the landscapes that define our region: the quiet pines of South Jersey, the salt of the Delmarva, the winding roads around the Chesapeake watershed, and the rolling mountain stretches to the north. These are places where a good truck isn’t a luxury — it’s a tool, a companion, a part of the story. And as Scotten Motors grows, we look forward to seeing these trucks carry what we love about them far beyond our home — showing up on roads, trails, farms, and city blocks all across the country.
