After having completed our move to Californiaclassix' new, permanent home in beautiful downtown San Buenaventura, we felt it was time to celebrate and party with friends, family, loyal customers, and neighbors.
Link to the photo presentation!

2008 Hwy1 Treffen X!
(4-12-2008)

Every first Sunday in November, we head out to Woodley Park in Van Nuys to attend the "Best of France and Italy" happening. Read More

Sometimes, you have to say Goodbye to an old friend. That was the case with Bill's personal Goggomobil Coupe, called the "Goggomaus," due to its mouse gray original paint. Most likely the finest unrestored original in the country, Bill owned the 246cc, 13.6 horsepower 2-stroke sports car for many years and used to drive it around his Santa Barbara neighborhood quite often. However, as time marched on and other toys were added (namely his '29 Model A Roadster), the diminutive Goggo was sitting more and more. Bill finally decided to move it to our Ventura showroom and give it up for adoption into a loving home.

Since the Goggo is not just any microcar, but a true survivor with black California license plates, moving it away from the Golden State was not an option.

We did not formally offer it for sale, either, instead taking our time to find a new parent who met all of the criteria to qualify as the Coupe's new caretaker: Mr. J. Thomas from San Jose.
JT pledged to give the "Goggomaus" the frequent excercise it desires and love it like he would love a favorite child. Farewell, old friend!

Bill's new family car is a 1950 Buick Super Riviera 2-door Hardtop Coupe that looks like it has previously been used as a boat anchor.

But, as so often, first impressions can be deceiving, and what you're looking at is not really what it appears to be, prima facie. We'll cover this fine automobile--which gets more thumbs up as most exotic foreign sports cars--at a later date in greater detail.

Bill is attacking the World Land Speed Record again! His just-restored, lime-green '67 Karmann Ghia, the World's Fastest Volkswagen, will be looking for a new home, and the 1927 Ford "Model T" Modified Roadster Bill set the V4F/BFRMR class Land Speed Record in at this year's Bonneville Speed Week is currently being rejuvenated and fitted with a potent 302 cubic inch Chevy V8, topped by prototype 32-valve aluminum heads by Russ Arao.
Stay tuned for images from the first test runs on the El Mirage dry lakebed.

Most of our customers choose to have their new Classic transported via car carrier to its new home, but once in a while we encounter folks who take the opportunity to drive it home, often over long distances.

In the case of Dan MacIntosh, it was a father-and-son adventure, driving all the way from sunny Southern California to Pennsylvania, 2,600 miles, sometimes encountering inclement weather, in a 1962 Triumph TR4 Roadster. They made it home allright--surely a trip to remember!

Many people wonder where we get all those fantastic cars. Let me tell 'ya, you haven't seen anything, yet.

At any given time, we have a number of fascinating and quite esoteric cars in our shop, many of which never make it into our Showroom. Why? Because they are sold to VIP customers the moment they arrive. That doesn't mean that we don't have to work on them, however. On the contrary, we orchestrate quite a bit of restoration work here, performed by true Old World craftsmen that are as hard to find these days as the cars themselves.

Let me give you a few examples of what we're working on right now:

We could tell you what kind of car the one above is, but then we'd have to kill ya.
We don't want that, of course, so please don't ask.

All we are in liberty to reveal is that it has been built in the early 1950s in Venice, Calif., by some pretty amazing craftsmen and that the car's engine, an ARDUN Hemi, is being expertly rebuilt right now.

Then there's this 1930 Packard rumble seat convertible we found in a barn.

We've been cleaning the fuel system and got it runnin' and started scraping off the decades old repaint after which we unearthed the original two-tone paint. Wow!
We'll redo the chrome as needed and paint the car in its original colors; when finished we'll be offering it for sale.

The copper-gold car is a brand new arival. It's a 1965 Intermeccanica Omega, the predecessor of the Italia, and one of only 33 cars built. Its steel body was built in Turin, Italy, then shipped to Holman Moody and fitted with a K-code 289 Mustang engine and a 4-speed toploader tranny.

Last car we'll show you today is the 1955 Victress that got a podium finish in the Pikes Peak race of 1957: the Max Day Insurance Special, a.k.a. "The Purple People Eater."

We're in the process of sensibly refurbishing it, before it will be shipped to its new owner, a prominent collector in Connecticut.

One of the highlights of early summer is the annual West Coast Kustoms Show in scenic Paso Robles, California.
We Californians are truly blessed with fine weather and fantastic Rods & Kustoms. Three days of cruising, bowling, and rockabilly madness. It's sensory overload!
Our favorite this year: the period-perfect, black '29 "A" Roadster, member of the "Lordsmen" club.

Click on any of the above images for a full-size view

With the best course conditions in 20 years, the 2006 SCTA Dry Lakes season was off to a very good start.
As always, there was plenty to see for lovers of vintage iron during the 2-day meet in the Mojave Desert. Twenty-four new speed records were set, 3 racers managed to become members of the exclusive "Dirty Two Club."
It was a happy surprise when we discovered that our friend Rick Mac Lean's '67 VW Karmann Ghia--one of the most historical cars in all of Land Speed Racing--is prominently featured on the 2006 El Mirage poster and T-shirt!
It got even better when Rick offered Bill a turn behind the steering wheel. Having last driven Studebaker Joe's nitromethane-burning '53 Loewy Coupe a few years back, Bill was not rusty at all and brought home a 133.531mph timing slip. Not too shabby for a 39-year-old car powered by a naturally-aspirated, 1900cc Typ 1 mill. In fact, the Team Mac Lean Karmann ran just 7mph below the record!
Next race on the lake: Sunday, June 11, 2006.
El Mirage Dry Lake is located just 1-½ hours North of L.A., between Palmdale and Adelanto.
Be there or be square!

Click on any of the above images for a full-size view

Moldy Marvin's 5th Annual Rat Fink Party, held on June 12, 2004 in Canoga Park, was a smash hit. Our Barris-built Campbell V-8-Juice Roadster took center stage.

Another trend we enjoy is the bare bones rod. A refreshing departure from the aseptic and all too colorful show rod, some of the rods shown looked refreshing stealth, or better yet, like they were just pulled it out of a barn after 50 years of storage, with painted-on rust and ancient tidbits.

You might have caught a glimpse of it: The biggest, most outrageous Roadster imaginable, owned and driven by none other than Jay Leno.

Supersize me!

This monster has become Jay's favorite 4-wheeled toy. (You know that his favorite 2-wheeled toy is a Y2K motorcycle, powered by a jet helicopter turbine, don't you?)

Jay Leno . . . he's truly one of us!

In my Freshman college year I finally was able to rent my own place, away from home. It was a small, ground floor room in a decaying building in St. Pauli, the red light district near the Hamburg port, and the monthly rent of 200 Deutschmark (about $50.00) included breakfast, five days a week. Sure enough, it was a little dark, damp, and drafty, with peeling paint, and no hot water, but it suited me just fine.

By springtime, though, small green weeds started to appear from the ridges between the warped wooden floorboards.

Asian SUV

I knew I had to pick up the 911 for $3,000.00 to be able to make a little profit. We haggled back and forth, until she finally settled on threeseventyfive."
Another 15 minutes of spirited bargaining, then I had an idea. "How much do you want," I asked, "Three thousand seven hundred and fifty or three thousand and seventy-five Dollars?"
"Three thousand and seventy-five Dollars," was the reply. Instantly, I gave her the extra seventy-five. "How did you come up with this exact amount?" I asked. Her answer simply stunned me:
"Jesus told me."

No comment

I complained to the landlady, Fraulein Suurbier, about this. "Vat do you vant for twohunnert Mark, red roses?!" was her curt reply.

Sometimes, though, you get a little more for your money . . .

About ten years ago, I answered an ad for a one-owner 1970 Porsche 911S. The car was located in Watts, and probably cost as much as a decent single family dwelling in that area, back in '70.
The owner's widow was asking $6,000.00 for it, an enormous sum at the time.