Ken Juran The 2001 Meguiar's Award Popular Mechanics, March 1, 2001, 1956, 1930s, 1909, 1907, 1904,
J.B. Nethercutt, founder of California's The Nethercutt Collection car museums in San Sylmar, is the Meguiar's Collector Car Hobby's Person of the Year.
"J.B. Nethercutt, 85-year-old dean of the car-collector hobby, has been named the 2001 Meguiar's Collector Car Hobby's Person of the Year. The award was presented at a gala ceremony at the Beverly Hills Hotel on May 10, 2001. The Meguiar's Award honors individuals whose actions have had significant impact on the collector car hobby. This year's recipient was selected by a committee comprised of 22 prominent automotive journalists. Joe Oldham, Editor-In-Chief of Popular Mechanics, serves on this committee.
"Years later when I became successful in a business I had started, and we were affluent enough to afford one of those gleaming monsters we remembered so well, we found that most of them were in dreadful condition," said Nethercutt. That was the beginning of a lifelong passion for Nethercutt and his wife to preserve the cars from their youth. In 1956, the Nethercutts decided that the only way they could get one of the cars they had so admired in the 1930s was to buy the best example they could find and have it restored. Out of this ambition has grown one of the finest automotive restoration shops in the world.
"Today, The Nethercutt Collection--also considered among the finest in the world--consists of more than 200 cars housed in two separate museums. To date, more than a million people have visited the original building. The second was opened just last year across the street from the famed Tower of Beauty in San Sylmar. "The collection is comprised of cars from the world over," explains Nethercutt. "Now it's true that the very finest cars in the world, such as Lincolns, Cadillacs, Packards, Pierce-Arrows and Duesenbergs, are absolutely necessary in any worthwhile collection, but so too are the great European marques such as Isotta-Fraschini, Hispano-Suiza, Mercedes-Benz and Rolls-Royce. They are equally important to the American cars."
"The collection also contains some of the most unusual motorcars ever built, a few of which are the sole surviving examples of their marques: a 1907 Westinghouse, a 1909 Gobron Brille and a 1904 Cameron. Thus, the Nethercutts are considered automotive preservationists as much as car collectors.
"To ensure the future of the collection and the museums-which are open to the public free of charge-Nethercutt has established a perpetual endowment for the museums. "Collecting and restoring old cars is more than a hobby, it goes far beyond that," he says. "It is a commitment to preserving the past for future generations."
"And that's why J.B. Nethercutt is the Meguiar's Collector Car Hobby's Person of the Year.
"Tours of The Nethercutt Collection are personally conducted and require two hours. Visitors should call or fax well in advance to make a reservation. The tours and the admission are free of charge, but The Nethercutt Collection and Museum requests that all visitors dress accordingly (no jeans or shorts). Children under 12 years of age are not permitted. Tours are held on Tuesday through Thursday at 10 am and 1:30 pm. Call 818-367-2251 or fax 818-367-8013 Tuesday through Saturday, 9 am to 11:30 am and 1 pm to 3 pm, for reservations. For more information, visit www.classics.com/nthct.html."