> So, the building with lots of autos and
> RR exhibit that I did see has some very unusual stuff and is
> well worth doing if ever in the LA area.
And the other building is even better ! 2 floors full of interesting and
beautiful old cars (the building that Jim toured is basically the overflow),
including numerous Pebble Beach Concours winners. When JB Nethercutt died,
he left a share of the profits from Merle Norman cosmetics to maintain and
increase his collection; one of the things they do is restore rare cars to
absolute showroom condition. Few years ago we even got to tour the
restoration facility, and one of the things they showed us was the roll of
genuine silk corduroy (no, I'm not kidding, corduroy made from silk) that
they had commissioned the original maker to make for them, so they could
restore some car's interior with it. (Sorry, bad memory, don't recall the
car. Wasn't a Triumph <G>) These cars are all kept gassed up, batteries
charged, ready to drive. You can see a few of them at
http://nethercuttcollection.org/ncnews.html
In addition to the cars, JB collected radiator caps. Hundreds of radiator
caps, the kind that were artwork on the outside of expensive cars. The
Rolls Royce "Flying Lady" (aka "Spirit of Ecstasy") looks right at home.
There are several other collections, but by far the most impressive to me
was the collection of self-playing musical instruments. I didn't even know
the difference between a player piano and a reproducing piano until I toured
this museum. Would you believe a self-playing violin ? Sounded pretty good
! The centerpiece of the "music box" collection is a reproducing pipe organ
linked to a reproducing grand piano. They invite world-class artists to
come play concerts for them on this equipment; and record every key stroke,
every nuance, so they can be played back at a later date. The original
performances are open to the public but reservations are required well in
advance. And they played a couple of performances back for us; most
impressive !
Reservations are definitely recommended, but we were lucky enough to be able
to get them for later in the same day we called. Just depends on how busy
they happen to be that day.
Randall
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