The Nethercutt Collection – Sylmar, CA

We have so many options of things to visit here in Los Angeles. One of those is The Nethercutt Collection in the eastern most part of the San Fernando Valley in between the 5 and 210 freeways. I’m not sure I’ve ever been in this part of the valley. So that was fun to see new neighborhoods, new to me that is. What a curious place Los Angeles is indeed. I’m thoroughly enjoying learning more about the place where I grew up.

We visited the collection on a Friday and it was not very busy. We had the place to ourselves for the first 15 minutes then others began to show up. As soon as you walk in you are greeted by a 1956 gray Porsche and a 1955 Austin Healey as well as some other, older cars. Another that caught my eye was a 1923 Hispano-Suiza. Such a pretty car!

The founders, J.B. Nethercutt and his wife Dorothy shared a love of automobiles. J.B.’s 1930 DuPont Town Car won the coveted “Best of Show” award at the prestigious Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance. Quite the award after having purchased the car for $500 and spending $65,000 on its restoration. His cars went on to win six more times at this same competition.

The couple decided to open a museum to share his collection with the public. It had been free since its opening in 1971 but now there is an entry fee of $5. Well worth it to see these wonderfully restored, old cars. There is another building that is called the Nethercutt Collection which costs $20 and you must reserve in advance. There are other restored cars in that building as well as a music room. We are rather intrigued by the music room and we’d like to go back and do the guided tour. The museum that we visited is self-guided.

This first gallery contains most of the cars that I photographed. We started at the farthest wall and made our way back to the entrance. In this group are photos of a 1936 Pierce-Arrow Travelodge Trailer hitched to a 1937 Pierce-Arrow car, including a sink and refrigerator. I had never seen such an old trailer, so interesting! And you’re allowed to go inside which was fun. Also in this group is a beautiful fire engine from 1913. Check out those wheels! There is more information on the placard for it and I’ve included up-close version of some of the other placards.

There were other interesting items besides cars in this museum. Check out the coin collection. I took separate photos of a couple of them. There was a huge display case of miniature cars and another with various hood ornaments. There were some antique pieces that I don’t remember much about. At the end there is a photo of Captain Chesley Sullenberger(and I assume his wife) riding in one of Nethercutt’s cars as the Grand Marshall of the Tournament of Roses parade in 2010.