Still The Best Museum You’ve Never Heard Of!

The Nethercutt Collection – Sylmar

Last Visited: March 2023

Who knew that because so many women use a certain cosmetic product line that we would be allowed to visit one of the coolest museums most people don’t even know exists?  Located in Sylmar, California, The Nethercutt Collection houses what it calls “functional fine art.” If you like pristine vintage automobiles and unique antique mechanical music instruments that will blow your mind, this is the place.  I had visited here seven years ago and talked Tracy and friends Valerie, Alex and Jeff to return to see what’s new (or to be technically correct, see what’s old).

In 1923, 10-year-old J.B. Nethercutt moved to Santa Monica from South Bend, Indiana, to live with his aunt, Merle Nethercutt Norman, who also happened to be the founder of Merle Norman Cosmetics. Fast forward to 1933, when J.B. married Dorothy Sykes, and the couple (who were married for more than 70 years) started their love affair both with each other and classic cars.

Over the ensuing years, several of their vehicles have been exhibited at events such as the Concours d’Elegance (which Tracy actually attended in Pebble Beach in the 1980s with some other guy). We learned the cars must be in flawless, original condition just like they would have been on the showroom floor. Each car starts with a perfect score of 100 points and then points are deducted for flaws and errors. According to our docent, Nethercutt cars have never had any deductions.

The collecting became more serious in the 1950s. By then, the Nethercutts, who were rolling in dough (foundation?) thanks to the cosmetics business, purchased a 1936 Duesenberg Convertible Roadster for $5,000, together with a 1930 DuPont Town Car for $500 (which took $63,000 to restore). The DuPont Town Car was entered into the 1958 Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance where it won “Best in Show.” Nethercutt cars have since won more “Best in Shows” than any other collector in the world.

The collection grew exponentially from there.  In 1971, the Nethercutts opened their museum in Sylmar that now features more than 260 vintage cars and “a world-class collection of automated mechanical instruments” not to mention a locomotive and private car housed out back. Let the journey begin. We arrived at 9 a.m. to visit the museum. At 10 a.m. we would take a tour of “The Collection,” which includes even more incredible cars and a host of old-time, “self-contained orchestra pieces.” (The museum is free but the Collection tour is $10 and reservations are required.)

First the museum. Upon entering prepared to be wowed by 120 of those gorgeous automobiles, all in pristine condition.Many of these automobiles tell a tale from the past (well, actually the placards next to them tell the story). Here are just a few. We were over the moon for this 1911 Moon Model Thirty Toy Tonneau, the third oldest Moon automobile known to exist.

Silent movie comedian, the infamous Roscoe “Fatty” Arbuckle, was supposedly the first owner of this 1923 McFarlan Knickerbocker Cabriolet. It is said that the car trunk was easily accessible from the inside so “Fatty could have his favorite libation close at hand.”

This 1938 Cadillac Convertible Sedan’s original owner was Polish opera singer Madame Ganna Walska.

Mai Tai Tom Tip: We highly recommend a visit to Madame Walska’s truly amazing estate and botanic gardens, Lotusland, in Montecito, California (near Santa Barbara). Here is our report from when we visited Lotusland.

This 1930 Rolls-Royce Phantom II Town car was featured in the 1937 film, The King & The Chorus Girl. It was owned by famed actress Constance Bennett.

Although we didn’t see it on our recent visit, when I was here in 2016 I got a good look at a 1928 Minerva from Belgium, that was owned by General Billy Mitchell, “The Father of the United States Air Force.” Looks like his ground transportation was pretty slick, too.

I don’t believe Paul Anka was singing about this 1928 Diana Sedan Deluxe which had the same name as his 1957 hit record. This Diana was named after the Goddess of the Moon.

While the San Diego Padres never won much while he was their owner, C. Arnolt Smith at least had the solace of owning this 1936 Pierce-Arrow Imperial Salon Limousine. His chauffeur would drive him from his home in Pasadena down to the Del Mar Race Track and then onto Padres games in San Diego. Presumably, he had better luck at the track than he did at the stadium.

Talk about putting miles on a car. The 1930 Minerva Limousine de Ville racked up 300,000 miles between 1931 and 1939. The reason? Its owners, a French lecturer and his wife, purchased this car to drive from Cape Horn to Alaska. They gave up and sold the car in British Columbia. I guess they had just too much alone time with each other, because shortly after selling the car they got an accelerated divorce.

We even went Back To The Future, but we had no time for me to play Johnny B. Goode.

We checked out the 1913 Christie Front-Drive Steam Pumper Fire Engine that helped extinguish fires for the Somerset, Massachusetts Fire Department for more than four decades.

Heiress and daughter of Frank Woolworth, Jessie Woolworth Donahue, was obviously worth more than five or ten cents, as she purchased this 1932 Rolls-Royce Phantom II Croydan Victoria as a gift for her husband.

The hood ornaments on some of these cars …

… were just as interesting and beautiful as the automobiles.

A 1932 Chrysler Frill Town car was one of only 152 model CH Convertible Sedans, and the “only blue Chrysler Custom Imperial” sold in Los Angeles. Nethercutt purchased the vehicle and restored it more than three decades after he first saw it cruising the streets of LA.

Our docent told us that all the cars and orchestra machines are in working order, hence “functional fine art.” All restoration and service is conducted onsite by three automobile craftsmen who can create or repair anything except the glass, tires and the chrome or nickel plating. There are also two drivers as the cars must be driven at least once a year to be kept in pristine condition. He added that one of the Duesenbergs (maybe this one) was driven on the 210 freeway up to 110 mph and could have gone even faster. Check out the rear windshield that kept backseat passengers comfortable of this 1969 Pebble Beach Concours’ winner.

There were many more cars to see, but it was time to cross the street to tour “The Collection.” The two-hour Collection tour starts in the Lower Salon. Once again vintage automobiles were the star, but they were joined by some unique musical machines. These would only be the precursors to the mammoth musical “orchestrations” we would listen to upstairs. Some of them, like this 1825 Schleip Lyra-Flugal Piano, were playing while viewing the cars in the Lower Salon.

You could have picked up this 1931 Ford, Model A Deluxe Phaeton 180A for $80 plus accessories when new.

People on the tour were guessing who was older, me or the car.