Akin to splurging on a first-class airline ticket or tasting an exceptional glass of wine, it’s never easy “going back” to what you can realistically afford. The same can be said of car shows; enjoy an afternoon on the lawns at Pebble Beach, and you’ve just raised the bar, for better and for worse, to appreciating the automobile. Hence it was with some surprise that I was impressed after attending a local car gathering held of all places, at a car storage facility. But to be fair, this is the opulent world of Southern California car culture, so leave those visions of an old Sears building behind.

Meet Tony Principe

Behind most novel ventures is a person that found a way to create reality out of a fleeting thought. For both the car storage facility named Finish Line Auto Club and the Art of the Automobile show, this would be Tony Principe. As he explained, he and his father started buying and rehabbing distressed commercial properties in 1994. As real estate in Southern California tends to be at a premium, they combined its demand and industry knowledge to build a successful business.