As a lad I remember going to a place called "CARS OF STARS PLANES OF FAME" in Buena Park, Ca. (early 1970's) I'm thinkin it was a ROTH/VON DUTCH deal? I think I have some old post card and lit from the place I will try to find and post later. Anyone else in SOCAL remember the place?? O/T HOW DO I MAKE MY ***LE BOLD
jim and dan brucker owned it....roth and howard worked there.....i remember seeing pictures of the place when i was a kid, in magazines....looked like a cool place..... brandon
neat. please tell more. how old were you? what did you do? any interesting stories? thanks. -scott noteboom
At the time Brucker Sr. was still alive,Jim Jr sorta ran the place. I started a "Sales Division" and we had some Auctions there. In those days Auctions were a new thing. Roth was around from time to time and Dutch would appear on occasion. I gotta a lot of storys but some i cant tell here.......LOL I was a young guy then and full of piss and vinegar.
I don't remember what city we were in, lots of cows around, but it was not too far from SoCal Speed Shop which we hit later on that morning. Is this the place your referring to?
Your ***le will be bold for you the next time you long on if there are new replies that you haven't viewed. All the posts that I haven't viewed are bold to me and the ones that I have viewed are not bold.
Hey Denise, As far as I know, there is no connection between "The Planes of Fame" and the "Cars of Stars" .Planes of Fame, located in Chino California, is a museum run/ owned by a guy named Moloney, Jim? Nothing to do with Bruckers Cars of Stars or the Movieland Wax Museum in No Bueno Park California, home to some of the Roth/ Barris Movie cars in the 60s-80s. S****ey Devils C.C.
Actually Planes of Fame was at the Buena Park location at one time, the it moved. Cars of Stars at that time was called "Cars of Stars and Planes of Fame"
Hey cruzr, Was Moloney a partner of the Bruckers? Did he ever have any connection with the automotive collection prior to the Santa Paula move?
I honestly dont know, i came aboard to start the Sales Division, at that time the planes were still there. Jim seemed like a nice guy. The museum was floundering in more ways than one, and i suspect he moved out in anticipation of its eventual closing. Bruckers had many "side " deals going, they had "Picture Car Co." which provided cars to movies and such. They did the "Walton Series" for several years i know. you mention Santa Paula, i had the opportunity to go up to the warehouse more than once, the first time i saw all the cars stored there, i was in awe.
I lived in the area when I was a kid. I remember it as cars of stars and planes of fame. Long time ago, but seems like the beatnik bandit was there.
one of the "perks" i had while working there was being able to take most any car out and drive it. I drove many home for the night as i lived close by. We used to fire up the Tank in the parking lot and cruise it around. Also the car from "My Mother-in Law The Car " tv series was fun to drive, you layed down and drove it with mirrors to see. I have some fond memories of those days.
In May of 2006, I attended the Brucker Auction at the Peterson Museum. I went on preview day (friday) to check it all out. I know it was only a sampling of what the Bruckers owned, but it was stunning. Roth and Von Dutch items along with many others, even a toilet and a drinking fountain. On Saturday, I sat in the back of the auction tent with a pocket full of $3000 cash and I'm proud to say I brought it all home with me. It was amazing to see what this stuff was going for. I wrote in my copy of the auction catalog the prices that each item sold for. I wanted to buy one of Von Dutch's hand tools, but I wasn't going to pay $1200 for a screwdriver. The Bruckers were there along with Von Dutchs divorced widow. Amazing collection, for sure. I wanted to see it before it was ****tered all over the country into private hands. I heard some crazy stories over those two days about Roth and Von Dutch's days at Cars of the Stars. Too bad that the Brucker collection is now all parted out and most will never be seen by the public again.
I went through that collection around 1975, real neat stuff. The Niecamp roadster was in there after Jim Jacobs had restored it. One or two cars past it was a great twoman MILLER that finished 3rd in 1931 with Ralph Hepburn driving. Were is that car today?
story # 101 Roth...........LOL Via the Bruckers we were invited to a fund raising event for then State Atty General , Mr.Younger. The invitations read "Formal or Early Californian". That night i picked up Mr. Younger and his wife in the "Bugsy Moran" dual cowl phaeton. Upon arrival we were greeted by Spanish violin players in full costume. It was truly the "Wine and Cheese " crowd. Ed shows up in bib overalls, a red scarf around his neck and a train conductors hat. That was his idea of "Early Californian Dress". Needless to say he was the hit of the party a****st some very influential folks that evening.
Cruzer, you might remember this one: One of the guys at the Brucker Auction was telling me that one afternoon a very drunk Von Dutch unloaded a revolver into a Fred MacMurray movie poster at the museum. When asked why he did that, he said always hated Fred MacMurray.
I cant verify that but i know from first hand experience that Dutch liked guns and wasnt afraid to unload one. He used to have a small cannon he liked to fire every now and then, and he didnt give a dam where or when.
I have some really neat old photos of Robert Stack on the set of the "Untouchables" i got from the museum. If i can find em i will post em. I had a really neat 37 Ford Panel that Bruckers bought. I used it for a driver, Ed Roth lettered the sides for us in some kinda rubberized paint so when we wanted to it was easily removable. I watched him do it in very short order, the guy was amazing !
I went there in the early to mid 70's. I was with my parents. The one car I remember was Roth's Road Agent. One of my favorite Roth cars. We also went to the wax museum. I remember one of the wax figures was a pretty hot female, maybe Cher. She had a mini skirt on, and a mirror under her. I stayed there a long time.
all you guys saying you went there as kids makes me feel ancient{course i am } LOL every day i worked there was an adventure of sorts. being able to drive the cars and see history like that all in one place was great. they also had {behind the scenes} one of the largest collections of lever action Marlin rifles. a lot of WW2 German memorbilia and countless props from the Movies. I know Stan Betz has some from there he bought.
I Bbought a prop from the bruckers out of the museum, it was painted by roth, it is from the movie the great race. the poster was on the car that had the drill in front that the mad scientist drove.
Bruckers gave me a book from their private collection. I gave it to my dad for his birthday one year. Its signed by Captain Eddie Rickenbacker ,WW1 Ace. Its called the Flying Circus i think. Dad was stoked to have it.
I got out the catolog from the Brucker Auction of May 13, '06...here is some of the items from the Brucker collection with the sale prices: Von Dutch's body hammer- $4000 Dutch's power drill-$1900 Von Dutch's pliers-$1100 Von Dutch's vise grip- $1500 Von Dutch's ball peen hammer- $1100 Von Dutch's screwdriver- $2600 Dutch's pinstriped lathe- $18,500 Von Dutch's louver press, pinstriped by Dutch- $10,000 Von Dutch's Swiss Army knife- $1800 sign from Bonnie Clyde Death Car- $2500 Steve Mcqueen's mailbox from his hanger in Santa Paula -$1800 Von Dutch pinstriping brush box $270,000 "No Parking, Includes Big Shots and Rich Kids" sign- 4200 and hundreds of other items from the Bruckers many done by Roth and Von Dutch. What a collection...now ****tered all over...ugh! CRUZR: I'll have to get off my dead *** and bring this catalog to the Anti-Donut meetup some saturday...you'll recognize many of the items in the photos...over 200 pages of this stuff....
if i had only known what that stuff would eventually be worth i coulda made a fortune. Stan Betz still has a lot of Dutch's stuff tucked away, they were close friends.
Cruzr, killer stuff. Stan Betz just unloaded a bunch of Von Dutch's stuff at an auction last weekend. Got a chance to meet him. Didn't have the same aggressive advertising as the Brucker auction, so stuff was a little more affordable. I got a car door (skin only) that Dutch painted in lacquer. "Betz speed and color".
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