Event Coverage Speed Nymph Garage Visit PICS!!!!

I was lucky to be invited to view the 'Speed Nymph Garage' collection today along with the Goodguys tour of Nor Cal...Big thanks to Kirk! for the hook up....

The collection has been put together over many years & is housed in a warehouse full of cars, bikes, signs, gauges, art & a ton of other cl***ic motoring memorabilia!



Cobra had a 427 Cammer in it


Stuff hanging on the walls....




Awesome little Renault was running a BLOWER




Click HERE for the rest.....

And thanks again to Kirk! & specially Dennis

 

Way cool!

 

Cool! Thanks for the photos. I am sitting here looking at the 4 s***ches I got today. Wasn't quite as enjoyable as that looks like it would have been.

 

Did I see a pic of lil' John's Indy Racer in there?

 

Yep! ... Dennis has owned it for quite some time ... he (& Andy "The Rodfather" Brizio) crewed on the car through the qualification phases and on race day.

Most HAMBers are already familiar with his Rolling Bones Tudor and the stories ***ociated with it ... but there's an equally cool story about every single car in his collection ... e.g.:

* his red '29 roadster was featured in several R&C covers / articles in the 70's before it was
completely rebuilt to its 1992 AMBR winning form.

* the Yellowstone bus (BBC under the hood) has been driven across country (including trips
to Hershey PA & back).

* the "909" Bonneville belly tank was originally the famous Markley Bros 360 tank.

* he (& partner **** DeLuna) have raced the "Stinkin' Lincoln" 1955 Capri in several La
Carrera Panamericana Rallys ... several years ago, Gray Baskerville wrote an article on
Varni (with a focus on the Lincoln race car) ... just click HERE.

* he drove his little blue Alfa Giulietta Spider (w/ a chopped windshield) in the '07 California Mille.

I could go on & on ... but you get the idea.

I think what I admire the most about Dennis is that none of his cars are trailer queens ... he drives the heck out of each & everyone of them!

Yer Old Dad said it best ... "Dennis is of that rarest of breeds: a hot rodder's hot rodder"

 

Excellent..!

 

im jealous

 

Just fascinating. Wonderful. Such a wide variety of vehicles, styles and purposes all co-existing in one outstanding collection. Kinda makes ya wonder why we bicker so much about what is right or wrong, what is in style or not, why IFS can't co-exist with I-beams and hairpins, doesn't it? Just amazing to see. Sure wish I could have a peek at those cars some day. Gary

 

Never realized Dennis had several Fiat Topolinos. The Woody wagon is really rare in the USA, and not very easy to find in Europe.
One cool dude with great collection of drivers.

 

way cool love the caddy

 

Great pics Dave! Dennis sure has good taste.

 

Awesome info....thank you.

 

Very cool Thank You

 

cool pics man , thanks..

 

Nice!!! Thanks for taking all of the pics! That looks like one place I could spend a day or two in.


Larry

 

thanks for post ing these i didnt know those Fiat Topolinos came with fenders and with out zoomies

 

FYI ... PhatCaddy also posted some nice pics from yesterday's visit to the Speed Nymph Garage HERE ... and there's some pics from a 2006 visit to Varni's place HERE (images #5 through #49).

 

I spent 5 mins looking for the blown hemi too

 

For those not from Northern Calif,The Speed NYMPH Garage is owned by Dennis Varni from Los Gatos.

 

Cool collection. I always wondered what happened to John's indycar and low and behold, someone has hung it from their ceiling like a pinata.

 

Really cool pics dude, thanks for sharing!

 

I posted earlier in this thread that "Dennis has owned it for quite some time ... he (& Andy "The Rodfather" Brizio) crewed on the car through the qualification phases and on race day." ... but as I thought more about it ... I vaguely remember that Dennis was one of the partners in the car ... he could very well have been since the car is listed in the 1982 Indianapolis 500 Starting Grid as:

Car #: 75
Driver: Dennis Firestone (Australia)
Car Name / Entrant: B.C.V. Racing
Make: Dan Gurney Eagle
Engine: Milodon Chevrolet
Qualifying Position: #21 (row 7)
Qualifying Speed: 197.210 mph



The "B" in B.C.V. Racing stands for Buttera ... the "C" stands for (Ronnie) Capps ... and I'm guessing that maybe the "V" stands for (Dennis) Varni? ... I know for a fact that Dennis was instrumental in getting a bunch of SoCal & Bay Area hot rodders to contribute $$$ to Lil' John's '82 qualification effort ... so my theory may be correct ... someone on this board probably knows...

 

Buterra
Capps
Varni

was what the decal by the front wheel read.....

 

... or not:


image by Gene Ingram

 

And its taken you almost 2 years! Jeez... hahahahaha

 

Dave (A32Flathead) ... there's already enough mis-information on the Internet ... so when I stumbled upon that pic last night, I just had to correct myself ... and you!


On a side note ... Congrats to you & Brian (PhatCaddy) on the use of your photos on the
SPEED NYMPH GARAGE website .

 

Nice of them to ask me huh?

Cool...bookmarked!

 

Dennis is a hell of a nice guy, with a killer collection. Always a good time when he's around!

 

Great Photos, as all of your pics! Sent you a PM, Please get back to me soon!
Thanks!

 

Wait until you see what is at Dennis' house.

DW