Cars
In 1956, Nethercutt purchased two cars, a 1936 Duesenberg Convertible Roadster for $5,000 and a 1930 DuPont Town Car for $500, which both needed restoration. He estimated the restoration of the DuPont would take a few weeks, but ended up taking over 18 months and over $65,000. In 1958, his prolonged project to rebuild his DuPont was not in vain and he won Best of Show at the Pebble Beach Concours d'Elegance.[9] In 1971, Nethercutt purchased a large land lot in the Los Angeles neighborhood of Sylmar. Construction began on a personal 60,000 square-foot 10 story tall building with six floors to house his vehicles and other antique collections, featuring his private penthouse on the top floor.[10] The Nethercutt Collection was built next to a Merle Norman manufacturing plant.[9]
The first two stories of the tower, the Lower and Grand Salon, feature his vehicle collection of 30 cars on display. The third story features an awards room from concours competitions and collection of hood ornaments. The fourth story consists of a music room with several large antique music boxes and player pianos, with a Wurlitzer theatre organ in the centerpiece of the room. The fourth floor also featured a Louis XV style dining room with a private chef for his family and friends. The fifth floor has a theatre and a large collection of pianos. The top floor featured his private penthouse. The collection's first four floors are open to the public free of charge with reserved guided tours.[10]
In the late 1970s, Nethercutt purchased the Twenty Grand, the only 1933 Rollston Arlington Torpedo-bodied Duesenberg SJ and gave it a full original restoration, changing the exterior color from black to a metallic silver and refining the interior. Once the restoration was completed, Nethercutt entered it into Pebble Beach in 1980 and won Best of Show. Because of the car's reputation and beauty, it was exhibited in Essen, Germany as one of The Ten Most Beautiful Cars in the World.[11]
In 1984 he bought back a 1936 Duesenberg Convertible Coupe for $800,000 that he sold to Las Vegas-based businessman William F. Harrah in 1961 for $5,000.[12]
Over the period of 1959 to 2000 he gave the Bugatti Type 51 Dubos several restorations from its reverted Grand Prix No. 51133 chassis design to its former famous Dubos Coupe design with a dark purple paint.[13]
In the early 2000s, the Nethercutt Collection expanded with a 40,000 square foot addition to the tower and a 60,000 square foot new display building directly across the street called the Nethercutt Museum, which is self-guided. Outside of the museum are his CPR steam locomotive Royal Hudson No. 2839 with a 1912 Pullman private car. By 2004, Nethercutt Collection and Museum included nearly 250 automobiles and led Autoweek to call the Nethercutt Collection one of America's five greatest automobile museums.[14] Jay Leno described Nethercutt's collection as a "Smithsonian-style effort on the history of transportation in America" and "the hall of fame for cars." Nethercutt passed his company and the collection down to his son Jack with his wife, Helen.
Every year, Nethercutt would take dozens of cars from the collection with family, friends, and invited guests on a cruise through the hills to a picnic at Frazier Park with catered foods from the professional chefs at the collection. The event was described as one of the most exclusive items on any car lover's wish list. As Autoweek magazine put it, "You can be as rich as Bill Gates or have a collection as big as that of the Sultan of Brunei, but you don't get a personal invitation from J.B. Nethercutt himself."[15]
He has been called as the greatest car restorer of all time.[2][15][16][17]
Concours d'Elegance
Nethercutt competed in dozens of Concours d'Elegance shows in North America with his cars from the collection and was one of the most successful competitors in history. He holds the most Best of Show victories at the pinnacle Pebble Beach Concours d'Elegance at six: 1958 with a duPont Model G Merrimac Town Car, 1959 with a Bugatti Type 57C Gangloff Atalante Coupe, 1969 with a Duesenberg J Murphy Dual Cowl Phaeton, 1970 with a Daimler Double-Six 50 Royal Limousine, 1980 with the Twenty Grand Duesenberg, and 1992 with a Rolls-Royce Phantom II Brewster Town Car.[18]
Nethercutt is widely regarded to be the greatest car restorer of all time.[16]
