J.B. Nethercutt

Nethercutt was born in South Bend, Indiana, United States, to Carl and Florence Nethercutt with two other siblings. At the age of 9, his mother died and he moved to Santa Monica, California in 1923 to live with his aunt, Merle Norman and Uncle, Andy Norman.[1]

He attended Santa Monica High School and later enrolled to study chemistry at the California Institute of Technology. During his time in college, his aunt had created a small local cosmetics business in her home, making formulas in her kitchen. He dropped out of college to help her with the business.[8]

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.[14] 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.[15] The Nethercutt Collection was built next to a Merle Norman manufacturing plant.[14]

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 styled 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.[15]

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.[16]

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.[17]

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.[18]

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.[19] 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."[20] Nethercutt passed his company and the collection down to his son Jack with his wife, Helen.[20]

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."[3]

J.B. and his son, Jack

Nethercutt married his high school sweetheart Dorothy Sykes in 1933. Dorothy was a collector of David Winter sculpted ceramics, including cottages, miniature pianos, and dolls which are featured in the Nethercutt Collection.[22] Their marriage lasted over 70 years and they had two children, Jack and Robert, later having two grandchildren. Through Jack and his wife Helen he had three step great-grandchildren, the Richards.[1][23]

His San Sylmar tower estate was one of the largest houses in the United States at 60,000 square feet.[24]

Nethercutt was an avid fisher and frequently visited Lake of the Woods near Kenora, Canada. He later purchased a private island on the lake. Nethercutt once diverted his plane to Kenora for a fry feast at Ye Old Chip Truck.[25] In 1985 he donated $1 million to the town for a new emergency department. Later the center and the road connecting it were named in honor after him.[26]

Nethercutt was friends with fellow Los Angeles-based car enthusiasts and collectors Jay Leno, Barry Meguiar, and Bruce Meyer.[1]

He won the 2001 Meguiar's Award for his 50 years of dedication to the restoration of historic automobiles.[29] He was inducted into the American Theatre Organ Society hall of fame in 2005.[7]

The J.B. & Dorothy Nethercutt Most Elegant Closed Car Award at the Pebble Beach Concours d'Elegance is named in their honor.[30] The Nethercutt Emergency Center at the UCLA Medical Center, Santa Monica is named after him.[31][32]

Nethercutt died on December 6, 2004, in Santa Monica.[20]