Bruce Meyer on Collecting, Cobras, and Lowriders - REMASTERED

[Music]

the Bring a Trailer podcast.

Well, Bruce, I'm excited to be here with

you today on the BAT podcast. For

everybody listening, I want to tell

everybody about a super special episode

we have today, which is talking with

Bruce Meyer from Los Angeles,

California. kind of needs no

introduction in the car world being a

collector and an enthusiast and a big

backer of the Peterson Museum and just

kind of the guy who has done all the car

things we all want to do. That's kind of

how I describe you, Bruce. And somehow

along the way, you also tripped across

Bring a Trailer, which uh was meaningful

for me. And then we got to meet after

that. So, just wanted to say thanks for

chatting with me. Thanks for having me

here to your garage today.

>> It's a pleasure. long overdue. And I've

been following Bring a Trader probably

since its inception. Just I tripped

across it. And as I recall, you just

found cool cars in places that people

didn't look. And um it intrigued me. So

I always looked at them and enjoyed them

and and uh I've always en enjoyed the

fact that you're a true enthusiast. You

didn't monetize this. I I I'm just

speaking out of tour, but I don't think

you ever did that with the idea of

taking it to where it is today. Maybe

you did, but for me, it was just an

enthusiast sharing what we all love, and

that's the hunt and finding unusual

things. And uh so I want to say thanks.

>> No, for sure. My my pleasure. We're all

happy with where BAT is today. And one

of the neatest things about BAT for me

is kind of discovering who's lurking

around on BAT, you know, and who's

there. and some people, you know, and

some people are more anonymous and sort

of behind the scenes. You've been sort

of behind the scenes, but I've always

been very gracious to me whenever I

showed up and said, "Hey, Bruce,

remember me? It's Randy from Brri a

trailer." You know, I was this kind of

young uh nobody trying to kind of pull

on people's uh shirt sleeve a little bit

at a car show or whatever. And you were

super gracious and said, "Oh, Brri a

trailer. I know that deal." You know,

like what are what are you doing, Randy?

Good to see you. So anyway, that's been

super encouraging for some other folks

coming up in the car business like I

have done and and sort of following your

footsteps. But yeah, people may hear a

little bit of a uh echo today in our

audio just cuz we're in a big beautiful

room full of a few cars of yours in uh

in Southern California today, which is

very inspiring. I'm looking out on a

number of sort of dream cars and you've

obviously curated a collection of fun

cars over the years. If you talk about

the hunt, maybe why you like BAT was

because of the hunt of cars. You were

doing that long before I was ever doing

that on the internet, right? You were

doing that who knows where. But could

you tell us a little bit maybe about

your start in cars and where that

inspiration came from?

>> Well, it did not come from the family.

Um, we didn't have the money to waste

time on cars and and my parents had zero

interest in cars. And you know if I even

mentioned car they thought you know get

a job. I mean just do something

worthwhile. So I I I say the love of car

is in your DNA. You know I have three

children three amazing children. We do

my wife and I 54 years of marriage. And

it took real strong on one our middle

son. The other two you know have an

interest because they like to see me

doing what what I enjoy doing. But I

just think it's it's it's in the DNA.

You're either a car guy or not. You

know, gals and guys and whatever pleases

you. But I think it it is in the DNA.

And and friends of mine bring their kids

by. Friends of mine that have no

interest in cars bring their kids by and

they've just loved cars from birth. And

that was me.

>> And didn't you tell me a story once

about how it started to be sort of a

side hustle and making money for you?

Oh, weren't you selling and buying

motorcycles or something or how did that

start when you were in college?

>> Did we talk about that?

>> We have talked. You've shared some

secrets with me. Maybe I shouldn't bust

your bubble here on the secrets, but

>> No, no, you're still in Berkeley and

doing some with motorcycles.

>> I was Yeah. Yeah. Um, when you went

through orientation,

they had different like stations and one

of the stations was student loans and my

dad had given me tuition money upfront

and and I, you know, hashed and found

lodging. I I was that was kind of on me,

but there was a a tuition loan line for

whatever. And I went there and they

said, "No, we'll we'll lend you money

for tuition, no interest free, as long

as you pay it back at the end of the

year." and I thought I'll take one of

those. So, that's kind of how how it

happened. And I had some extra money and

um I started buying motorcycles. Now, I

I let me go take a step back cuz my love

of motorcycles goes back to when I was

like 13 years old. And um my parents

just forbid I mean that was never even I

never even mentioned motorcycle. I

wasn't that stupid. But um I had the

best paper corner in LA. I mean, I was

making probably two or three dollars a

day back, you know, in the early 50s

when friends of mine were getting 50

cents a week for allowance and we all

got by. So, I was making like real money

really early and um I had a a little

kind of soapbox derby racer. My parents

gave me a lawnmower engine because I

just wanted something to learn about

engines. So, they did go with that. Then

I put it on a bicycle and then I got a

Whizzer going and then I bought a 1953

BSA and I I could hide these things in

friends garages. So I was riding

motorcycles, you know, from age 13 on.

So when I got to college, that was my

preferred mode of transportation. And at

Berkeley, you go to downtown Oakland and

you could buy motorcycles really cheap.

And so I I knew what the fraternity guys

liked, you know, I knew the spec and I

knew the color. They like yellow. And so

I was buying bikes and painting them in

my apartment house on Durant. And I

would probably sell a motorcycle a

month. And by the way, I was maybe

making $100 on a motorcycle cuz it was

was kind of sport. Uh I was bartending

at a place called the Wrath Skeller,

which was a the bar in Berkeley and

hashing and selling motorcycles, living

the dream.

And my fraternity brother was a fellow

named Bill Harland. And now he's a

really famous wine maker. But back in

the Berkeley days, we both raced

motorcycles. And when I say we both

raced motorcycles on the weekends, we'd

go to Pittsburgh and and Richmond and

you know that we'd go different places

and race motorcycles. Bill really raced

motorcycles. I was just a back marker

because he was a great motorcycle rider.

So, you know, I just I love the whole

motorcycle life and that's what I lived

my pretty much my whole time at

Berkeley. And it's carried over when I

came home. I still raced in the desert.

And you know, back then it was called TT

Scrambles. It was pretty casual affair

kind of like sports car racing was in

the period. Not professional, not

state-of-the-art, not sponsored, but

just fun. So, that was my motorcycle

time.

>> That's fantastic. And I associate you so

much with Southern California and I know

you went to school up in the Bay Area,

but did you come from out of state to go

to Berkeley then stuck around or were

you a SoCal guy from from birth?

>> From birth.

>> Yep.

>> I grew up in Hollywood. I mean on

Saturday nights you could find me on

Hollywood Boulevard or Sunset Boulevard

or Tiny Nailers or any drive-in just

drooling on the cool cars. Uh cuz I that

was never I never would guess I'd have a

cool car. And um so I grew up in I and

went to LA High School right in the

middle of LA. Today it's badass, you

know, but and in the days it might have

been, but I didn't know any better. And

and I was right in the middle. It was a

great school. And then Berkeley, you

know, for my finishing and I mean I live

that expression, never let school get in

the way of your education

because I was, you know, I was I knew I

knew how to game it, you know. I knew I

knew what courses to take. I knew how,

you know, how to study. My dad gave me a

tip when I went to college. He says,

"Never miss a class." And I think, you

know, I had friends and fratern brothers

that just, you know, they read all the

stuff. They did the homework, but they

they would occasionally come to class. I

went to class, took copious notes. When

the finals and the exams came, I knew

they weren't going to go quiz us on

anything that we hadn't talked about in

school. So, you know, I probably didn't

read half my textbooks. Just kind of got

my notes down pretty good. So, I had a

great time at college. A great time.

That's fantastic. And then, so I mean, I

just think you kind of spent time down

here in Southern California book preol

and post college of just incredible

eras. I'm looking out on these cars.

Some of these cars now in your

collection are from that era. I presume

that was a formative time for you to

return to LA and start your career and

start dabbling in cars. I presume you

kind of graduated up from motorbikes and

started doing a couple of other

different things. Can you tell us kind

of about the environment and the sort of

car scene you came back to? Right.

Things were moving fast. There were

there were new models every year. Things

were things were interesting. But you

came back to Los Angeles and what did

you discover,

>> Randy? I was born to the day, the exact

perfect time in history. I grew up with

hot rods, dreamt about hot rods. And

then my dad, who was my best friend, we

were as different as night and day. Uh

he was best man of my wedding. We were

super close. He said, "If you save your

money, I will help you buy your first

car." So, I saved my money and this was

back in like 1960

and I wanted to buy a Chevy Biscane,

which was the cheap model with a big

engine, a four-speed. And for it really

it worked for me in the fact that my dad

did not understand cars, did not

understand what a 348 or a 409 or

anything was. And so, I I picked a cheap

cheap cheap body style with a

four-speed. and he I I knew he would

relate to the cheap body style. And so I

was just ready to buy that car. It was

$2,700.

Excuse me, it's $2,400.

And then I I started seeing these

Porsches running around. And I

researched it and I went to the Porsche

dealership in Hollywood where I lived.

John von Newman was the dealer. And I

found I could buy a Porsche, get it

delivered in Europe for $2,400. $2,700.

27 24 was a Chevy. So, I convinced my

dad that I was going to get a compact

car, that this was a a way better move,

and that I was going to go to Europe. I

was going to get some culture

>> and uh and move on. So, my dad went for

it.

>> You were a little bit of a salesman.

>> I was a hell of a sales.

>> Yes. So, my dad went for it. So, in

1961, I picked up a Porsche in Germany

and that was the start of my Porsche

world. I'm been pretty much a Porsche

guy since 1961. So, what is that 63

years or something like that?

>> You remember anything crazy from the

European delivery story? I don't know if

you see this on BAT, but we list 356s

and such, and so many of them were

delivered in Germany or picked up by a

serviceman in Germany or different stuff

like that. But you got to do one of

those.

>> Absolutely. And back then, you could

save $300 or $400 by picking it up at

the factory. That's how it kind of came.

It wasn't like I'd rather have instant

car right off the showroom floor, but

but if you picked it up at the factory,

you it was a substantial savings. And

back then there was no US spec or German

spec. There probably was, but I mean I

just picked up a Porsche. It was 1961.

And uh you know that was my car.

>> Wow.

>> And uh drove it a little bit in Europe

and brought it home. I've always then I

then in in the 60s in in 1960 Porsches

were really good until like ' 67 and in

' 68 they came out with schmog rules and

so forth and they had to put a smog pump

on it and weight down the front. You

know Ralph Nater kind of got involved in

the whole caper and so I wanted to get a

911s but they weren't not available in

the US. So I I discovered you I could

buy from a dealer in Germany. So I

started bringing in 911 S's in 60 and in

67 68 69 70 and so I would I buy

probably two or three a year. I'd be

driving the coolest car of anybody. I

could sell it. My intent was to sell it

for what I had in it. It cost me

nothing. I would end up making, you

know, a few hundred and just having a

cool car. A small world story. There are

Porsche savants, guys that know every

serial number, every license plate, and

there's a fellow named Jeff Smith. He's

from Washington, I think. And he came

through my garage and he saw a picture

of me with one of my cars that's on the

shelf over there. I'll show it to you.

And he said, "I know that car." And I

said, "How do you know that car? You

don't know that car." And he said, "No,

I recognized the license plate." And it

was a picture of me in 1970 with a big

mustache,

a tie that looked like a bib, you know?

I mean, it was I thought it was plenty

cool. And my wife had taken a picture of

me with this Signal Yellow 1979 111S.

So, oh, probably a month that goes by

and he called me back and said, you

know, the guy that owns that car doesn't

want to sell it. Which was fine by me. I

didn't want to buy it. I was just more

just curious like who had it, you know?

And I said, "Who was it?" He said,

"Well, I can't I I have to ask him if

it's okay." So he calls the guy that

owns the car and said, "Look at the

fellow that bought the car brand new was

just curious, you know, who owned the

car. Would it be okay with you if I gave

him your name?" He said, "Oh, yeah. Who

is it?" Bruce Meer goes, "Oh, come on."

This was a fell named Alex Spinnegan. I

don't know if you knew Alex Spin.

>> Yeah, sure. I know the name. Alex

Finnegan was the car guy behind Paul

Russell back in Boston. Alex was like my

brother and we were so close. So close.

And he was so he's so excited that I

bought the car brand new. I was so

excited that he had the car and we kind

of left it at that. We always talked

about it was signal yellow 911s sports

seats. I checked every extra. And sadly,

Alex died uh couple two or three years

ago, right? So his family called and

said, "Look at, you know, we're going to

sell the car, you know, do you have any

interest in buying it?" So I mentioned

it to my son, Evan, and Evan said, "I'd

love that car." So Evan bought it. So

Evan has one of my original owner, you

know, 911 S's, Sigma yellow, which is a

great color. It's a wonderful warm

yellow color. So I I was just buying

cars in Europe and and most of them I I

would buy from a dealer over there and

he would buy them in light ivory. So I

had a lot of light ivory cars. He also

like full leather which was a an option,

you know. So that you know I had some

really interesting cars, some good cars.

>> Well, we sell a lot of those on BAT now,

but I don't know how I'm ever going to

match the colors and the license plates

to the ones that you were the original

owner on. But if we ever see one, I'll

definitely flag that and send it send it

back your way. That's a that's a

tremendous sort of forche pipeline here

into Southern California.

>> I'm going to show you the picture

>> and it's right over here on my shell.

>> Ooh, you get a load of the suit and the

mustache you mentioned. It's pretty

great.

>> So that one of the last black plates Z

and it still has the plate on it.

>> That's unbelievable.

>> That's maybe the latest black plate I've

ever seen. ZZ. Yeah. On it. It's got the

2.2 sticker in the back and Yeah. It's

that yellow color and it's an S. You

like the S cars, right? You got the good

ones.

>> Always.

>> Yeah. That's your That's your MMO.

Always the good ones.

>> So, anyways, uh it's just a great story.

I love that.

>> That's fantastic. It's fun. I was

actually going to ask you when you

started saying that the the 356 you

bought in Europe delivery and then all

this u sort of pipeline of 911s. Well,

that's fantastic hearing about the the

Porsche story. So, that got you sort of

into the 70s. But I look out now and

your taste I think is eclectic and

interesting and kind of similar to a lot

of people on BET. Like a little bit of

this, a little bit of that. I know a

couple motorcycles here in your display,

a lot of sports cars, but some big cars,

some big sedans. What would you say are

sort of some of the influences that have

made you obviously you had the Porsche

story, but you've spread out pretty

broadly from there in terms of checking

a lot of boxes. Is it based on different

experiences they can provide? Or is it

the design that kind of gets you excited

about the colors and the and the

histories and the and the designers? Or

is it what is it that makes for this

eclectic mix?

>> Sure. It looks like, you know, the only

common thread of any of these cars is

me. And I've always been my my business

is in the retail business, so you know,

I've it's got to be good-looking or it

doesn't sell. So for me the aesthetic is

really really important. It could be the

most famous hot rod or the most famous

Bentley or the most famous anything and

if it doesn't appeal to my aesthetic I

just don't have any interest. And on

Bring a Trailer you had an awesome

famous car called uh the go-kart. It was

a it was a road racer Model T built by

Duffy Livingston who was one of the

really the father of go-kart. And I just

worked so hard to bring myself around to

buying that cuz it it checked every

historical box. And I'm he's probably a

bad word now, but I'm a patriot. I love

the flag. I have a flag on every car in

front of my house at home and

everywhere. I just I'm very proud of my

heritage and and this car was very

important to American road racing

because it raced against Maseratis and

Ferraris and all the so-called fancy,

you know, foreign cars and won. So that

car I think Ross Myers might had that

back in in Pittsburgh or Philadelphia,

but whoever has this got a very cool car

and that was on Bring a Trailer. And I

love Bring a Trailer. I mean, it's

ridiculous. I mean, I get my fix every

morning. I look at it. I've told my

family I'm not buying another car. So,

you know, I used to but before bring a

trailer was Hemings Motor News and I

would get Heming First Class and before

that it was the LA Times and I would get

the Sunday paper on Saturday and I would

go through there just searching for

stuff and I used to get the Hemy's motor

news and I would just like when that

came just don't I mean don't bother

Bruce because I'm going through every

ad. And now I I stopped subscribing to

Hemings. By the way, Hemings is great,

but the last couple years I had Hemings,

it would arrive and I deliberately

wouldn't pick it up for a week cuz I

figured the good would be gone. And

uh that's just what I like cuz I do not

want another car. But um I guess

everything in here either has to be the

first or the fastest or, you know, the

prettiest or whatever. That kind of is

what drives me. And and it's the story.

You know, every every car out here has a

story. Even a boat, it's all in the

story. You know, somebody could walk by

that yellow bird and never even comment

on it. Just looks like another yellow

Porsche. But, you know, the story of

Aloise Roof and the Yellow Bird, one of

29. That's the first one. That's CTR1.

I ended up with a few firsts, but not

because I went out hunting for first. It

just happened.

that way. The Gertie Eagle, the Formula

1 car is the first one. The Cobra is the

first one and the CTR, the Yellowbird is

the first one. So, it's all about the

story. And I love Lama. Lama is the

World Cup, Super Bowl, Olympic Games of

Motorsport. It used to be the Millilia,

Taraf Floria, and Lama. Those were the

three races that mattered.

Sadly the Millia you know went away and

so did Target Florio both with tragic

accidents. Lamont also had a tragic

accident but has remained and and that

is the most important motorsport race in

the world. I mean Indie is pretty cool.

I like Indie a lot and it's in great

hands with Pinsky. The 24 hours Daytona

is probably the equivalent to the

American Lama, but there's just nothing

like Lama. So, we have a bunch of cars

that raced at Leavant, did well at less

a lot to me. When we first walked in the

room, you said these five or six were,

you know, players at Lama and and you

could tell you kind of your eyes lit up

that those that's super meaningful for

you, which is neat to see. I love the

pictures you have behind the cars of

them on track and period and that sort

of thing. I think picking one or two out

to chat about that are in the collection

would be super interesting to me. Some

are pretty well associated with you.

People may have seen pictures of you

with the with the yellow bird or with

the uh with the silver Ferrari that was

in the Peterson for a while, but the

first Cobra. You call it the first

Cobra, right?

>> That is the first Cobra. I love that

sentence. That That is the first Cobra.

I mean, that's kind of unbelievable for

me, but but yeah, and unbelievable in a

great way. Like, I'm in its presence

right now with you. if you could tell us

obviously I mean if it's the first one

off the line that's fantastic but how it

came to you maybe an interesting story

for folks or something about the way you

own that and are the custodian of that

car now. How does that all work?

>> I can tell it all.

>> I love it. Oh man, I love it. He's here

for it.

>> So in 1965 I bought a Cobra. I've always

had a Cobra.

>> Is that right? Yeah. I did not.

>> I say not always but since the 60s

>> since they came out. You always Yeah.

Yeah. I like them a Oh, that's about as

LA car.

>> LA American and Shelby, you know, and I

was a I would say good friend of Carol

Shelby's.

>> So, I would say my garage has switched

from boulevard cars to race cars over

the years. It's kind of trended that

way. I had some fabulous street Cobras,

but I just always wanted to find a a

Cobra race car that had significance.

And with Cobras and probably with a lot

of and Porsches, they had a rough life.

And in the world of Cobras, there's

probably a handful that I would even

consider because, you know, sometime

they put a new chassis on it or they put

a new body on it or, you know, it's just

been it's it's compromised to the point

where I wouldn't feel comfortable saying

that car is the one. Even though it it

may have the CSX number, it just it's

just been too it's too far gone and

brought back. It's like washing his axe.

>> Yep.

>> You know, the handle's been changed once

and the head only twice, you know, but

it but it's still washing his Zach. So,

anyways, with Cobras, if you have a

Cobra, the first thing they ask you is

what you what is your CSX numbers or

Charlie Sierra X-ray? CSX. So, if it

starts with a two or a three, it's a

real car in my eyes. And if it's a three

or four or seven or whatever, they're

still made by Shelby. They're and and

they're considered Cobras, but I just

have to have like the real real. And um

so the very first first first Cobra was

the prototype, and that was CSX 2000.

And that was a car that was built in

Dean Moonshop. All hot rotors. By the

way, my favorite car is the Scarab.

Scarab, you know, Cobra, uh, Decon,

Mana, all some of the great cars were

total hot rod efforts. They were hot

rodders building it, hot rodders

engineering it. The man behind the win

of, you know, at Lemon for Shelby was

Phil Remington. These these guys, Don

Spencer, these guys were hot rod savons.

And so Shelby, I was a great admire of

Shelby, not of his the way he did

business. So, I'll just leave it that

cuz this is for public consumption. But,

but you know, he had a way and he was a

great salesman. He worked on everybody

else's money. But he he built the first

Cobra and Dean Moon shop. It was painted

a lot of different colors, given to

different magazines cuz nobody wanted to

show the same blue car over and over and

over.

>> And then it was yellow for a period of

time, right? And it was a bunch of

different things.

>> A bunch of different things. And that

was CSX 2000. and that stayed in the

Shelby family for his whole life. So,

one of the fellows that worked with

Shelby is a fellow named Ed Hugus. And

Ed Hugus is a really famous name in

motorsport. I could spend all the rest

of the podcast talking about Ed Hugus,

but he really bankrolled and helped

Shelby out when Shelby needed help. And

he took delivery of CSX 2001, which is

the car we have here, which is the very

first car. There's a book on it called

The First Three Cobras. It's 2000, 2001,

and 2002. 2000's the prototype. 2000 is

the one that we have here. 2002 was

their first works race car that Billy

Crouch drove and Ken Miles and and it

was a really great car raced in America.

2001, the car that's here, the black

one, uh, was sold to a fell named Lucky

Casner,

and it was Lloyd Lucky Casner. He had a

race team called Camarati. They did a

lot of Maseratis. They actually did

Corvettes in 1960, but Bird Cage. They

drove a white bird cage with the blue on

it. Is that

>> Camarad? And he was a good friend of

Shelby's and Shelby drove with him. I

think out of friendship for Shelby, he

probably bought the car and took it to

Lemon in 1964

and he ran the trials and did rather

well. But in ' 64, Shelby came through

with his FIA cars, which were like the

next gen, you know, Webbers, notch back

door, big rear wings. You know, you

weren't going to do well in running this

car as it came out against the FIA car.

So Caser sold it to a fellow named Jean

Marie Vincent or Jean Marie Vinc

wealthy Frenchman who took the car to

Ford Racing and said convert this to an

FIA car because the FIA cars I don't

can't say this is a fact but my guess is

money wouldn't buy some of the works

cars back in the period. So if you

wanted to buy an FIA car and you were

some wealthy Frenchman that wasn't going

to get you through. So he he bought this

car, took it to Ford Racing and had it

converted to FIA specs. That car here is

full FIA specs. It has rack and pinion

steering which was converted in 63 and

64 64. It has, you know, GT40 wheels on

it, a big backend like a 427 like an FIA

car. I mean, it's just aesthetically

just checks every box for me. So how did

I come about? There's that expression, a

blind squirrel will find a nut. That's

me with that car. By the way, every car

in here I overpaid for because I just

was it's all kind of targeted purchases.

>> But that car just fell into my lap in

France 20ome years ago. I was at a an

event called Retromobile. And back then

I was in the buy mode. So I went to

setup day because setup day is you get

the preview look. So, I saw this cobra.

Now, I know I know my cobras pretty

well. And I saw this cobra and the way

it's, you know, the profile, the way

it's fit, it just didn't make sense to

me, but it was on a very credible stand.

This Lucas Honey, who's a very famous

>> the biggest stand at Retromobile, right?

>> Biggest stand at Retromobile. And and by

the way, it was then, too.

>> Y.

>> So, here is this Aston Martin green

Cobra. Goodlook thing with the big rear

wheels and everything. You know, I got

to ask about I mean, I wasn't interested

in buying it because I knew it. I just

figured it was just a madeup thing. So,

so Lucas and I bought a Bugatti from

Lucas and he says, "Come with me." And

and he's a big Swiss guy and he he says,

"Come with me." And I went with him and

he said, "Sit here." And he comes back

with like a milk crate full of

documents. And he said, "This is the

first Cobra ever built." And I'm going,

"Really? I don't think so." But he he

brought all the paperwork out. It's only

had like four owners. I mean, it has had

a clear title. And one of the things,

you know, when you're buying a race car,

provenance matters and continuous

history, continuous ownership, like if

it goes away for four years, people

don't know where it went. I'd be very

careful. So, he he had every owner. And

it turned out that that time that I

bought, every owner came, all the past

owners came to Retromobile that year. I

thought, damn. I So, I bought it.

So I

>> It was green at the time.

>> It was green.

>> It's now black with a big number one.

Yeah. For those listening,

>> I kept it in Europe. I did a rally in

Europe from Budapest to Prague. Then I

sent it over here to a founding Mike

McCcluskey who's kind of the the guru of

Cobra Restorations

and we stripped it down absolutely

positively. The original body, original

interior, original chassis. You can see

where they where they grafted the you

know uh rack and pinion on. I mean, it

was so pure and so perfect and so

authentic. It just it just warmed my

heart. So, anyways, I painted it black.

Put a number one on it. It actually ran

with number one, but I put number one

for the significance of the car. And

that was 20 years ago. And and we've had

on the Colorado Grand. We take it to a

lot of Cobra events. It's going to be

featured next month in the Shelby

American magazine. They just came and

took pictures. Evan Klein, a

photographer. We were up on Maho and

whipping around in that thing.

>> Did I answer your question?

>> You did. You keep answering other

questions that I haven't even asked.

It's so good. It makes me so happy.

Well, anyway, that's a fantastic short

history of that car. But

>> and and let me just answer another

question.

>> Oh, please.

>> What's my favorite car?

>> Larus.

>> That one.

>> That one's your favorite.

You know, there's something about that

car that just you feel good just sitting

in it and starting it. And it's quick

enough that, you know, you can hurt

yourself in it. And it's slow enough

that you're not going, you know,

three-digit speed in a city block. And

it's just it's just it checks every box

for me. And it's my generation. And it

is the first one. And there's only one

number one. And I could sell some of the

cars in here and maybe buy them back at

a later date or buy something

equivalent, but there's there's only one

number one Cobra and that just resonates

with me. I love it. Well, I hope we'll

post some photos of the black Cobra.

It's a very special car. Does it have a

360 or a 289?

>> So, it was born with a 260 and head Ed

Yugas put a 289 before it went to

Europe.

>> Okay. Fantastic. Anyway, beautiful car.

>> Thank you. Um, but what intrigued me

about that story is you said you've had

a Cobra continuously since ' 65. That

one it sounds like, didn't come till

around 2000. So, was there one that you

kept for a super long time and then you

got that one and unloaded it or were

there a succession of Did you have the

whole two9 then you had a 427 then you

Yeah. kind of rotated them through? What

would I when I graduated school, I went

back to Michigan, worked in Michigan,

decided I want to get an American car

when I come back, you know, I was I

drove my Porsche back to Michigan. And

so, um, it was it was a Corvette or a

Cobra, you know, and in ' 65, I bought a

Cobra, but I couldn't get it insured.

The insurance companies were just

reluctant to insure a 23y old or 20.

>> Real quick on that, where do you buy a

Cobra in 1965? Do you buy it from

Shelby? You bought a used one.

>> Oh, no. I mean, I'm I can continue to

answer questions. You

>> I love this. No, no, no. I I mean, it's

so what's so fascinating about you to

me, Bruce, is just that you were kind of

there, you know what I mean? And so, for

me, just the total fantasy world that I

I was born in 77. I was too late for all

this. So, to just to sit about thinking

about sitting across some desk from

somebody paying cash for a Cobra in 65

is like total mountaintop for me. So

just hearing your words about where did

you get the the car in

>> so I was so I'm old you know so show so

so let me just take a step back before

the

>> cobra okay

>> so I graduated Berkeley and took a

bartending job up at Lake Tahoe

>> great at what joint in Lake Tahoe you

remember it's called the absolutely was

called the forest in if if you're old

you remember the forest in it was fine

dining

>> this is Taho City or is this South Lake

>> Taho City

>> this is Taho City I love it

>> and um so I was a bartender and you know

did food service when I was at college.

So they hired me to work at this

restaurant. It was owned by a family by

the name of FA. They worked Tahoe in the

summer and Cathedral City in the desert

in the winter. So they would close it

and backfoot. So I went to work for them

right out of college. And up at Lake

Tahoe, there's a boat coming called

Sierra Tahoe Boat Company.

>> I love it. I love that place. Oh,

>> I love wooden boats as you can tell. So,

and when you're a bartender, you go to

work at 4 in the afternoon. So, you got

all day. And so, we would I would go to

Sarat Boat Company all the time. And in

the back, I haven't been there in a few

years, but in the back was a big indoor

storage area with ways and I was looking

at the hackers and, you know, garwoods

and crisses and oh, it just it was so

great. And I went to the back of the

boat place and here was stuffed in the

back was a Gwing.

Wow. And and a Gwing even to this day is

maybe one of the prettiest cars ever

designed anywhere. And and in I looked

inside the Gwing cuz that was a dream

machine for me. And it had a reverse

lockout like a Chevy engine. It like oh

my god. So I would charging back to Dick

Clark who ran the boat company. I said,

"Tell me about that going." Oh no, we

put a Chevy engine in over the winter.

Now to me that was perfect perfection.

So to make to make a long story short, I

bought the car $4,000, sold my Porsche,

took all my tips and every it was my net

worth in 196 uh 64

and I bought that going. I drove it

home. I with my everyday driver. It was

faster than a Cobra.

>> What was that? 283 or what? It had no

327.

>> 327.

>> I'm telling you, it was ridiculously

fast. And I have friends that like fast

cars and motorcycles. All of them begged

me to slow down. It was It I I took it

out to the drag at 113.

That's faster than a Cobra. Anyways,

blah blah blah. I took the car up for a

football game in Berkeley in ' 65. sold

it to Bill Harland.

>> Is that right?

>> He still has it.

>> He has it still

>> with Chevy in it.

>> Oh my goodness. What color is the car?

>> It was It was blue when I bought it and

now it's black.

>> Okay.

>> And Will has two children, Amanda. Bill

has two. Will and Amanda.

>> I think this is Will's favorite car.

>> Cuz it was interesting. Evan commented

to me, you know, Dad, if you could ever

get that going back and I I just had a

little chat with Bill. I said, you know,

do you love that going? Oh, yeah. It's

Will's favorite car. I'm telling you,

Randy, if you drove this car, it would

blow you away. Factory Rudge wheels, 327

Chevy, probably I'm guessing 350 400

horsepower, light. It's everything.

>> And you got it down here to LA. You

drove it around the mountains. You You

brought it down here?

>> I I drove it I bought it at the end of

summer because I had to work up the

money. I drove it down here, drove it

for the year, then took it up to

Berkeley for a football game, not with

any intention of selling it. Sold it to

Bill and then in ' 65 came back down

here, bought a Cobra, but couldn't get

it insured because whatever algorithm

they use, this is not the guy you want

driving a Cobra. So I sold it to my

roommate because he worked for a big

company and he could insure insure it as

a Mustang. Then my other roommate went

out in 1966 and bought brand new a Cobra

427 from Robert Loud Ford in Pasadena.

So now we had I I went back to I bought

a Chevy Corvette but they didn't like

that as well as the Porsche. Then bought

a Porsche in 60 in ' 66 and that's what

started the whole you know bringing cars

in.

So we we there were four of us. One guy

was totally not a car guy, but the three

car guys, we would just whatever car was

in front, we'd take. So I drove the

Cobra, big block, small block. They

drove my Porsche that was just like a

motorful. You just take whatever that

you felt like driving that day. So um I

had that and then I bought a a big block

and then I bought a big block and

converted it to an SC. Then I bought an

SC that that we could talk a lot about

air cars because you have to be careful

of where you are. And by the way, here's

another question you didn't ask. Your

copywriting and bring a trailer changed

the world of copywriting. I was reading

uh some description of a car in RM and

it sounded like right out of bring a

trailer, you know, powered by, you know,

with a cabin of I mean, it was like you

made it like fair to everybody, you

know, we're not going to say this was

owned or this did this that it's just

facts. I love it. I love the way you've

handled that. And and so I don't know

where I'm going with this, but um

>> Cobras through the through the years of

Cobras, but it sounds like did were you

buying and selling some of these in the

era where they

>> I didn't buy and sell Cobras like I was

buying and selling Porsches. I was

buying and selling Porsches, so I would

have a cool ride every day.

>> Okay, I got you. That

>> But in the in the 70s, nobody wanted

Cobras, right? I mean, didn't those

those people couldn't give them away?

>> Couldn't give them away.

>> Amazing.

>> That's right. And then in the middle se

70s I bought a Cobra. Then I bought the

big black Cobra. Anyways, I' I've had a

lot of Cobras and one of them was an air

car.

>> I don't know if I know what you're

talking about with error cards.

>> So this is something you could write a

book on. You need to scrutinize the guys

that write the registries because if

you're dishonest and you're writing the

registry which shows a registry meaning

every serial number, the history of the

car,

>> right? Blah blah blah blah. This is like

the Shelby Marin Club book that they put

out with the history of all the cars.

>> 100%. And it's written by Ned Scutter,

who's as honorable as the day is long.

>> Great.

>> But there were some people involved in

the very beginning that noticed that

some of the Cobras were like MIA. And

they found them in quotes.

>> Oh, air. So you're saying like out of

thin air?

>> Out with thin air. Is that what you're

talking about?

>> Yeah. Because you could build a Cobra.

You could buy a Brian Anglas chassis.

>> Sure. get a body from here and and put

it there and and all of a sudden you got

a Cobra.

>> Yep.

>> And by the way, it's probably as

authentic as a lot of Cobras out there

are now. But so I bought a car thinking

I bought the world's best SC

>> and it turned to be not so great.

>> So then I bought a great one. I just,

you know, there are some there's some

fake cars you got to be careful of out

there.

>> That's that's a fascinating one. I love

hearing about those cars. Switching

topics a little bit, just chatting about

some of the stuff you're involved in

today. I know you're passionate about a

lot of parts of the hobby. I see you up

at Pebble Beach and showing cars,

obviously these tours and events you do,

but the Peterson is near and dear to

your heart. The Peterson Museum. I

wanted to make sure we chat about that.

We did a BAT event at the Peterson.

We've done some charity as we sell cars

at the Peterson is liquidating to raise

funds and different things which is

really exciting. But you're sort of one

of the statesmen there of the checker

flag 200 which is their club and highly

involved group there. But tell us why

that's so important to you and what that

means to you.

>> Well, so I'm the founding chairman of

the Peterson and there's a group that I

really wanted you to join called YPO cuz

you would be in the Hall of Fame of YPO

which is Young President's Organization

but now Randy sadly you're aged out.

>> Am I young anymore? Yeah. I don't know

if I'm young anymore,

>> but I was a member of YPO. I joined it

in 1977.

And one of our members was Robert E.

Peterson, Bob Peterson, and Peterson was

like one of my heroes, an awesome guy.

He created Hot Rod magazine, published

it, and I knew him over the years

casually, really got to know him when

the Peterson came about, but he w he was

really not a car guy as such, but he was

kind of like Shelby knew how to put

together a team. He knew like he would

bring Randy Nunberg in to run his online

business. You know, he knew how to pip

he knew how to pick winners. And he was

a what I call an opportunistic buyer. He

could smell a deal. He bought real

estate here in town. He bought

somebody's collection of gold nuggets.

He he had probably the finest collection

of shotguns in the world. Ian Bodi and

in Reno, Nevada. You know, Peterson just

had such a variety of interest and he

was such a good buyer. So, he bought

that whole city block and he came to me

and he said, "Let's do a car museum."

Basically, I'm I'm dwarfing like what

could be a lawn like a whole podcast.

So, I mean, somebody mentions cars to

me, you know, I get all excited. So, I

said, "Absolutely. Great idea." And I

didn't even know what a car I didn't

have visualized what a car museum was,

but but we we hooked up with the Natural

History Museum in Los Angeles because

with that, we could give our museum a

capital M because they were a very

highly respected natural history museum.

And that's like dinosaur bones and wild

animals and stuff. And and so they were

our partner for the first number of

years. It was a partnership made in

hell. They disliked us. Our executive

director had a short fuse, so would tell

him to off, you know, whenever he felt

like it. It was horrible. And and

finally we put this museum together. All

all the displays were diaramas.

The problem with the diarama is you

don't just change it out every month.

You know, we kept it in there for 10

years. So you got you saw a car stuck in

the mud on Mahal and Drive when you went

there, you know, 1992. And when you back

in, you know, whenever 10 years later,

that car was still stuck in the mud, the

same car. So we found that and I was a

chairman for 10 years and and trying to

make it going, keeping everybody

together and all the balls in the air.

When we first got together with the

Natural History Museum, there were no

car guys involved at all. None. So, when

we were putting the museum together, it

was not like constructed as a museum. It

was constructed as a department store.

>> That's right. It's a converted

department store. Right.

>> And so, we gutted it and all it was was

a shell of a building.

>> Yeah. Then I started bringing in car

guys, Dan Gurnie, Parnelli Jones, you

know, Alex Exidius, Wally Parks, and

then some of my car homies, you know,

and the Natural History Museum couldn't

understand why anybody would be doing

such a thing. So, that should have been

the first clue. But I I started this

group called the Checkered Flag 200

because I wanted to get 200 people that

would give. with a museum, it's always a

challenge raising money. And um so I

wanted to put together a group of people

that would just donate for the love of

donating. And if we got 200 guys to give

$1,000

a year, we'd raise $200,000 for whatever

event or whatever the executive director

felt was worthy. And people were coming

to me, Bruce, don't call it the 200.

Call it the 100. You'll never get 200.

So anyways, I got 200. But I got my

banker and I got accountant and a guy

painted a building for me. And so

anyways, I got to 200 and that included

Phil Hill and Shelby and some of these

guys that Oh, I mean we got to give

a,000 next year too. Well, some of those

guys opted out, but we had people to

replace them. Now we have over 800

people. And now it's not $1,000 a year.

It's $1,800 a year. And it's 50,000

50,000 if you want to be a lifetime

member. We have 125 lifetime members. I

mean we are the museum is just so

smoking hot runs so well and that was

you know the the start of the checkered

flag. We do an event every month and I'm

still the head of it is what because

what I love I love putting events

together and calling friends and say

we're going to come by. I mean I'm Jay

Leno. We've gone to his garage. We've

gone to places that the average

enthusiast couldn't go. They couldn't

call Rob Walton or General Motors or Jim

Farley at Ford and say, "We want to come

by, you know, with our checkered flag."

We went we went back to the Henry Ford

Museum with Bill Ford and and Chip

Ganassie right after the running of

Lama. So, we we do stuff. The members of

the checkered flag get their money's

worth. Plus, we have almost no turnover.

I would say 10% maybe 20% live out of

state. Last month we were in Dallas. We

went to see Charlie Nearver Collection,

Aaron Shelby, the Brash Perau Museum and

and we always I always like to throw in

a home, a big home. Went to Tom Thomas's

home like is one of these ridiculous

homes in Dallas, you know. So it's fun.

We we try and appeal to everything. I

would say of the group we have between

50 and 100 depending on where we're

going. I would say twothirds are guys

and a third are couples, you know. So,

we we try to do something cultural,

something with a home, but the group is

working. And what's really working is

the Peterson Automotive Nissan. And I

credit that with Terry Carus, who's our

executive director,

>> and Michael Bodell, who works with him,

and Anna Song. Honest to God, any museum

on earth would be so lucky to have a

team like that. They're fiscally

responsible, a delight to work with, so

deeply talented. Our staff there, I

don't know when the last time you were

at the museum, but when you walk in

there, you just feel like you've come

home. The greeter at the door, the

security, everybody welcomes you. Terry

is just one of those one ina- million

guys that knows how to build a team, a

team of big-hearted, enthusiast,

wonderful people. So, I really credit

Terry with turning that museum around.

>> Well, fantastic. Thanks for sharing

about it, but I can see your passion

sort of in your eyes when you talk about

it and the team and the checkered flag

group. Uh, I hope I haven't aged out of

that group, too. I don't know. I think I

probably may be able to slide in there

if I can give it a shot.

>> Are you a member?

>> That could be fun. I am not as a I've

been to the museum number of times.

>> This is not going to air till you're a

member.

>> Sounds like I'm going to be a going to

be a recruit. So, that's fantastic. I

would gladly.

>> But you don't you don't do what people

tell you to. Like the YPO thing you

didn't do and now the checker flag. So I

don't I got to I got to make a real good

eye contact here and make sure you're

>> Absolutely. Well, anyway, thank you for

telling us about that. I'm I'm hopeful

that the Peterson has a good long run in

front of it of success and bringing new

people in to enthusiasm about cars. They

have so many cool themed events. So

anyway, I encourage every car buddy of

mine that's in LA like that's a stop on

the tour. Have you been to When was the

last time you all were there?

>> Uh, it's been a year or more for me.

>> Have you seen our low rider exhibit? It

is amazing. It's the best low rider

exhibit ever created in the world. We

have our creative director, Brian

Stevens. This guy could make a bar of

soap look amazing. I mean, he is so

creative and so talented. And so, he put

together this low rider exhibit, which

first of all, the whole low rider

community. I haven't seen a whole lot of

low riders on Bring a Trailer. We've had

a couple. We've got a couple interesting

ones. It's not the main, but we've had

some. Yeah. They they kind of sneak

through

>> probably because most low riders like to

work on them themselves, create their

own

>> and don't want to sell them, right? It's

like it's an heirloom. You're 100%

right. It's a family effort. When we did

our opening, we borrowed every car in

there.

>> And with every car came a wife and kids

and they all knew how to work on their

cars and it's just an awesome genre of

cars, you know? They just I there's

nothing like a little

>> It's a very LA thing, right? It's

>> very Yeah, I think ground zero right

around here.

>> I think so. Yeah. Exhibition. So,

anyhow, I'm excited to hear you talk

about the Peterson. I always that's

something I associate very closely with

you and the checker flag group. I know

it all has sort of your imprint on a lot

of that. So, other than that, we touched

on the Peterson, we've touched on some

of your early cars. I mean, man, we

could go around all the cars I see

behind you.

>> Yeah.

>> Yeah. We we would certainly love to have

you back on the podcast another time

maybe to talk about some more things or

go do one of these events together. But

overall, yeah, just want to say thanks

for your support of BAT. I know you

share it with your friends. You've

convinced folks to bid. You've just been

a one of the folks in the early days

that I think we've had some folks in the

car community that kind of put their

stamp of approval on BAT and said,

"These are good guys. Go use this

website." And I put you at the top of

the list of folks who have done that and

it's been part of our success and we

appreciate it. Well, you know, I don't

do anything that I don't want to do. And

when you get to be my age, you can kind

of do that. And I mean, I bought my

Bugatti when you were in the early BAT

when you were just mentioning things. It

was a auction in Austria. And you just

mentioned there's this auction in

Austria and it was I remember cuz it was

a it was a holiday time and I was

supposed to escort the mayor in my car.

Anyways, I it just drew me down that

rabbit hole and I went and I called it

was a Kois auction in Austria and and

the next car up was this Bugatti that I

Anyways, so I mean I bought on Bring a

Trailer. I've sold on Bring a Trailer

all very successfully, all honorably.

It's just the most real, honest,

wonderful development. And everybody's

trying to figure out how to get a little

piece of what you do. But you know, and

I get all the links. The only one I open

every morning is bring a trailer.

>> Wow, that's high praise, Bruce. We

appreciate it. Last thing I want to

mention is you've got a cool item that

you're bringing to BAT, which is sitting

over my left shoulder. This cool

memorabilia item. Just leave us a quick

pitch on that.

>> If you can lift it, you can have it. It

comes in its own carrying case. It's a

big wall clock like a HubLau Ferrari

watch. It was given to me by Pierro

Ferrari for a favor I did for him. I

just look at it. I I don't know where to

put it. And I see, you know, things

appearing on Bring a Trader like neons

and, you know, owner's manuals and

things that I just I think are very

interesting. So, I think and we'll find

out that it should hopefully somebody

will see the beauty in it because I

think it's a beautiful thing.

>> Yeah. It looks super super cool in its

carrying case here and it's

>> Yeah, it's about what 2 ft across and an

operable big beautiful wall clock. Yeah.

Anytime we can list something on BAT

that comes from the Bruce Meyer building

here. I think that's a pretty green

light on our end, Bruce. And so anyway,

just want to say what a privilege it is

to sit here with you and we appreciate

your hospitality and your support of

BET. So, thanks for being part of the

podcast and I hope everybody listening

just uh has a smile on their face as

they hear about your stories and your

enthusiasm.

>> Well, thank you and same to you, Randy.

>> Thanks everybody for listening and stay

tuned for the next BAT podcast.

[Music]

Bruce Meyer on Collecting, Cobras, and Lowriders - REMASTERED

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