John Staluppi Cars of Dreams Museum

Carsofdreams.com museum
Car Magnate

2020 Toyota Supra delivered

Toyota dealer John Staluppi took possession of “Global #1,” the first 2020 GR Supra to roll off the production line, at the company’s Plano headquarters on Monday.https://www.webwire.com/ViewPressRel.asp?aId=242815

https://gearpatrol.com/2019/06/30/someone-paid-2-million-dollars-for-2020-toyota-supra-number-1/

https://www.motor1.com/news/357043/first-toyota-supra-delivered/

toyota supra 2020

 

Fresh from its unveiling at the Detroit Auto Show and here at Barrett-Jackson earlier this week, the much-anticipated 2020 Toyota Supra also hit the auction block on Saturday, accompanied by Medal of Honor recipient Dakota Meyer. With the entire crowd in the auction arena on its feet, the incredible sale provided yet another amazing Barrett-Jackson moment when noted philanthropists Jeanette and John Staluppi bid an incredible $2.1 million for the rights to the first production Supra, VIN 20201. The entire hammer price will benefit both the American Heart Association and the Bob Woodruff Foundation.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=76QSfXU2gVc

 

Still Dreaming: Car Connoisseur John Staluppi

He may have sold his extensive collection, but he’s far from finished

john staluppi

PALM BEACH, Florida — “We’re very selective on the cars here. I don’t like any pieces of s***, excuse my language,” John Staluppi, a reasonable approximation of a sturdier Robert De Niro, says in his Brooklyn accent. “I’m not that much about history and all that stuff. I’m more about I want the car to look nice, drive nice.”

We’re walking through an enthusiast’s paradise that Staluppi, born in 1947, calls his Cars of Dreams, built into roughly half of a nondescript West Palm Beach, Florida, strip mall he purchased primarily to house his extensive collection of automobiles. A casual passerby has no idea of the four-wheeled treasures inside the roughly 60,000-square-foot space. With its Coney Island theme, accented by a Brooklyn Bridge and Manhattan skyline motif along the back wall, this isn’t just a place to gawk at old cars—there’s an entire town to explore.

cars of dreams

Hit the boardwalk and play carnival games, or grab a bite to eat at a functioning Nathan’s hot dog stand. Stroll along the museum’s tree-lined streets, past the mock drive-in theater, prison, and fire station (complete with an actual LaFrance fire truck) and into the old-time Oldsmobile dealership, stocked with period-correct Olds models. A full-scale ’50s-style diner, named after Staluppi’s late dog, Dillinger, is open during the handful of charity events this place opens its doors for each year. This is his private wonderland, a world Staluppi has created to celebrate his love of cars and his childhood home.

Staluppi’s dream was born of necessity. When he moved into his West Palm Beach estate, he quickly found there was one part of the home that didn’t measure up. “I had a 10-car garage, but I said, ‘This is not working,’ and built an 18-car garage for my house,” Staluppi says. “I kept packing cars in, and every time I wanted to go for a ride in a car, I’d have to move five cars just to get to it.”

Once he moved his cars out of the garage and into the museum, he kept packing them in, eventually accumulating roughly 150 in all. But by the end of the week, just a handful will remain. Staluppi is selling nearly the entire shebang—145 cars—at the annual Barrett-Jackson Palm Beach auction. Today, the Barrett-Jackson crew is on hand to tag, prep, and ultimately move each car from this plush townscape to the local fairgrounds where the auction will occur. The smell of exhaust hangs in the air from cars starting and rolling out of the massive building onto waiting transport trailers. When it’s all said and done, Staluppi’s cars will generate $13.96 million at auction, including buyer’s premium, typically around 10 percent. Staluppi’s cut will be the hammer price, minus Barrett-Jackson’s listing fees and seller’s premium of 8 percent (if you do the math, that’s a little more than $1 million). He’s still left with a huge chunk of change, the kind of money Staluppi once only dreamed of earning.


john staluppi barrett jackson

In his teenage days, Staluppi worked 9-to-5 as a mechanic at a Brooklyn-based Chevrolet dealer, doing his share of drag racing on the side with cars he built himself. “When I was at Chevrolet, I worked on all the high-performance cars,” he recollects. “The 327 had just come out, then in ’65 the 396 and the 454s came out. So I really got into the muscle cars—that was really my era.”

With some financial help from his working-class parents, he went on to purchase a small gas station, then a Honda dealership back when the Japanese company’s only products were motorcycles. Staluppi began adding Honda dealers, filling his showrooms with little N600 micro sedans when Honda offered cars for U.S. sale. His timing couldn’t have been better. When the aftershocks of the 1973-74 OPEC oil embargo led to higher gas prices, Honda’s fuel-efficient cars and motorcycles started flying out of Staluppi’s showrooms. The windfall enabled him to expand into Oldsmobile and Nissan dealerships. Although his empire has shrunk since its peak at 40 dealerships, Staluppi says the family business (his son owns franchises in Las Vegas) still constitutes the third-largest private dealership group in the country.

john staluppi cars of dreams

This new collection is going to have hardtops and station wagons—I used to love the old Woodies.

Although sales of contemporary cars have long buttered Staluppi’s bread, they don’t do much for him. “Classic cars just have the look,” he insists. “You look at cars today, it’s hard to tell if it’s an Audi or a Mercedes other than having the big badges. There aren’t a lot of convertibles out there today; most cars are four doors. If you look at these old cars, with the big bumpers and the chrome, they still have that sentimental value.”

That is why, despite selling nearly every car from his collection with its focus on American convertibles primarily from the 1940s to 1960s, this space will no doubt be packed with cars again in the not too distant future. This is the second time Staluppi has sold an enormous grouping of vehicles to fixate on a new theme. Although the focus will remain on American iron, he plans some significant changes.

“I’m not a big foreign car guy,” he says. “Ferraris and all that, I had a couple of them. … They don’t do nothin’ for me. Maybe I would buy some old Rolls-Royces or the old Bentleys. I’ve got to find the right ones, with the tires on the fenders. This new collection is going to have hardtops and station wagons—I used to love the old Woodies. This time we’re going to do a lot more restomods. I like that they have fuel injection; carburetors are a pain in the ass. We have a few cars that weren’t started for a long time and the carburetors were all gummed up … oh my god.”


john staluppi barrett jackson

Even though he’s been here, done this before, Staluppi is still sentimental about selling the collection he spent several years building. As he wanders the rows of vehicles, checking in with Barrett-Jackson’s team on its progress, it’s apparent this is a big life event.

“I was really getting melancholy the other night,” Staluppi admits. “Some people sell their cars because they need the money. I just wanted to have a change. But as I’m going through it, I’m thinking, ‘What am I doing?’ If the place was bigger, I’d just go out and buy another 150 cars and have 300 cars. But I don’t want to just have 300 cars in a warehouse. I want it to look nice.”

After a lifetime of buying and selling for a living and a hobby, there is at least one car, his first Corvette, Staluppi refuses to part with. Or rather, he won’t sell it again.

“When I was still a mechanic at the Chevy dealer, they got this black ’62 Corvette in, and I was going crazy,” he says. “I went to my father and said, ‘I really want this car. You’ve gotta help me out.’ He took out a second mortgage on the house ’cause we didn’t have a lot of money. It was $3,100, and the house was only worth $18,000. I got the Corvette, and it was the first really new Corvette I had.” By the end of the ’60s, Staluppi sold the Corvette, but more recently, his then-99-year-old father told him, “Johnny, when your mother died, I was cleaning out some stuff, and I found the registration for your first Corvette.”

john-staluppi-barret-jackson

“I said, ‘You’ve got to be kidding me!’ I tracked down the car in Michigan and bought it,” Staluppi says with an ear-to-ear grin.

These days, the collector has branched out from automotive ventures into commissioning some of the fastest luxury yachts in the world. One of those creations, a 140-foot boat named The World Is Not Enough (all of Staluppi’s boats are 007-themed), is capable of hitting some 80 mph on open water. But Staluppi isn’t finished tinkering with cars. His latest project is a 1958 Cadillac Eldorado Biarritz convertible he plans to modify.

“I decided I want to put four-wheel drive in the car and also a fuel-injection motor,” he says. “So I bought a used Escalade, and a guy is putting the car on the Escalade chassis. I’ve got a home in the mountains, and I want a car that I can drive there with four-wheel drive. It’ll be the only ’58 Cadillac with four-wheel drive!”

There will be plenty more cars to come and plenty more dreams worth chasing—and perhaps, eventually, yet another big auction when Staluppi once again feels a change is in order.


Best of Sale John Staluppi Cars of Dreams

Barrett-Jackson
Palm Beach 2018, April 12-15

superbird john staluppi

1970 Plymouth Superbird
Sold for: $286,000

Lots of Superbirds were driven hard and put away wet when they were just “used cars,” but this example seems to have been spared that sort of misery. The original numbers-matching 440-cubic-inch six-barrel engine and 727 Torqueflite transmission are installed, and the nose cone, often replaced with an aftermarket one due to damage, is factory original.

1969 pontiac gto

1969 Pontiac GTO Judge Ram Air IV
Sold for: $178,200

Subjected to a full frame-off restoration and powertrain rebuild, this documented, factory-produced Judge is one of just 549 built with the desirable Ram Air IV engine and Muncie M21 four-speed, short-ratio manual gearbox. Said to be factory-correct down to the little details—like GM-branded hoses—this surely must be one of the best available, hence the strong sale price.

isetta john staluppi

1957 BMW Isetta 300
Sold for: $57,200

Isettas are probably best known in the U.S. thanks to their association with television character Steve Urkel from the ’90s sitcom “Family Matters,” but as classic microcars gain traction in the marketplace, their values are on the rise. An outlier in the American-centric Staluppi collection, this Isetta 300 seats two and has a rear-mounted 0.3-liter engine. This was fair market value for a nicely restored car.

cadillac biarritz john staluppi

1957 Cadillac Eldorado Biarritz
Sold for: $170,500

Staluppi had a hard time parting with this one, and it is easy to see why. The original 365- cubic-inch V-8 sits underhood, and the rest of the car was treated to a cosmetic restoration including 24-karat-gold-plated emblems. With plenty of ownership history and documentation on the car, this one will undoubtedly be tough to replace. You couldn’t restore this Cadillac to this level for the price paid.

john staluppi auction

1915 Ford Model T Circus Wagon
Sold for: $110,000

For the collector who has everything, may we suggest this very early circus wagon? Said to have appeared in Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey circus events, the wagon has been treated to a better-than-original restoration with gold-plated trim, solid brass cage bars, and Amish-made wooden spoke wheels. If you wanted one, here it was.

john staluppi corvette

1962 Chevrolet Corvette
Convertible (Not for sale)

You never forget your first Corvette, or at least John Staluppi didn’t. After making the mistake of selling the car once, the opportunity to buy it back presented itself. Staluppi took it and ran. This one won’t escape his possession again.

indy pace car john staluppi1969 Chevrolet Camaro Indy Pace Car Convertible Sold for: $110,000

1969 was a unique year in Camaro history, with sporty, restyled sheet metal that lasted for just this single model year. This Indy Pace Car edition (Z11 package) includes the rear spoiler, rally wheels, and a ducted hood. The car is also equipped with the RS package and a 396-cubic-inch V-8 with four-speed manual transmission. An investment-grade Camaro at a fair price.

Hot Rod Network - An Interview with John Staluppi, Owner of the Cars of Dreams Collection to be Sold at Barrett Jackson in April, 2018.

Written by Steve Magnante on April 4, 2018
Robert McGaffin - Photographer

john staluppi

For nearly fifteen years, TV viewers of the popular Barrett-Jackson collector car auction have come to know John Staluppi for his solid taste in post-WWII American collector cars and his fierce ability to knock out virtually any opponent with a seven-figure bid. Though Barrett-Jackson bidders come in all shapes, sizes, and tax brackets, Staluppi made his mark thanks to a pint-sized lap dog named Dillinger.

A Maltese breed of canine, Dillinger was trained to bark on command. So before long the dog was placing the bids while poised in the arms of John, his wife Jeanette, or one of the Staluppi’s grandkids. Naturally, TV audiences ate it up and little Dillinger became “a thing” at Barrett-Jackson for many years.

With each winning “bark”, Staluppi accumulated another addition to his Cars of Dreams collection of more than 125 top-tier vehicles. Located in North Palm Beach, Florida, the Cars of Dreams collection is stored inside a former department store with more than 70,000 square-feet that’s been decorated with props and street scenes depicting New York City.

Cars of Dreams

Only open four times a year, Staluppi’s private Cars of Dreams collection isn’t available for weddings or birthday parties. Rather, John works with charity organizations to help raise funding for law enforcement, children’s health programs, and heart disease and cancer-prevention research.

We recently visited with John Staluppi to learn more about his background, his plan to “shuffle the deck” by selling 125 cars at the upcoming Barrett-Jackson collector car event in West Palm Beach, Florida, and the plan to replace the sold cars with a whole new stash of classics.

Sadly, little Dillinger has gone to TV dog heaven to frolic with Rin Tin Tin and Scooby-Doo. But fear not, another Maltese pup, this one named Buddy, will take his place. Whether Buddy shares Dillinger’s passion for collector cars and being in the limelight remains to be seen. But either way, with Mr. Staluppi on the hunt for 125-plus new classic cars to replenish his Cars of Dreams collection during the next year, the story is far from over!

HRM) Where are you from?

JS) I was born in the Bensonhurst neighborhood of Brooklyn, New York. After a family move to Long Island, I then moved to Florida around 1977.

HRM) What was your first car memory?

JS) My father had a 1950 Nash four-door, one of those upside-down bathtub looking cars. It was a standard-shift car with the usual column-mounted gear lever, and Dad took the family to upstate New York for a vacation one time. Somehow I ended up alone in the car and was playing with the shift lever. When I got out of the car, I left it in Neutral. The next minute, the car comes rolling through the woods and my Dad was saying, “Whose driving through the woods?” Then he realized it was his car. I got in big trouble for that one. That Nash was one of the big ones with the fold-down seats you could camp in and a body that looked like a big beetle. The dash had this one central pod for the speedometer and gauges, they called it the “Uniscope.” It was a neat car.

john staluppi cars

HRM) At present I don’t see a Nash Ambassador in the Cars of Dreams collection, rather I see lots and lots of convertibles. What is your favorite car?

JS) I’d say my favorite car is the first Corvette I ever bought, a 1962 in Tuxedo Black. We didn’t have a lot of money, but my family helped me buy it by taking out a second mortgage on our home. It cost $3,100 back then and was a demonstrator model the dealership had for a discount ($4,038 was the base sticker price). I lived right around the corner from the Brooklyn-based Chevrolet dealer that had the car. But that was my first car that was mine. So to answer the question about what’s my favorite type of car, that’d be Corvettes at the core but followed closely by Chrysler 300 letter cars.

HRM) Wow, that’s the other end of the spectrum. Or is it?

JS) Those early 300’s could be very sporty cars. With their stiff suspensions, standard dual-quad induction, big tires, and upsized brakes, they handled better than you might expect. In a sense, a 300 convertible was like a four-seat Corvette. I had many jobs as a kid- I was a mechanic at the Chevy dealer I just mentioned, and a little later I worked as a lifeguard in upstate New York at a resort called Villa Maria. One of the head managers at the resort had a 1960 Chrysler 300F hardtop. It was blue and with the 413, and we used to go out and tear up the highway. It was an unbelievable car and started my love for 300 “letter cars.” It had the swiveling seats, the clear “Astra-Dome” bubble covering the instrument cluster, the massive Exner-era tail fins and being a 1960, was the first year for the ram induction setup (1955-1959 300’s had dual quads arranged inline atop a non-ram manifold). I remember everything about that car. It was a true bad boy and made the 1960 Chrysler 300F my absolute favorite car.

HRM) Your Cars of Dreams collection is known for being one of the few collections with such a wide variety of letter-series Chrysler 300’s. Tell us more.

JS) I have almost one of every letter-series Chrysler 300 here except for the 1959 300E. A total of only 690 1959 E’s were built, of them only 140 were convertibles. Finding a good survivor or even a solid restoration candidate is next to impossible. But that’s the fun of it. At present, I’m selling just about everything you see here in the Cars of Dreams collection. My plan is to fill this building one more time. This go-round, I’m aiming to have a truly complete collection of Chrysler 300 letter cars – including the elusive 1959 “E” – in both body types: hardtop and convertible. I’m a little bit on the fence with the 1962-1965 300s. First off, Chrysler abandoned the tail fins for 1962 but more seriously, Chrysler added a non-performance, non-letter 300 model that could be had with four doors. So to me, the 1962s aren’t as hard-core as the 1955-1961s. So I’m not sure I’ll expend as much effort acquiring 1962-up letter cars for this final go-round.
HRM) You’ve had some race cars, what was the first?

JS) That would be a 1955 Chevy. It was green, and I’m superstitious. Too many times to count, any green race car I’ve owned would blow up on me. It’d break a rear axle, transmission, or something else. We gave that ’55 the name “Mister Jinx.” Eventually we got all the bugs worked out of the car, and I ran it in C / Modified Production (C/MP). That was around the mid-1970s, and the track we used was Englishtown in New Jersey. Vinny Napp was the track manager, and we ran it often enough to hold the C/MP national championship title for a while. We also raced at Westhampton Dragstrip on Long Island and even as far away as Bristol, Tennessee’s so-called “Thunder Valley,” a great strip that’s still very active today. We had a lot of fun back then with Mister Jinx.

HRM) Did you do the driving?

JS) Oh yes! Modified Production allowed a fair amount of changes, so the original 265 V8 was replaced by a 327 with a Mickey Thompson cross-ram intake manifold. We had to remain naturally aspirated but worked in the usual modifications like high compression, a wild solid cam, hotter ignition, and, of course, a four-speed manual transmission. I ran a set of 5.38:1 rear axle gears and used to leave the line at over 6,000 rpm. It’d come out of the hole like a rocket ship.

HRM) Are you a stick man or do you prefer automatic transmissions?

JS) In the earlier days, I was a four-speed maniac. Three-speed on the tree is kind of sloppy- really antiquated. I do like the automatics of today, especially the types you can shift like a stick if you want to. They’re pretty much bullet proof. When you hit traffic, when you have to start shifting, that was fun when I was a kid. But now, at this point in life, I like to enjoy some comfort while I drive. Plus, most cars today only come with an automatic transmission, but again, the manual-shift mode does a pretty good job of simulating the old days – minus the left leg work.

HRM) You managed to locate – and buy – your first Corvette (the black 1962), so have you had any luck finding Mister Jinx, that 1955 Chevy drag car?

JS) Naah, that car is long gone. We sold it to a bunch of guys who continued racing it until it blew a tire and went off the track. I’m pretty sure the car was stripped to a shell then junked.

HRM) Beyond the Cars of Dreams collection, you’ve built and owned a series of 100-to-200-plus foot aluminum-hulled yachts and have a private jet. Success is obviously part of your life, how did it happen?

john staluppi

JS) I started as a mechanic in Brooklyn, then I opened up a gas station. Then a Honda motorcycle dealership franchise became available to me in Queens, on Queens Blvd. I was also a big motorcycle rider and we sold a lot of Honda ‘cycles in the mid-to-late 1960s. By the early 1970s, I was also selling the Honda 600 minicar in fair numbers. But it was the arrival of the larger Civic in 1973 that was really the beginning of true success. Sales were strong enough to allow the addition of more Honda dealerships, in Long Island and other locations. Those little Civics sold very well and I started making the real money. That allowed me to repay my debts to my parents, who funded my early efforts.

HRM) How many Honda dealerships did you grow to, and did you add other brands as well?

JS) In the 1970s, I had five Honda car dealerships and three Honda motorcycle dealerships, and then my first domestic brand was an Oldsmobile store. It was located in Brooklyn, and the success of that led to me getting some Chevrolet outlets. By the late 1980s, I had 42 car dealerships and was the largest privately-held car dealer in the world. Then interest went to 21 percent, and boy the debt load was heavy. I ended up selling off some of the good stores, and kept the bad stores, not that any were really that bad, but we turned them around and kept growing. Today, we’re the third largest privately held car sales company in the country. We do about 70,000 new cars per year, and about 30,000 used cars per year.

HRM) Who runs it all?

JS) It takes a great team, and my partner who helps keep the Long Island dealerships running is Michael Brown. My son John Jr. has stores in Las Vegas, and my son-in-law Scott has car dealerships in Queens, Great Neck, and Long Island. In fact, John Jr. is also a vintage car collector. He’s got about 35 or 40 classics out there in Las Vegas.

HRM) Are these many dealerships recognizable with names like “Staluppi Motors” or some name HOT ROD readers could seek out?

JS) They all carry the name “Atlantic”, “Advantage”, or “Millennium.” The Atlantic name stems from my first Oldsmobile (then later, Chevrolet) dealership, which was called Atlantic Oldsmobile.

HRM) Switching gears back to vintage and collectible cars, when you’re buying, what do you look for?

JS) I’m all about the hunt. I always buy cars I used to work on or knew about when I was a kid. Cars of the 1950s, 1960s, and 1970s were things I worked on, bought, sold, raced, and modified, when they were brand new. Not so much with the cars of the 1980s. By then, I had outgrown much of the hands-on, greasy fingers part of it. When I buy, I seek the finest looking examples and typically avoid unfinished projects. I prefer finished cars because it is all too easy to fall into the trap where you invest more than you’ll ever get back. Sure, if you can do the work on your own, and have the necessary skills to do good work, you can turn out a fine example. But when you add up the hours charged by any professional restoration business, a sure return on investment is rare. This is a labor of love. People who restore these cars spend thousands of hours on them, and finding missing parts is another side of it that can get costly, so I’m attracted to finished cars.

HRM) Are there any cars that you refuse to buy?

JS) I’m not a big fan of some of the more obscure vintage foreign cars. It’s about impossible to get restoration parts [for them]. I’m also not a huge Ferrari guy. Except for the pinnacle cars like the 250 GTO and such, I don’t really see the value.

HRM) No doubt it’s a lot of work to find, buy, and store so many cars. To some people, what you have here on display would be an acceptable life-long accomplishment. But you are about to sell 125 cars at the 2018 Barrett-Jackson West Palm Beach, FL collector car auction and start again. Why?

JS) I get bored. Again, with me it’s about the chase. My main business office is also contained within this structure (a former department store). When I need a break from the daily “brain damage” of keeping track of business, I’ll come out and restore my equilibrium with these wonderful vintage machines. It’s a lot of fun. I’m also a big fan of Lionel trains and have a large, running diorama in its own special room.

HRM) Anyone who has watched the televised Barrett-Jackson collector car auctions knows that you are known for buying the best examples available. Consignors also understand it’s a very good thing when you are bidding on their offerings because price is not an obstacle. Once these cars become part of your Cars of Dreams collection, are they treated differently versus other car collections?

john staluppi

JS) One thing that sets my collection apart from many, is the fact you can jump into any one of the cars on display, drive it out the door and go for a cruise. On the four-speed cars you don’t have to worry about it jumping out of gear because of bad synchros, the lights all work, they are all ready to go. I keep a staff of full-time mechanics led by Dave Crews, and there’s a multi-bay garage at the back of my display room to assure each car is road ready. If I buy a car and issues present themselves, we correct them. That way, when someone buys a car from my collection, they can buy it with good confidence. We exercise our cars, and that’s crucial in this day of reformulated gas that goes bad and gums up carburetors. By exercising the cars, the seals don’t get dried out and it makes a huge difference compared to cars that might sit idle for years at a time in other collections.

HRM) What’s more important to you, matching numbers, or a quality presentation?

JS) I like numbers-matching, but to me what’s more important than that would be the quality of the car, the quality of the restoration. Most of my high-end cars are numbers matching, but the plus to me is the way the car is restored- the quality of the chrome, the quality underneath the chassis, the nooks and crannies. Were the body mounts replaced? Are they detailed to the same degree as the grille? That’s where the value is. When you pull up to a car show, 90 percent of spectators don’t know what numbers matching means. But they do see a quality build, and that’s what I go after. The truth of the matter is, when I worked at Chevrolet, and we would get muscle cars with damaged engines, we simply changed short blocks and tossed the original “numbers matching” parts in the trash. Truth be told, after the repair, the engine was like new. The tiny stamped numbers on the block didn’t play into the equation whatsoever. On most pre-1968 cars, and the vast majority of 1950s cars, numbers-matching status isn’t as important because many cars simply lacked the numbers in the first place. So that’s where we turn our focus to the quality of the paint, chrome, interior, glass, and overall restoration.

HRM) How about resto-mods?

JS) That’s an area that I appreciate. Numbers-matching status has no bearing here, and that’s liberating. I have a number of resto-mods in this collection, and I bought them for the quality of execution. But again, in every case, you could take it out of my building and drive it to California. The air conditioning works, they handle well, the transmissions have overdrive, and they’re usually much faster than any original model. I think resto-mods and resto-rods are where the value is. I think resto-mods are worth a lot more money than a stock restoration. I understand the allure of original equipment, but in today’s world, a top tier resto-mod with good ingredients and craftsmanship is a better buy than a relic restored with original-type bias ply tires, a three-speed manual transmission, drum brakes, and king pin front suspension.

HRM) What are some cars that are under-valued in today’s marketplace?

JS) Big Cadillacs from the 1950s and 1960s. Cadillac is like a symbol, especially with the Eldorado and Eldorado Biarritz, those are real cars. You look at the bumpers, the stainless steel roof material, the interiors with golden threads, I think these cars are very much undervalued. I feel they will climb much higher as more people understand what they represented. Taking it further, I think all of the finned cars from the 1950’s are poised to appreciate. I’m also big on Chrysler finned cars of the Virgil Exner era. Not just the letter-series 300s we talked about already, but the Dodge D500s, Plymouth Furys and DeSoto Adventurers are really important cars that are blue chip investments.

HRM) Modern cars have to pass so many government crash, pedestrian safety and efficiency standards, their designers’ hands are tied. Its’ rumored that Dodge Challenger stylists intentionally gave up something like 1/2 of a mpg in 2008 to allow for the distinctive tunneled grille and “frowning brow” headlamps that give them so much identity. Do you think new cars will ever be distinctive again?

JS) I have a hard time looking at a Lexus or a Mercedes or a BMW, and I’m in the business as a dealer. Its’ hard to say make and model is which. Back then, you knew- that’s an Oldsmobile, that’s a Buick, that’s a Pontiac, that’s a Dodge, etc. You don’t see that now. I feel the carmakers need to add more visual variety and identity to their offerings.

HRM) Can you hint at what direction the next Cars of Dreams collection will take?

JS) This is something that’s a passion to me. Doing this one more time in my lifetime, my next collection of cars will be more of a variety. At present, Cars of Dreams celebrates the convertible body type. But for the next go around, I want more variety. Yes, there will be convertibles, but I also want to go after hardtops and even some wagons. Then I can take it in a different direction. At present, if you look around Cars of Dreams, the only reason you don’t see a convertible on display is when the factory didn’t offer it that way. An example would be the 1956-1957 Lincoln Continental MKII. Except for two factory prototype convertibles in 1957, the MKII is strictly a hardtop. If ever there was a car that deserved to be offered as a drop-top, the MKII is it. And know this, if one of those factory prototype convertibles surfaced, I’d pay the money for it! Another thing I want to point out is that there are two vintage fire trucks in the collection right now. They actually run, and I use them for parades. I had my shop install air conditioning inside one of them because it was so popular, we decided to make it more enjoyable here in the Florida heat. Commercial and emergency vehicles are interesting to me as well; I even have a Ford neighborhood ice cream truck I’ll be selling.

john staluppi cars of dreams

HRM) When you say the word “collection,” how many cars do you have?

JS) I keep about 130 cars here plus another 8 cars I keep at my home. Again, every one of them is ready for the road. Sometimes for fun, I’ll invite four or five buddies to come by then I’ll ask them which cars they want to drive, and we’ll gas them up and then attend a car show or cruise night.

HRM) Besides vintage cars and Lionel trains, you also enjoy ship building. Tell us about it.

JS) I’m building a new yacht now, which will be the ultimate, ultimate boat. I sold Diamonds Are Forever and Skyfall (Google them, dear reader, you’ll be amazed). This new one is a 230-foot boat that is going to be the ultimate yacht that’s ever been built by a person. We are hoping that for next year to have a party on it.

HRM) Back to the next collection, how does that get started?

JS) It isn’t about buying 130 cars, it’s about buying 130 great cars. In addition to having one of every 1955-1962 Chrysler 300 letter-series body type, I hope to focus on Oldsmobiles from 1950 through 1960. I want one of each model in each body configuration. More Corvettes will be added from each era, and I’m not against resto-mods representing specific years.
HRM) What does the future hold for the Cars of Dreams collection?

JS) After the next round of acquiring cars to replace the ones I’m selling at the April 2018 Barret-Jackson sale, I want to eventually pass it down to my son, John Jr. and my grandchildren. John Jr. lives in Las Vegas. He is mostly into Mopars and has about 35 cars there. As for the next round of purchases, I’ll open the door to a wider variety of cars. I’ll be at the auctions, buying and buying and buying. I’m excited to do this again.

HRM) What is it like when you are bidding on a car and suddenly there’s a TV camera pointed at your face?

JS) I gotta be honest- it’s fun. Sometimes when I’m bidding, it becomes like a war with me. Sometimes my wife Jeanette will be there with me while I’m bidding, and she’ll be asking, “are you crazy?” Then my cell phone will go off with calls from friends who see me on TV bidding who want to chime in on the action or they’re texting me “don’t lose that car, it’s a good one.” Meanwhile I’m thinking to the auctioneer “drop the hammer, drop the hammer!” The best is when my grandkids are there and they’re saying, “Poppie we’re not going to let that guy beat us? I say, ‘no way, no way’.” Sometimes it’ll cost me because the ego gets in front of the brain. One thing that used to happen to me at auction that I don’t let happen anymore is when a car shows up under the lights and I haven’t really checked into the underlying quality. When there’s a car on the docket list that catches my eye, now I make sure to get a close inspection in the days before it hits the block. That’s one of the reasons I like Barrett-Jackson, they stage the cars under the tents and in the lines for several days before they sell. This gives ample opportunity for close inspection. Once the car is on the block, there’s really no time to inspect it very closely, it becomes like a big race. But overall, I look forward to every Barrett-Jackson auction. I love it. It’s fun.



barrett jackson john staluppi auction

john staluppi barrett jackson

Philanthropist and Entrepreneur John Staluppi to Sell Prized Cars of Dreams Collection During 16th Annual Barrett-Jackson Palm Beach Auction - Read Article>>

 

https://dolcemag.com/auto-trend/john-staluppi-cars-of-dreams-barrett-jackson-auction/27942

For the second time, famed automobile collector John Staluppi is selling most of his automobile collection so he can start all over again.

Among all collectors of rare objects, whether they collect vintage wines, hand-crafted watches or fine crystals, the common characteristic is unwavering passion. Philanthropist and entrepreneur John Staluppi, owner of one of the most admired and notable classic car collections in the United States, is no exception.

Staluppi’s Cars of Dreams Collection will be a featured auction item of Barrett-Jackson, the leader in collector car and automotive events, at the 16th Annual Palm Beach Auction, April 12–15 at the South Florida Fairgrounds. Staluppi’s collection features approximately 140 classic American cars — predominantly convertibles — from the ’50s, ’60s and ’70s. This collection is recognized for the quality of the cars and for the meticulous care each of these beauties has received. So why exactly is Staluppi putting them up for auction? Dolce put the question to him in a recent interview.

“It’s all about ‘the find’ with me,” says Staluppi. “I’m all about finding the cars, buying the cars and collecting the cars. I’m not a long-range holder on anything. Even in the stock market, when I feel like selling — winning or losing, I’m selling. I enjoy finding the cars, bidding on the cars, buying the cars and working on the cars.”

This might sound like a surprising philosophy, but Staluppi can’t be wrong. After all, from his start as a gas station mechanic in Brooklyn, New York, he has built a billion-dollar automotive dealership empire that employs more than 3,000 people.
“Even though my family were electrical contractors, I had no interest in putting my hand in a plug and getting a shock,” recalls Staluppi. “I always loved cars and I was a very good mechanic, and always wanted to open my own shop. So my family took out a mortgage on the home and helped me open my first gas station. That’s how I progressed.”
“I’M ALL ABOUT FINDING THE CARS, BUYING THE CARS AND COLLECTING THE CARS”

Inside every one of Staluppi’s car dealerships is a sign that summarizes his outlook on his business and toward his customers. It reads, “Every visitor to our dealership is an honoured guest in our home.”
“Car dealerships can be very intimidating environments for most people, as you’re walking in to buy an expensive item — probably the second-most expensive item, next to a home,” says Staluppi. “We want people to be relaxed. My guys do not say, ‘Can I help you?’ They say, ‘Good afternoon, how are you? My name is John, what’s yours?’ This makes people feel a little bit more comfortable. So that’s why we have that sign: so the customer knows how we want to treat people.”
Staluppi has been a car collector for decades. A few of the crown jewels in the Cars of Dreams Collection are a ’58 Dual Ghia Convertible; a ’69 Chevrolet Camero RS/SS Indy Pace Car; a ’65 Chevrolet Corvette Stingray Convertible; and a ’63 Volkswagen Beetle, one of the cars used in several of the iconic Herbie the Love Bug films by Walt Disney.

Video Tour of Cars of Dreams Private Museum

 

 

John Staluppi


In 1964, John Staluppi started his automotive career as a Chevrolet mechanic at age 16. Some 20 years later, he had amassed an automotive empire consisting of 40 dealerships.

Following his stint as a mechanic, Staluppi ran several successful Sunoco stations before taking a risk acquiring a Honda motorcycle store in the early 1970's. Within 10 years he owned 20 Honda dealerships before branching out acquiring other brands.

He has since dialed back the number of dealerships, but says he still "loves the continuous excitement and challenge" the business provides.

Despite divesting several stores the last several years, Staluppi still is a force in automotive retail. Selling nine brands at 17 different dealerships dotted throughout New York's Long Island area, the Atlantic Automotive Group generated $1.6 billion in total revenue in 2010 making it one of the top 15 dealer groups in the country.

Its Atlantic Hyundai store was the top selling Hyundai dealership in the U.S. with 6,214 new Hyundai sales in 2010. It marks the 12 consecutive year Atlantic has boasted the top selling Hyundai dealership – either Planet Hyundai in Las Vegas (which owner John Staluppi recently sold) or Atlantic Hyundai.

Hyundai has awarded Atlantic with its Hyundai Board of Excellence award for 12 consecutive years recognizing it for exemplary customer service in addition to its sales leadership.

Staluppi credits good people and process to his group's success. He recently brought on two of his top people, John Pickett and Michael Brown, as partners in the group. Brown worked for the Penske Automotive Group from 2000-2007 and has a master's degree in business from Boston University. Pickett, meanwhile, spent his entire career with Staluppi working his way up through the Atlantic organization becoming partner this year.

In 1998, Staluppi founded Millennium Yachts, a Florida-based firm that builds luxury yachts.
The World is Not Enough is one of Staluppi's featured yachts and with 20,000 horsepower is one of the fastest yachts in the world with a top speed of 75 mph (61 knots).

In another display of versatility, Staluppi built the Car of Dreams museum located in the Village Shoppes in North Palm Beach, FL. The museum features a stunning collection of vehicles -- most of which are from the 1950s -- staged in a custom built village capturing the spirit of small town America.

12 Questions with John Staluppi

  1. Becoming Number One:
      It's all about people and process.

  2. Staying on top:
      Focusing on the growth areas of our business, customer retention and the Internet.

  3. Key Vendors or partners:
      Reynolds & Reynolds; AAX (DealerTrack's inventory management system)

  4. Something unique about Atlantic Hyundai:
      Our average employee tenure is over 10 years.

  5. Favorite part about being a dealer:
      The continuous challenge and excitement.

  6. Favorite vehicle:
      1962 Corvette

  7. Charities:
      Make-A-Wish Foundation

  8. One homerun in 2010:
      Using the Joe Verde training sessions

  9. Something you would do differently last year:
      Well, we just didn't have enough focus on our used car business.

  10. What would you improve in the automotive industry?
      Due to the industry reputation, it is very tough to recruit and attract educated young people. It is a great business and people would see that if they gave it the chance.

  11. Next five years:
      Look for Hyundai to continue on its path of gaining market share.

  12. Leadership:
      A leader finds a way to get the most out of his people. A leader builds a team and surrounds himself with people more talented than himself.

Cars of Dreams Museum