Over a 70-year (!) marriage the Nethercutts made their fortune with the Merle Norman Cosmetics company, and the influence of their involvement in the beauty industry shows in their collection.

I think this was the largest number of pictures I've ever taken in one place: 416 shots in total. About half are exhibit cards, which I usually exclude to keep posts manageable and because they're usually captured only well enough for me to use for reference later. For this collection I'm going to include them because they're informative and decorative and I did a good job of capturing the majority of them.

This page will take some time to load; it's probably the biggest I've done yet.

The Main Vehicle Collection

outside		A very stylish-looking building, in soft tones. I didn't realize my only picture of it was not so good. Across the street is another set of buildings in the same scheme that look like office/production facilities that I didn't bother to shoot. We'll find out later that there's a big surprise in one of them.
Inside Entrance		The main collection space is a large but stylish high-ceilinged warehouse full of vehicles. Full of vehicles. Tight spacing, narrow walking lanes, and ropes sometimes made photography tricky with my small camera. Nonetheless, you'll see I was undaunted. :)
Entrance vehicles In the front door and right into vehicles, some I recognized from The Mullin, and one with the name of a car I've seen at home.		1929 Kissel Model 8-126 White Eagle Speedster A fellow at home has this 1912 Model 4-50 Fire Chief's Car so I recognized this marque right away.		1913 Chalmers Model 18-Six Touring		1937 Talbot-Lago T150 C-SS Sport Coupe		1931 Bugatti Type 51 "Dubos" Coupe originally a Grand Prix racecar
Front wall Some lovely cars, photography hampered by my camera's limitations in bright sunlight.		1938 Mercedes-Benz Model 540K Cabriolet A		1930 Rolls-Royce Phantom II Town Car   Constance Bennett		1930 Cord Model L-29 Front Drive Town Car   E.L. Cord's namesake		1936 Duesenberg Model SJN Convertible Coupe   the last Duesenberg model		1937 Cord 812 Supercharged Convertible Phaeton Sedan "baby Duesenberg "
Rolls-Royce I've seen a few Rollers, but never this many together. A historical survey.		1937 Rolls-Royce Model 25/30 Sedanca de Ville "Baby Rolls Royce"		1955 Rolls-Royce Silver Wraith Touring Limousine Marjorie Merriweather Post		1958 Rolls-Royce Silver Wraith Limousine Mrs. Eli Lilly		1963 Rolls-Royce Silver Cloud III Saloon		1972 Rolls-Royce Phantom VI Limousine
1966 Rolls-Royce Phantom V Touring Limousine		1937 Rolls-Royce Phantom III Sedanca de Ville		1932 Rolls-Royce Phantom II Croydon Victoria   daughter of Frank Woolworth		1930 Rolls-Royce Phantom I Marlborough Town Car		Caning: hand-painted faux cane		1913 Rolls-Royce Silver Ghost Town Carriage
Back wall   Packard Marine Engine: Patrol Torpedo Boat		1936 Pierce-Arrow Travelodge Model A Travel Trailer		1937 Pierce-Arrow Model 1702 Enclosed-Drive Limousine		interior		A cozy home on wheels. Except for the lack of kitchen it's pretty much like any travel trailer. It has a bathroom sink and toilet. And fine woodwork. $899 new. As with the automobiles, the trailers were over-produced and under-priced.		cast iron stove
		Popper & Co. Model 13 "Iduna"ca 1915 A total of 159 pipes, twenty-seven of each for violins, clarinets, flutes and piccolos, twelve for cellos (being a bass extension of the violin rank), and thirty-nine gambas, the piano with mandolin attachment and twenty-seven note xylophone accompanied by fifteen orchestra bells, bass drum with tympani effect, snare drum, cymbal and triangle and a solo capacity to bells, xylophone and pipes. (from a similar one at auction)				1946 Volkswagen Type 11 Saloon   built under British occupation		1948 Tucker Model 48 Sedan   Tucker #40 of 51		1941 Packard 1907, Custom Super 8 Sport Sedan
Back up the aisle while we wait for the Tour. More hints of the music box collection.		1911 Oldsmobile Limited, Series 27 Limousine the only one left, original and unrestored		1917 Simplex Crane Model 5 Touring		1916 Pierce-Arrow Model 48B-3, 5-Passenger Touring integrated headlamps		1911 Matheson Model 18 Silent Six Touring Kermit the Frog		1907 Pierce Great Arrow (65Q) Touring formerly bicycles and birdcages
1905 Multiphone wax-cylinder jukebox		Mills Novelty Company Bow Front Violano Virtuoso, ca 1925		<--- This electric violin-playing machine accepts nickels, and works. I can't recall what the tune was though. Rotating wheels "bow" the strings. Self-tuning. Also has a 44-key piano for accompaniment. Uses paper rolls, 5 tunes per roll.		Regina Music Box Company Coronet Multi-Disc Music Box		1906 Pope-Toledo Type XII Touring		1907 Westinghouse Model 40 Demi-Limousine French, original, unrestored

The Guided Tour

A 2-hour guided tour is available, held once or twice a day. Admission is free, but reservations are necessary because space is limited. We leave this building and cross the street to a nondescript windowless tower.

1st Floor: Lower Salon
We've already seen a few music machines at the Musical Instrument Museum in Phoenix, AZ . Now we're going to see quite a few more. These are parlour models.		Regina Music Box Company Disc Music Box & Stand		Mills Novelty Company Mills Double Violano Virtuoso, ca 1925		<-------------------------   actually a glockenspiel ------------------------->		Automatic Musical Company Automatic Self_Playing Xylophone, ca 1905		F.G. Otto & Sons Olympia Disc Music Box
1932 Packard Model 906, Twin-Six Convertible Roadster		1930 Cadillac Model 452A Dual-Cowl Phaeton   rare hybrid		1932 De Dion-Bouton Model DM Roadster   once in the Ford museum		1924 Cadillac Model V-63, 7-Passenger Touring   "inherently balanced" V-8		1913 Case 40 Model 0 Fire Truck   only 2800 miles from new		1904 Cameron Model J Experimental Light Touring
1903 Peerless Type 6, Style F Rear-Entrance Tonneau Phil Hill		1930 Packard Model 734 Speedster Eight Victoria		1947 Ford Super Deluxe 79A Station Wagon		1932 Lincoln Series 241, Model KB Twelve Convertible Sedan		1958 Vespa Model 400 "Jolly"   one-off tribute to the Fiat Jolly beach car		1931 Stutz DV-32 5-Passenger Sedan
1909 Packard Model Thirty Runabout		1927 Star Model M Coupe		1937 Packard 1507 Fifteenth Series Touring Sedan		1925 Cunningham Series V-6 Sport Touring		1932 Chrysler Series CL 8 Custom Imperial Convertible Sedan		1914 Peerless Model 48-Six Touring
1914 Rauch & Lang Model B4 Electric Brougham		1914 General Electric Mercury Arc, 100 AMP Battery Charger/Rectifier		Mr. Nethercutt wasn't always a "car guy". It wasn't until he'd been married over 20 years (probably wise :)) that he bought his first collectible cars for restoration, in 1956: a 1936 Duesenberg Convertible Roadster (seen on the Front Wall earlier) and a 1930 DuPont Town Car (coming soon). Restoring the DuPont took 18 months instead of a few weeks but in 1958 it claimed the "Best of Show" award at the prestigious Pebble Beach Concours d'Elegance . His cars have since gone on to win many more awards. After 20 minutes of browsing, we're brought together for some background on the collection, and then we're on to the 2nd floor which looks nothing like this one.
2nd Floor: Grand Salon
A model of automobile showrooms of the 1910s, 20s, and 30s, when really only the well-heeled could afford these new inventions, and the very wealthy would know of and shop for ones like these.
1934 Packard 1108 Twelve Convertible Sedan				bright and shiny shiny shiny, marble and columns and mirrors and chandeliers lighting all the wonders		1933 Duesenberg Model SJ Arlington Torpedo Sedan				engine   Also known as the "Twenty Grand" because of its astonishing $20,000 pricetag.
1928 Daimler Double Six 30 Touring Saloon		1930 Minerva AL Limousine de Ville multi-continent traveller abandoned in Canada		1923 Hispano-Suiza Model H6B Cabriolet de Ville		1932 Maybach DS8 Zeppelin Sport Cabriolet V-12 designed by Count Ferdinand von Zeppelin		1934 Packard Model 1108 Twelve Sport Phaeton Inspired The Hussy Collection   see before and after		1933 Hispano-Suiza Model J12 Coupe de Ville first French woman pilot
1905 Franklin Model E Gentleman's Roadster   New York to San Francsico in 33 days, air-cooled		1923 McFarlan Model 154 Knickerbocker Cabriolet Rosco "Fatty" Arbuckle		1932 American Austin Bantam Roadster		1909 Gobron-Brillié Model 70/90 Tourer   Australia, two opposing pistons per cylinder		1903 Ruxton Front Drive Sedan   only 96 produced, 17 survive		1923 Locomobile Model 48 Victoria Sedan
1886 Benz MK1 Patent Motorwagen   1986 replica		1901 Toledo Model A Steam Carriage		1930 DuPont Model G Town Car   Mr. Nethercutt's first restoration		1928 Isotta-Fraschini Model 8A All-Weather Landaulet Cabriolet Mrs. Edmund C. Lynch		1930 Cadillac Model 452A Town Cabriolet   Cecil B. DeMille		1926 Pierce-Arrow Series 33 Runabout
1906 Franklin Model G Light Touring   air-cooled		(L) 1912 Cadillac Model Thirty 4-Passenger Coupe (R) 1905 Buick Model J (?) Touring		1913 De Dion-Bouton Type EY 50hp Limousine		1912 Franklin Model G Series 1 Runabout   air-cooled		1898 Eisenach Runabout   ancestor of BMW		Wurlitzer roll player
Now up the stairs, past a player piano that       earlier played "Rhapsody in Blue" recorded on a piano roll by George Gershwin ...						...to see this view from above.
quite spectacular
3rd Floor: Mezzanine						radiator mascots		galore!		"Spirit of the West"
We leave the vehicle collection behind for a while for 18th & 19th century French furniture, more music players, and 8 display cases of radiator mascots.		Paillard Station Music Box, ca 1895?				H.A. Brassard (?) Captain's Desk Music Box, ca 1875 (?)		folded-paper gramophone speaker		Crafted from silver, depicting the early west. Made for exhibition in San Francisco at the 1915 Panama Pacific International Exposition by the International Silver Co.
4th Floor: Music Room "Cloud 99"		oops, shaky shot		The Gem Roller Organ		S. Hermitage & Sons		player piano		6-hands player piano
Most of the Nethercutt's music machines live in this large elegant salon, walls lined with over a dozen European Orchestrions augmented by several Reproducing Pianos and a variety of cylinder and disc Music Boxes . All overlooked by a Louis XV-style dining room.
								little men ring bells		Mortier 84-key, ca 1928
Popper open		Hupfeld Helios		M. Welte & Söhne Style 3 Cottage Orchestrion, ca 1908		open		Encore Automatic Banjo		dual-disc player
Musical Watches		The smallest of the music machines. There was also a collection of what we usually think of as "music boxes" in several large display cases lining the entrance to the Salon.				Wurlitzer Automatic Harp Style B(?)		Bosendorfer Model 290 Imperial 97 keys - eight full octaves, with the extra 9 bass keys in reveresed colours. Weighs 2 tons (1.8 tonnes). This one has a player option with a (remote) PC computer console.		1912 Pathé Camera Used by D. W. Griffith on The Birth of a Nation (1914-15) and Intolerance (1916).
The tour has two guides: a lady to talk and provide commentary on the collection items, and a man to help herd us around but primarily to operate the music machines. In the Salon he led the show to demonstrate his great enthusiasm for his regular job as maintainer of the music collection, and the next two items.
Hupfeld Excelsior-Pan Orchester 1924-26						left pipes		open		right pipes
An Orchestrion is a music box that tries to replicate an orchestra . I seem to remember that this one has 157 instruments built into the cabinet and walls. It was custom- built for a Dutch hotel based on the Helios III/39 (I think), like the other Helios above but extended with multiple side cabinets for more instruments.						accordion
Wurlitzer Hope-Jones Unit Orchestra Centered in the salon is the keyboard console for the 5,000-pipe Mighty Wurlitzer Theatre Organ ("Unit Orchestra")						on an elevated riser during show time		Behind the big Excelsior-Pan is a wall full of theatre organ, once used to accompany silent movies. Originally simple "church" organs, Robert Hope-Jones extended the "theatre" organ concept to include a complete orchestra and introduced several technical and stylistic innovations like electro-pneumatic action, curved consoles with tabs for stops, new tonal colours for movie music, and sound effects controlled through two swing-out panels on either side of the console.
The museum has extended the console to include a remote-control computer interface tucked away in a corner of the Salon. After a 20-minute walkabout the 2nd guide delighted in presenting a demonstration of some of the system's features and abilities, and then a computer-driven set of three famous tunes.

Wow, that was quite unexpected, and in a great way. That's what happens when you do just enough homework on where you're going. Mind you, the Nethercutt website doesn't really convey the sizable scope of their collection and this place is a hidden gem.

Now, Back to the Cars

I was a photographin' phool, I admit. Collect 'em all! is my motto. I have a collection of automobilia and other odd things, and have had other collections since youth so in the presence of the "free" nature of digital photo collection for a place I may likely never visit again with a brain that may not remember so well someday I... collect 'em all. TFS blessedly puts up with my flitting (or zooming) about and click-click of my camera, leaning over exhibit cards or pushing the limits of protection ropes, catching her in shots and then re-shooting, and being anything but a leisurely musem browser. So here's a wall of the rest of the cars.

1913 Mercedes 37/95 Double Phaeton - Torpedo		1936 Pierce-Arrow Model 1603 Imperial Saloon Limousine		1937 Graham Cavalier Series 95 Sedan original, unrestored, 28,555 miles		1925 Franklin Model 10C Sedan   air-cooled, wooden chassis		1913 Christie Front-Drive Steam Pumper/Fire Engine
1923 LaFayette Model 134, 4-Passenger Coupe   luxury by Charles W. Nash		1952 Hudson Hornet, Twin-H, Convertible Brougham		1915 Stevens-Duryea Model DD, 7-Passenger Touring		1916 Dort Model 5/Touring		1919 Packard 3-35, Twin-Six, 7-Passenger Sedan   Fleetwood body, Phil Hill		1913 Winton Model 17-D Six 4-Passenger Touring   pioneer US maker
1916 Packard Model 1-25 Twin-Six Limousine		1925 Chevrolet Superior Model, Series K Touring		1915 Ford Model "T" Coupelet		1914 Knox 46-Little Six/Touring		1930 Ford Model A / Sport Coupe		1931 Ford Model A, Deluxe Phaeton (180A)
1915 Packard Model 5-48, 7-Passenger / Touring the largest Packard		1936 Ford Model 68 Deluxe Roadster		1919 Pierce-Arrow Model 51 7-Passenger Touring		1932 Lincoln Series 231, KB, Coupe		1930 Packard 745, Deluxe Eight/Imperial Sport Laundaulet one-of-a-kind		1928 Stearns-Knight Model J-8-90 Limousine
1928 Chrysler Model 72 Sport Roadster		1938 Cadillac Series 90 Convertible Sedan   Ganna Walska		1935 Cadillac Model 452D 5-Passenger Convertible		1932 Chevrolet Confederate Series, Model BA Deluxe Coupe		1932 Cadillac 355-B Deluxe Sport Coupe   last "tombstone" radiator shell		1933 Cadillac Model 452-C Imperial Limousine
1931 Cadillac Model 370A Convertible Coupe		1931 Daimler Double Six 50 Royal Limousine		1932 Cadillac Model 452B Deluxe Sport Phaeton		1928 Pierce-Arrow Model 36, 7-Passenger Touring		1930 Cadillac Model 452A Imperial Cabriolet		A little break in the stream of vehicles to look down the middle aisle. There is A LOT of automotive history in this building.
1937 Cadillac Series 90 Aero-Dynamic Coupe influential styling		1930 Marmon Big Eight, Model 112 Sedan		1928 Minerva AM Convertible Town Cabriolet Belgium, Billy Mitchell		1932 Pierce-Arrow Model 52 Sedan		1921 Lincoln Model L Phaeton   " Leland Built"		1923 Voisin C-5 Sporting Victoria   Rudolph Valantino bought 3
1912 Alco Model 9-60 7-Passenger Touring		1920 Kenworthy Model 4-80 7-Passenger Touring the only one		1911 Pope-Hartford Model Y 7-Passenger Touring		1913 Lozier Type 72 Lakewood Torpedo with open and closed bodies		1911 Moon Model Thirty Toy Tonneau		1922 REO Model T6 7-Passenger Touring Ransom E. Olds
1928 Gardner Eight-In-Line 85, Sport Sedan		1916 Simplex Crane, Model 5/Touring		1918 Pierce-Arrow 66 Prototype 7-Passenger Touring test car, only 1 of 4 surviving		1926 Bugatti Type 23 Brescia Cabriolet original, unrestored, fabric body		1910 Hudson Model 20 Touring		1908 Northern Model C Touring
1956 Packard Caribbean, 56th Series/Convertible		1923 Moon Model 6-58/Sport Touring		1928 Diana The Light Straight 8/Sedan Deluxe		1933 Pierce-Arrow Model 1242 7-Passenger Touring		1933 Franklin Model 17A Club Brougham the "Bankers Car"		1931 Packard 845 Deluxe Eight Sport Sedan Irene Rich
1933 Pierce-Arrow Model 1247 Convertible Sedan		1937 Lincoln Model K / Twelve Berline		1938 Lincoln Model K Twelve Touring Coupe		Whew! That's alotta carsss... 133, give or take - you count :). And there were a few I didn't shoot, and a few more that I think I missed. This collection could really used about 30% more space, just to loosen it up a little. Unlike the other two transport museums in my Top 3 (below), the vehicles are roped off so interior shots are not so easy.

On the Way Out

Parts Car guys collect up car parts. Fancy-car guys collect up fancy-car parts.		There was a long wall of about a dozen cabinets with spare parts and gifted items like mounted hood mascots. No greasy piles of junk though: these were all cleaned and polished for show.		Carburettors Headlamps		Horns Accoutrements		Horns Glass Mascots		Headlamps Mascots
Small Showroom Not sure what the theme of this room was.		1927 Lincoln cutaway engine   1 of 5 for the Ford Trade School		1950 Mercury Customized Coupe   Joe Bailon		1933 American Austin Bantam Coupe		1934 Ford Model 40 Deluxe Roadster
Lobby There isn't much of a lobby, not even a gift shop. Ladies are encouraged to visit the Merle Norman shop in another building though. :)				1920s Hammond Multiplex Closed Universal Typewriter   Used by Formula 1 race driver Phil Hill to write his columns for "Road & Track" magazine.   By rotating the type shuttle, fonts could be switched in seconds.		1905 Dalton Adding Machine		Outside We ran out of time and I was more focused on the cars inside to tour (guided only) the steam locomotive out back.		1937 Canadian Pacific Railway Royal Hudson Locomotive #2839 with 1912 Pullman Private Car #100 California

A most impressive collection! Cars (and Not-Cars) I've never seen. In my Top 3 with the Lane Motor Museum in Nashville, TN and Mullin Automotive Museum in Oxnard, CA . Early AutoAmericana from a time when anyone could jump into the automaker business, with some names I'd only heard of, and some I hadn't. Having seen a room full of music machines in the Musical Instrument Museum in Phoenix, AZ the collection of machines of every size across the street from our original destination added hugely. I really knew diddly about music machines before this winter; now I know a whole lot more. Who knew?

I could have used an extra hour and battery to capture everything in my collector- and expositor-ly way.