Founder of Automobilia Vintage and a lifelong collector, Steve Contarino’s journey is a testament to the enduring spirit of automotive history – and the thrill of preserving it, one artifact at a time.
Steve’s origin story begins not with a single car, but with a hundred. His early venture, Adamson Industries, specialized in restoring Checker automobiles, amassing a fleet that once rivaled small dealerships. But as the realities of space, labor, and weather set in, Steve pivoted after many dedicated years. “I could still do this,” he recalls, “but with items that don’t take up so much room.” Thus, Automobilia Vintage was born – a haven for quarter-scale models, clay prototypes, and rare design studies that capture the essence of automotive innovation.
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What drives a collector like Steve? It’s not just the object – it’s the story. “I love the things you’re not supposed to have,” he admits. Among his prized possessions are three clay dune buggy models from Mercedes-Benz, never meant to see the light of day. “They were smuggled out, somehow,” he says with a grin. These pieces, once destined for destruction, now live on as tangible whispers of what might have been.
Another gem: a quarter-scale Ford model rescued from a shuttered office in Sterling Heights, Michigan. “Meet me at the corner,” the anonymous caller said. Steve dispatched a friend to retrieve the baby car, which was a piece of design history that nearly vanished into obscurity.
Steve’s collecting philosophy is part serendipity, part obsession. “The majority of it finds me,” he says. Whether it’s a mislabeled “toy car” at a major auction or a prototype Spirit of Ecstasy hood ornament made of shatterable material to meet U.S. pedestrian safety standards, Steve’s eye for detail and relentless curiosity turn overlooked items into museum-worthy treasures.
One of his most surprising finds came from a train auction, of all places. Hidden among model locomotives were 20 lots of Gordon Buehrig automobilia (sampled above) – including clay models, fiberglass cars, and prospectuses for a mobile office concept. “It was out of place,” Steve says. “But I was successful on 20 of 20.”
Spotlight
Synopsis
This Break/Fix podcast episode features Steve Contarino, founder of Automobilia Vintage, as he delves into his journey of collecting automotive memorabilia. Steve discusses his passion for automotive history, rare artifacts, and vintage racing posters, and recounts his experiences with various car companies and collectible items. Alongside his stories, Steve shares insights into the collector market, the evolution of collecting trends, and offers advice for new collectors; highlighting the importance of preserving automotive history and the joy of collecting.
- What inspired you to start Automobilia Vintage, and how did your passion for automotive history begin?
- How do you go about finding rare automobilia, and what’s the thrill of discovering a hidden gem? Can you share the story behind one of your favorite or most unique items in the collection?
- Are there any stories behind items in your collection that surprised or even shocked you?
- What role do you think automobilia plays in preserving the history and culture of motorsports? How do you balance the historical significance of a piece with its aesthetic or display appeal?
- How has the collector community evolved since you first started, and what trends are you seeing now?
- What advice would you give to someone just starting their own automobilia collection?
Transcript
Crew Chief Brad: [00:00:00] Break Fix podcast is all about capturing the living history of people from all over the autos sphere, from wrench, turners, and racers to artists, authors, designers, and everything in between. Our goal is to inspire a new generation of Petrolhead that wonder. How did they get that job or become that person?
The Road to Success is paved by all of us because everyone has a story.
Crew Chief Eric: Tonight we’re thrilled to welcome Steve Contarino, founder of Automobilia Vintage, a one of a kind destination for collectors and enthusiasts. Passionate about automotive history and memorabilia
Don Weberg: from rare, classic car artifacts to vintage racing posters and historic automobilia. Steve has spent years curating a collection that captures the spirits of motorsports across generations.
We’ll dive into his journey building Automobilia Vintage. The stories behind some of the most remarkable pieces in his collection and what drives his passion for [00:01:00] preserving automotive history for fans old and new. Whether you’re a seasoned collector or just love the romance of classic cars, this episode is a pit stop you won’t wanna miss.
Crew Chief Eric: And joining us tonight is returning co-host Don Weiberg from Garage Style Magazine, one of the many personalities on the Motor Inc podcast network. So welcome back, Don.
Don Weberg: Thank you. Thank you, Eric. Good to be here. Thanks very much.
Crew Chief Eric: And with that, let’s officially welcome Steve to break fix. Steve, welcome.
Steve Contarino: Thank you. Thank you.
Crew Chief Eric: Let’s rewind the clock a little bit and talk about your superhero origin story in the automotive world. What inspired you to start Automobilia Vintage and how did your passion for automotive history begin? So
Steve Contarino: the funny thing is, how did my automotive passion begin? You know, I’ve always been so interested in the automotive industry, how it began.
Boy, aren’t we back here again with the implementation of technology and what that electric car, so the horse and buggy, there was no way that [00:02:00] automobile was gonna make it because everybody’s gonna be riding horses forever and yeah, it’s just gonna be a flash in the pan and it’ll be gone. I like the little bits of history.
So I’ve loved all things mechanical and automobile related. I remember one time I ran up to a car that was at a high end auction and I said, why would there be a Model T here? And my friend said, bottle T. Well, where do you see what that goes for? Why? Why? What’s so special about a red bottle? TI said, because it’s red.
And he said, that’s not a model T, that’s a model K. And I said, okay, tell me. Well, Henry Ford went bankrupt twice before he was actually successful. And that may have been three years, I’m not sure. But just the history of that. Who knew?
Crew Chief Eric: Well, you also have an interesting background, or we’ll call it career in the automotive industries.
Little Birdie told me you were involved not only with police cars, but with Checker cab.
Steve Contarino: Yeah. Both being involved with Ford, [00:03:00] Dodge, and Chevrolet, and then even a few of the companies who’ve actually come and gone in law enforcement, Tesla, they were in, they’re out, they’re back in again. Fisca actually dipped their foot in for a little while before the end, but there’s been a lot of companies that have come and gone.
You know, I’ve always followed automotive design and why do they do that? Why do they do that? Why do they make it this way? Why is it that way? You know, I’ve been to many automobile factories and I’ve always been so impressed by them taking pieces and parts. Driving it out the other end. I, I never knew that most of these manufacturers, they don’t even own what we call automobiles or if you’re from the New England area, cars, their assembly.
And I didn’t know that. I said, well, wait a minute. What’s an assembly? Well, assembly is an automobile, but it has not gone over that threshold to be [00:04:00] sold. So before it’s sold, it’s called an assembly. It’s been done for years, decades, forever, and ever. And a lot of your followers probably don’t even realize this.
One of America’s largest automobile manufacturers is located in Massachusetts, still to this day. It’s a company called Factory Five. They make a lot of different models. They’re incredible. They make automobiles, but they don’t put engines in, so they make assemblies. You know, I was so interested in that type of thing.
I said, I wanna do it. I wanna make an automobile. I like this checker automobile, but I, I just wanna own it. I don’t know why I restore them. I have them. I’m gonna own it. I got all the intellectual property and patents and anything that was available. Making an automobile was very, very difficult and expensive.
It’s billions, but legislation [00:05:00] passed that you could build what was called replica automobiles. Not knowing that this legislation was coming along and, and. Poof. You can make a small amount of automobiles and be successful just buying pieces and parts here and there, and body being the most difficult.
Everything besides the body is easy breezy, but the bodies were the most difficult thing. And we had found some companies that actually make Camaro Mustang Bronco bodies, and we just said, Hey, what about a checking body? And they were on board. So even the most difficult thing was not that difficult.
Putting it all together was not that difficult Meeting National highway transportation safety requirement, not that difficult. EPA came along. It wasn’t that difficult until EPA decided gasoline powered engines were gonna be something that would make impossible. But [00:06:00] anyway, that’s why it, it stopped where it did.
California Air Resources Bureau said, let us think about it. Came back with a roadblock. That roadblock essentially ended the legislation that allowed the ability to make a gasoline powered automobile. So it all went crashing to an end. And to this day, everything is still in neutral. There’s still some companies who were trying to t trudge forward, but right now there’s legislation, you can do it, but you can’t power it.
But putting an engine in the chassis in that vehicle is what creates what’s called the requirement to be EPA in California Air Resources Bureau. And that’s the stumbling point. So right now, it’s impossible to meet with any engine and transmission combination that’s available. So I shouldn’t say impossible, just extremely expensive.
It’s just not gonna happen.
Crew Chief Eric: During your career, during your journey, you collected an [00:07:00] entire car company, but then you’ve morphed this into collecting things from the automotive industry as well. So the birth of Automobilia vintage. Why don’t we switch gears and kind of talk about that. Where did that come from?
Steve Contarino: That’s elementary. If you have a hundred cars, which I did checkers, it was Restoration Park, whatever you needed, we had it ready to go. Took up a lot of space, took up a lot of labor, took up a huge amount of money, and I said, Hey, wait a second. I could still do this. And I could get items that are not so big and don’t take up so much room.
Boy, if I love them, somebody else loves them, so I can love ’em for a little while and turn them onto the next caretaker. So it’s like. Automobiles but smaller. I’ve got quarter scale models. I’ve got all different size clay models from all the manufacturers. So it’s just a way of being involved in the automotive industry, collecting automobiles, but in a smaller way.[00:08:00]
And it, it’s fun. It’s a lot of fun.
Don Weberg: Steve, I’m gonna guess you’ve been collecting for a lot longer than Automobile Vintage. Has been in business, been collecting since you were a kid, or how long have you been collecting?
Steve Contarino: I still have things from my young age. You know, I would say back to when I was teen 15, 14, I mean, I was working at 13.
The things I, I would always collect were kind of always automotive related. You know, I worked at a towing service. I worked in all kind of industries that brought me near something related to the auto industry. My wife and I started Adamson Industries. I was 23, you know, when she was 20. We were kids. The things that I saw throughout my career, I collected.
It wasn’t big, but it grew and grew, grew, grew and, and today, yeah, it’s a thing called automobile Vintage.
Don Weberg: Okay. So how do you go about finding rare automobilia? Is there something [00:09:00] you do specifically to find what you want, what you like? Is there something, is there some criterion that turns Steve on that says, oh, oh, I’ve gotta have that?
Or is it just you’re walking down an aisle at a swap meet, you see something, you think, oh man, I gotta have that. You don’t even know what it is. You never expected to find it. What is it? How do you go about finding rare stuff?
Steve Contarino: It’s like. A lot of car collectors will say, and it, you probably heard this before, the majority of it finds me the rest of it.
I’m always searching for, there’s shows and there’s books about finding that barn find, finding that hidden treasure.
Don Weberg: Mm-hmm.
Steve Contarino: I’m the same way, but I had to dial it back a little bit and automobiles were something that, it took up a lot of the space. I mean, the scope of Adamson Industries. Okay. Just for example, when I had 100 checkers.
It was taken the space of 100 cars. Adamson in his shoes on any given day [00:10:00] had 300 cars on the ground. Oh, wow. You can imagine what it’s like when you have 400 cars, but now you have 300 cars. It’s big. It’s a lot. Especially when you are in an area where December-ish things start changing quickly. When it snows, it’s tough.
So you think about, you know, that amount of vehicles and trying to keep it so that they’re not frozen in time. That’s a monumental task. Cutting down a hundred cars, it wasn’t such a hard decision. It hurt my heart. I know a lot of enthusiasts thought it wasn’t the right thing to do. You know, I, I did take a, a lot of negative publicity about how I had no care for these cars.
But I sit here today and I could have a hundred of these small cars and they don’t take up much room and I can keep ’em under a roof where it doesn’t snow on them, and I can manage that. It’s much easier [00:11:00] and much simpler, but it’s just as rewarding. It really is enjoyable.
Don Weberg: Alright, so tell us the story behind finding one of your favorite or your most unique items in your collection.
Steve Contarino: I’m passionate. I really, really am. I look for a lot of things. Some days there are days where I go, well, you know something that could be my favorite, or, no, that’s my favorite, or that’s my favorite. But I find these things that get closest to my heart just like anybody else. You’re not supposed to have that.
So I have a few Mercedes design studies, and those Mercedes design studies were of things like a doom buggy. Mercedes never wanted to get let out that they were even thinking about making a dune buggy. So I’ve got these dune buggies, clay models in three different versions of a beach type car. And that’s what [00:12:00] makes me passionate.
That’s what makes my blood boil, because they’re things you’re just not supposed to have. And why are you not supposed to have them? Well, back then, I mean, these aren’t 20, 25 models. These are clay models from the eighties vintage, so you know, it’s passed the bang on the door from the legal department.
But to think that somebody somehow carried them out of there, smuggled them out of there, who knows? Don’t know. It’s like a concept car. They’re all supposed to be crushed, but yet a lot seemed to appear. So that’s exactly the things I love the most are things that you’re not supposed to have that I have this quarter scale Ford model.
I got a phone call. Hey, I, I know you’re interested in these quarter scale models. I, I’m in a bind. I said, you are in a bind. What’s the bind? I need this gone within two days. My office has been closed down in Sterling Heights, Michigan. I worked for Ford. [00:13:00] Can’t tell you any more than that. You want picked up, meet me at the corner of such I, I said I, I’m in Massachusetts, I’m in New Hampshire.
I’m on East Coast. Well, that’s the only way you’re gonna get it. I had a call, a friend of mine meet this guy at the corner of such and such. He’s going to hand you this big quarter scale model. Don’t think I’m nuts. It’s a baby car that he’s like, what? I said a baby car. It’s a quarter scale model. It was just amazing that that thing existed.
It’s amazing that that thing made it past the security gates or however, and this is a little later model, this one’s probably from the, the later nineties. So it’s, it’s that stuff that’s just amazing that it exists and you know, every day. They’re thrown into crushers or dumpsters or however they destroy it.
And it happens. So it’s, it’s like anything. A few squeak out, but the majority
Crew Chief Eric: don’t. It’s [00:14:00] interesting, Steve, that you mention that, ’cause Don has exposed me to some really unique pieces over the years. Like, Hey, I met the designer of this thing and he had the prototype of this wheel, or this component or this thing, and those little nuggets, those little hidden gems are always fascinating.
Those lesser known histories of these objects and these things that later came to production that we take for granted. And so I wonder in your journey. In this case, you talked about going there and knowing exactly what you’re getting, right? This thing’s coming off the back of the truck. But was there ever an instance where in your journey and your collecting where somebody presented you with a box and until you actually went through it, maybe you put it to the side that something popped out and you’re like, oh my God, this was in the box.
Did they make a mistake? Is there anything that’s ever surprised or shocked you? Happens all the time,
Steve Contarino: especially when someone who’s passionate has a collection. Unfortunately, they don’t always make arrangements for what would happen if something happens, you know? And that’s something being either an [00:15:00] illness or a death or something.
I’ll give you an example. I, I’m always looking for something. I’m on this auction site, train auction, like toy trains. I look and I go, wait a minute. That’s not a toy train, that’s a real train. Real crossing gates. I couldn’t believe that there was such a, a following who would collect all this train stuff.
So I started looking at it and you know, I said, wow, okay. And then I kept checking back ’cause I was kind of interested. I said, you know, trains, planes, automobiles, right? So kept looking. All of a sudden this auction company pops up with 20 lots of Gordon Buring mobilia, including clay model of a concept.
He had to do a mobile office. When you wanna do something with a client, we don’t want the client to come to our office, we’re gonna bring our office to the client. He had the start process. He was gonna make [00:16:00] this mobile office. Now this is long after you know the Auburn and designing all the cars. And this was later in his career.
And that’s an idea he came up with. And when I found that stuff, I was like. How does that have anything to do with trade? Well, good. Buring liked trains. Okay. This widow sold everything with the trains and this auction company had the trains. It’s amazing, and not only does it then include that, it includes some fiberglass cars.
We make it based on Corvettes. He made like three or four of these neoclassic Corvettes, all kind of documents, pictures, literature, cases, and cases of these leather bound. He in made prospectus that you would hear into somebody if you wanted them to back you financially or a dealership or something.
That stuff is just amazing and that it [00:17:00] existed, that I found it at a training auction and that it’s available now because I’ve had it. Now I share it. So what I say is I love it. I love the fact of what it is, but there’s gonna be somebody who’s gonna love the Gordon Buring connection and it’s available.
So I have that. And then I have all kind of automotive related items that have a story. And remember, everybody always says it’s not about what it is, it’s the story. Where did it come from? Why is it unique? And almost to a negative, I list as much information as I can. And I talk about not only the item, but why, where it’s from, what it is, what it’s made of, why it was made.
And so much of it, it’s all rich with automotive history. It’s all very, very exciting to me. It just, I enjoy it very much.
Don Weberg: And Steve, you have all these items from that train auction.
Steve Contarino: I do. And I was [00:18:00] very successful. On 20 of 20. Wow. No, I mean it was out of place. It shouldn’t have been there. And I see that a lot.
Crew Chief Eric: Is that a case of people not knowing what they have or is it just wanting to get rid of it quickly? What do you think the method is behind that?
Steve Contarino: All of the above. I think that auction companies, a lot of times, unless you hit the right one, they’re gonna look at the bulk of what you have. They don’t look at the individuals of it.
If you go to a specialized auction, they’ll do the the back work on it. You know, I bought things at auctions and even some of the most well-known automotive auctions, they’ll have something on a shelf and they’ll say, toy car. I’ll say, well, what kind of toy car? We don’t know. It’s a toy car. We give you some details.
It’s pretty big. How big? Well, three feet long. I’m like, okay. And in my mind, you know how that slot machine goes, ding, dinging, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, dinging. [00:19:00] So I’m like, there’s no three foot long toy cars that are made of clay that I know of, except for concept models. Right? And I’ve done it and I’ve seen it and it still happens.
All the time. It’s a toy car. I mean, I don’t know why they didn’t do the back work. They’re auctioning off a hundred cars and maybe 200 pieces of automobile and that thing just happened to be, I don’t know. It’s a toy car. It’s not a real car. What are we gonna say? Toy car.
Crew Chief Eric: Okay, so you’ve mentioned a couple times auction companies and things of that where you’re going to select things from your own collection, or you’re maybe finding those hidden gems that we’ve been alluding to, but with the rise of popularity of shows, and some of them have been around for a long time, like the Wolf Brothers on History Channel with American Pickers and things like that.
Where do you go pick where are your best finds and what do you recommend for other people? I mean, outside of Automobilia Vintage, they should come to you first, but if they were going to pick, [00:20:00] you know, and go look for items, where should they be looking?
Steve Contarino: That’s a very difficult question. It doesn’t really have a go here answer.
You are always gonna have things on eBay that are listed. Toy car, you know, there’s a lot of cool stuff on eBay. Unfortunate, it’s like everything else. It’s like looking through the phone book and trying to find the, a’s you know, there’s a lot of, A’s in that phone book. What’s a phone book? Oh my god, I can’t believe I said that.
A big book dictionary there. There you go through that dictionary and you are looking for the letter as it’s just, there’s a lot of ’em and you’ve gotta look and they go, oh, wait a minute, I’m only looking for capital. As that narrows it down quite a lot. So yes, eBay, I mean all different place flea markets.
You can find automobilia. Everywhere you could find things related to the auto industry and clay models everywhere. It’s just a matter of having the diligence to keep [00:21:00] looking and looking and realizing, well wait a minute, this is a concept car one 43rd. Yes, this was, oh, they designed this car and I said, no, it’s kind of small.
I can’t see them bringing that up to the boss’s office and say, boss, listen, we designed this little car right here. This is gonna be the car. So you get the opposite too. You know you’ll get all these, well, this is a real rare Tesla concept car. So I guess Tesla had this event and you went to this event in exchange for going to this event.
They were 3D printing the next. Type of car they were gonna make. As you guys know, the models are S-E-E-X-Y. There are many versions. So the SEXY, they were handed out and they were 3D printed models. But what’s happened is they weren’t done well enough that somebody couldn’t copy ’em. So you gotta make sure you know what you’re looking [00:22:00] at.
And the real Tesla models all had numbers on the bottom of ’em. They were much better done than just somebody 3D printing one 24th or slightly larger model. That’s what you gotta do. You have to really look and out is like, know what you’re looking for. You’ve got these large auction companies and they’ve got what they call automobilia experts.
That is such a broad statement. I mean, automobilia can be assigned, it could be anything. Are they experts on automotive related collectibles? I get a lot of calls about that. Well, what do you think? And I, I try to help people out the best I can, and also to secure that item so that I can have a chance to own it for a little bit of time.
It’s really a, a learning experience. And I know there’s a lot of companies that sell automobilia and individuals who sell [00:23:00] automobilia, but they don’t specialize in that, right? From the factory stuff. That’s me. I’m I, I want a stuff that comes right out of the factory. I want the stuff that wasn’t supposed to leave.
Okay. Here’s a perfect example. I love hood ornaments. I love mascots. Okay? One day perusing on eBay in England, there’s this flying lady, the spirit of ny, the famous mascot that’s on a Rolls Royce. This one’s root beer, Cullen. And I said, why is there a root beer colored flying lady? So I asked the man about the flying lady, and he replied, he said, that’s a prototype.
And I said, what do you mean it’s a prototype? And he said, well, there was a problem. Rolls Royce couldn’t meet the USA pedestrian crash standards with that rigid hood ornament because if they hit a pedestrian, it was like a spear. And this was a prototype. And I said, well, what do you [00:24:00] mean it’ll shatter? I said, it’ll shatter.
They said, yep, it’s made of a special material and it’ll shatter. And I said, well, how do you know that? And he said, ’cause I made it. And I said, you made it? And he said, yes, I did. I was involved. And I said, okay. Would the purchase of that item include your statement? You know all about it. Absolutely. This guy went, nevermind the extra mile.
I got a CD of the testing. I got the drawings. I got the drawings of the real one that actually went on the American make How with the spring in it, and I got the whole story. I couldn’t believe my eyes. I couldn’t believe that that had happened. All it was was a matter of doing a little bit of research, asking a bunch of questions, and seeing something that.
It didn’t quite look right in getting the right answer, getting the [00:25:00] right information that made that item legitimate.
Crew Chief Eric: There’s only one other place that comes to mind that has a collection of concepts and clay models and things like you’re mentioning. So I wonder, have you ever dealt with a National Museum of Automotive Design down in the Carolinas?
Steve Contarino: I have not. I’ve heard of it. It’s on my list, but I definitely want to get there and I do know of it. Yeah, I, I actually do, but I have no, I have not had any interaction with them.
Don Weberg: Can you tell us about a memorable interaction with a fellow collector or an enthusiast that maybe helped shape your journey?
Steve Contarino: You mean a lot of people, and I’m gonna say a name and, and you know him, Don, you know him very well, and his name is Gary Wales. Oh yes. So you know what he did before he was. A mad scientist of the creator of these monstrous automobiles. Right, right. That’s amazing. I spent a lot of time talking to him about his experiences and [00:26:00] whatnot.
And I’m gonna tell you, uh, I met Gary at one of the, uh, garage style garage tours.
Don Weberg: Now you understand why you use so many voices Because no matter where I turn, I’m getting blamed for everything. You know, here he is blaming me for meeting Barry Whale. It’s not my fault. He just happen to be at the same place and I’m getting blamed for it.
Mm-hmm.
Steve Contarino: Gary amazes me ’cause he just keeps going his mind. You ever say, boy, I’d love to see the window into that mind. And every time I see his, one of his creations, it’s just amazing. But Gary, he’s got a lot. Of that automobilia and all those kinds of cool things. But yeah, I, I, I gotta tell you, he’s one of the guys, you know, I met Bob Lutts and spent some time talking to him.
You bumped into a lot. Really, really do, there’s a lot of great automotive icons out there.
Don Weberg: Tell us a little bit about Jerry.
Steve Contarino: Oh, Jerry. So Jerry [00:27:00] was real dear friend Jerry and I met about, God, I wanna say 40 years ago, I had a passion for Rolls Royce’s. Jerry was the Rolls Royce aficionado, one of America’s top automotive appraisers, collector of all things automotive and encyclopedia of anything to do with automobiles.
He’s the one who said, that’s about okay. And I’m like, oh. It is these conversations that Jerry and I had, they were well into the night. After walking all day, it shows whether it be Hershey or Monterey or Seaman in Las Vegas, Scottsdale, or any of it. I mean, we talk about design. Did you see the, the rear end of that car?
Did you notice that way? They painted that so it looked like it was longer, all that type of thing. So Jerry and I, like I said, it was a 40 year run. [00:28:00] He was 30 years older than me. I was always accused of being a son, and Jerry would laugh. He was a big collector of, uh, automobile. He only had a few cars.
I’ve always had a few more than him. But Jerry was just a wealth of knowledge, a great cheerleader too. And that’s what everybody needs is a cheerleader and a friend to always keep them going. You know, that’s one of the things Jerry, he was my cheerleader.
Crew Chief Eric: As many of our listeners know, Don is the yin to my yang, right?
But we both cherish the collecting part of the automotive world, and as people see in the behind the scenes videos, the studio here, I’ve got racing memorabilia all over the place, but it’s very different than classic car memorabilia where people will outfit their garages like you would see on Garage Style Magazine, Hey, I’m a Hudson guy and I bought all the Hudson stuff I could possibly find.
Or you know, the Hemi Hideout or whatever it is when they focus in on the cars that they have in their garages. Whereas Motorsport, I think we’re more about the driver. It’s like, [00:29:00] if it’s got ton’s name on it, I’m probably gonna pick it up and buy it, or you know, have a copy of it or whatever it is. I noticed even behind you, you’ve got a vintage sign that says auto races today, you know, which was probably part of some dirt track in New England somewhere, you know, that kind of thing.
Pointing the spectators to where they needed to go. Let’s talk about the balance and the relationship of Automobilia and preserving the history of Motorsport.
Steve Contarino: I think it’s really important because, you know, again, being a New Englander, you know, I oftentimes get to go to Newport, and a matter of fact, the Newport Concourse is coming up and you go out to Monterey and it’s all about the races, the vintage races.
Well, that just happened to be a place where it landed. But you know, you think about going to Newport, Rhode Island, what does that have to do with the automobiles and automobile? Yeah. And all that. It was a stopping point before they created the Cape Cod Canal. You couldn’t go to Boston by ship from New York.
[00:30:00] You had to go to Newport and catch the train from Newport to Boston. Well, Newport became the playground of the rich and famous. That’s the Vanderbilt, the Rockefellers. You’ve heard ’em all. But remember they had to have the firsts, the first automobile, the first of all, and those automobiles in that richness of that area resonates.
And why? Well, it got competitive. It wasn’t competitive of just, I have a car. You have a car. Then it became racing. And what the Vanderbilt cup. So, you know, you talk about motor sports, it’s like. Always evolving. You’ve got this trend. People wanna follow nasfa, now it’s F1, and they do the, uh, the alternative fuels.
And then there’s vintage racing. It’s kind of the foam that comes out from the top of the auto automotive world. Racing and automobiles go side by side. [00:31:00] That’s just something you can’t look over. I mean, there’s so many levels of automobilia. You mentioned pickers, and you look at what they go after and they go after such a broad range of items.
It’s basically anything that’s old, don’t take that as a, okay. Anything that’s old is not exciting. It is. It’s just that it’s a lot. That now means old everything. Old furniture, old items. Well, the automotive industry. Although it’s old, it’s not really that old. You look at any of the, uh, the shows that follow early times Boardwalk Empire.
Crew Chief Eric: Well, the Gilded Age is the new one.
Steve Contarino: Yes, exactly. I was gonna say Gilded Age. But Gilded Age is a spinoff of Bridgeton. So here we are, Bridgeton, they’re riding horses and carriages, and then the Guild at age, what happened? They’re in New York City. What is that thing? Making all that noise? It’s the motor car.
There’s a lot of people who don’t even [00:32:00] realize car motor, car, motor, carriage, carriage. It’s the evolution. What came with that evolution, we call it motor sports. My horse is faster than your horse
Crew Chief Eric: goes back to the chariots.
Steve Contarino: Right. Well, okay, let’s go back that far. My chariots faster than your chariots, right?
Don Weberg: That’s right. Dave, you do know when the first race took place, right? You heard that story, how the very first motor car race took place. You heard when that happened, right? I did. Yes. Yes. It it happened when the second car was built. That’s right. A absolutely.
Crew Chief Eric: And that’s something interesting that Don is foreshadowing.
My next question in the sense that I wanted to ask you about the historical significance of some of the pieces. ’cause we’ve been talking about that basically this entire time. And so what’s funny is when you’re looking at a piece and we’re talking about picking, we’re talking about, you know, building our collections and things like that.
If you and I went to a swap meet together and came across a Hain Valvoline, maybe a [00:33:00] Texaco sign, I don’t think we would have the same opinion of it because I’m thinking Texaco, Kmart, IndyCar, Mario Andretti, or I’m thinking Valvoline A or Junior. You know, something like that and you’re going, well, isn’t this a nice porcelain, you know, whatever sign, where is that intersection?
How do you create a balance between the stories? Or do you just self-identify with the piece and it means something to you? At the end of the day,
Steve Contarino: different people are gonna look at different items in a different way. You are gonna look at that Hal Lean sign, and you’re gonna think about racing and motor sports and what things that are your passionate, I’m gonna look at it and I’m gonna think about, wow, isn’t it amazing that they had to come up with a company to create this lubricant and fuel for automobiles.
Someone else was gonna look at it and go, wow, I remember seeing that sign when I was a little kid going to fill up my bicycle, you know, the air and the tire. So everybody’s gonna see something from a different point [00:34:00] of view, and that’s what makes us all different. That’s what makes us all unique and that’s what makes us all able to see things from a different angle.
And that’s what it comes down to. You know, it’s human trait to be able to see things differently and you’re exactly right.
Crew Chief Eric: The reason I brought that up is because I think it changes our perspective on the value of the item. And so when I look at that sign, maybe I’m going, well, it wasn’t signed by Andretti, but if it was, it’d be worth more.
And you’re looking at it going, no, you don’t understand. It was made in 1963 and it was done this way and using this paint, and it is worth what they want for it. And so how do we settle those arguments about what something is worth? You know, the memories of the memorabilia versus the aesthetics of the memorabilia.
How do you draw a balance when you acquire something, what you should be paying for that item?
Steve Contarino: I gotta go back to what my friend Jerry used to say. You can do an appraisal and you could do an appraisal for value and you could [00:35:00] do an appraisal for worth. Although both words sound the same, they’re very far from the same.
What the value of something could be. One thing, what something’s worth is a lot different. That could be anything for any reason. It could be a connection, it could be a family connection, it could be, uh, an automotive type connection. That’s something that I’ve seen happen with everything I’ve ever done related to the automobile.
Different feelings from different people because. What it’s worth is different. What it’s valued at may not be because a value is something that you compare other things, okay? Let’s say a Volkswagen Box. Volkswagen Box is very, very valuable. Okay? What’s it worth? Well, it’s worth what this other Volkswagen bug is worth 25,000.
Why does one sell for 125,000 then [00:36:00] because somebody had more worth to that vehicle than value. Same with automobile, same with all of the different things that I have. If somebody’s got a personal connection to it, that worth could be anything that price paid could be satisfaction. One of the particular categories I wanna say that I have is a category called Fisher Craftsman’s Guild Cars.
You will very rarely see me sell those. The reason I very rarely sell those is because not only are they part of General Motors history, because General Motors creates this contest where young adults are gonna create these automobiles. They have no computers, they have no TVs. They have. Time to put a thousand hours here in carving or creating this futuristic [00:37:00] type automobile that’s easy.
Kids got nothing to do. So they did it and what were they doing it for? Grand Prize, a college scholarship, second prize, a trip out to General Motors headquarters and a tour of the plant and a trophy. And you know, third Pro. So they had all these levels and these cars are all works of art. Even the ones that you look at and go, that was made by a kid, but some kid took the time to be able to put it into that.
Item, and those items are really, really worth a lot to me, and they’re worth a lot to me because, A, they’re related to the automotive industry, but B, some persons did that work. It wasn’t a designer who was getting paid to do it. It wasn’t somebody who expected to win. They hoped they win. They didn’t expect to win.
Those Fisher [00:38:00] cars are worth a lot more to me. Are they valued a lot more? Probably not, because it’s very hard to value the Fisher cars because some of the more higher value ones are more intricate and more complex, but yet the ones with the history from A to Z. And I mean the person’s name, the awards they won, where they placed, written dossier, or how the whole thing was done and why, and maybe the son wrote it because their father told them.
How about if it was somebody whose grandfather told the father and the father passed the item down to the son, the grandson? I mean, that’s different. Those particular cards are worth a lot to me.
Crew Chief Eric: I think there also becomes a point at which there’s maybe a little bit of guilt when you’re collecting, and I know I’ve had this conversation with [00:39:00] Don before where it’s like, well, I could spend 200 bucks for the real thing, or 20 bucks for the repop.
But it depends on how you’re trying to outfit your collection, right? So there’s a difference between like what you’re doing, you’re amassing these very unique, very particular things. But if I’m trying to outfit, you know, a shrin or a garage Mahal, sometimes I have to compromise on the quality versus the quantity of things that I wanna put up on the wall.
Steve Contarino: Well, yeah, but I always just recently at a location, they had a very big auction and it was a combination of all different types. And what I mean by types meaning originals. Asterisk, which means maybe, and then what they call decorative, and those decorative items sold at a different price than original.
They really did sell differently, but collections are made up of what makes people happy, right? If you wanted something and you like it. That’s part of your collection. Doesn’t all have to be topnotch [00:40:00] grade A, and that’s why going back to pickers, one of the greatest things I like about the show, besides, I like the way they do what they do, is they’re saving things that may not be number one condition and may not be of value to somebody.
They just feel that it’s worth saving. You know, that’s a whole different way to look at it. Different collections are of different types of, uh, levels of quality.
Don Weberg: I want to get your take on how you’ve seen the collector community evolve over the years from, say, when you first started, you know, what trends are you seeing now?
What trends did you see back then?
Steve Contarino: There are sign collectors and then there are car collectors that collect signs. And there are a rad of things between them, and what I mean by that is some will not allow something that’s not original to be part of their car sign collection. Sometimes the cars are more important than [00:41:00] the signs.
Sometimes the signs are as important as the cars. And I’ve seen that at all. Different public museums, private collections, auctions. You always see that, and that’s kind of what makes the world go round. Some people are very finicky about, it’s not real, and others are fine with that. Others understand that, you know, the automobiles are the basis of this, and these collectibles is decoration, so they look at it differently.
I try to stay away from things that aren’t historically tied to something. I do have some things that are in the category of. Gotta find out because I just don’t know. And that could be something simple as a little whittled out a piece of wood car and I say, well, I gotta find out about this. Is it something that just looks old but is really not that old?
It’s a thing of doing the research to find that out. But how [00:42:00] has it changed? One of the things I needed to see that the automotive collective car industry was alive at, well, we went through COVID, we came back and it’s different. Nobody knows if it’ll ever be the same, and your idea of different might be different from my idea of different, but one of the things that I noticed is that.
A lot of car collectors started saying, well, I, I’m, I’m dialing in the back. I’m gonna reserve my money now. Geez, you know, this whole way, the whole world was that time. I don’t ever wanna be nervous. I want to have a, a lot more money in the bank, less money in the garage. I want to collect less. And what that did was it really started to make the collective car industry and signs and mobilia and everything changed because the demand also changed.
Because here we were with a culture of older [00:43:00] generation doing the buying. And after COVID a younger generation coming in, and the younger generation happened to appreciate different things. What was appreciated wasn’t necessarily historic. Things that were valuable. Before COVID became not quite as valuable after COVID, so the values definitely changed.
The worth is still all over the place, but the values changed this past weekend with that Mecca Auction summary. The collect the car industry is alive and well. The numbers were back to where it should be if it’s got the story. They were willing to pay some of the numbers that were always really low.
The automobile was selling well, the automobiles were selling well. The crowds that was there. Was different. It wasn’t like it used to be. A lot of internet, a lot of [00:44:00] phone, a lot of absentee. That’s never gonna change. It’s not gonna come back. It’s always gonna change. So that whole, what was it and what is it?
What’s the future gonna be? It’s still up in the air, but it was really, really a special moment to see that things are back to where, at least somewhat normal. Somewhat.
Don Weberg: I mean, let’s face it, COVID was what, five years ago you had older collectors buying, selling, et cetera, COVID shakes everything up. Do we have a larger glut of younger, new collectors in the market now, or is it still the same old guard, or is there a merger going on?
What do you see?
Steve Contarino: That’s a whole big question, and my opinion of that is the workplace changed and the workplace changed from the Bob LUTs and the Lee Cocas, you know, the automotive icons. They were there and they weren’t going anywhere in their thirties and forties, [00:45:00] and they weren’t going anywhere in their fifties and they weren’t going anywhere, even into their sixties.
Those days are gone. A lot of the, what they call legacy costs are gone. Most of the high paying jobs, the younger people, they’re not as driven by history. They’re not as excited by why is it like that? It’s more to them, well why isn’t it this way? And that whole working from home thing and that whole being a president of a company a lot younger of an age and the way the whole workforce is now, where people just, they’re hanging onto their money because they feel that, you know, they can’t be frivolous.
Yeah, it’s definitely different.
Crew Chief Eric: There is definitely some truth to everything you just said there, Steve, but I also think there’s a slightly different dynamic that’s occurring in the collector space. And I can only speak for my generation ’cause I’m a generation behind you guys. And then I can look down the generations behind me.
And if you think [00:46:00] about it, it has a lot also to do with. What you imprinted on when you were young. And so when I look around my office, I look at things and I’m very grounded in the eighties and the nineties, and even in Motorsport, it’s like, come talk to me about Sena and Schumacher. I don’t wanna really talk about Vel and Hamilton, and that’s past my generation.
You know what I mean? I didn’t grow up with that. But the thing is, I don’t identify as much with the op era of the 1950s and the Dolce Vita era of the early sixties. Right? For me, that’s not my time period. Just in the same way I appreciate a Packard, am I gonna go buy one or stuff related to it? Probably not.
I mean, that’s my grandfather’s generation, you know, of kind of car that they aspire to. What I’m getting at though is right now though, the people that are in charge of creating new petroliana and new Automobilia are in my age demographic, and you’re seeing a lot of things that are leaning back into the eighties.
And it’s in markets where you didn’t expect them to be. Prime example, I keep making the joke, the people in charge at Lego [00:47:00] right now must be kids of the eighties because everything that’s coming out is Nintendo and Nigel Mantle and this and that. And it’s all of that era. They’re not doing a 1953 Corvette, they’re doing a 1984 C four Corvette.
So they’re catering to the market that has the money, which is gonna be the kids that are now in their forties and in their fifties. So I think you’re seeing that shift. Now, beyond my generation, and I don’t wanna make a gross generalization here, there is a minimalist movement where collecting is not that important anymore.
And so I grew up in an era where we were the last of the analog kids, but the first to adopt digital. So we’re in this weird gray space where we appreciate both, but the further you get into the digital generations, the less material things. Are important to collect ’cause they’re not bits and bytes. So you have that working against the collector market.
Steve Contarino: Well, that’s absolutely true. But you know something, there were three guys, I think it was [00:48:00] 1934, and they had pencils and they had paper and they said, well, let’s write down our thoughts here. Let’s talk. And they said, well what about horses? What about buggies? What about this? And one of ’em said, it’s never gonna be like that.
Nobody keeps horses as pets anymore. You know, horses were work animals. What you’re gonna see is you’re gonna see people with yards, with bushes and no more horse pastures and all that stuff. And the, the one guy who was really, really smart said. You know what? Someday I’m gonna have a great grandson and he’s gonna have a thing called a podcast, and his name is Eric.
They said, how do you know all that? I don’t know. It’s a guess. Yeah, right. That story, it’s just, it’s gonna keep changing because that’s what history does. So yeah, you look back and well, they were talking about different things than we are talking about here today, and I do, I absolutely agree with you a hundred percent.
But is some part of collecting, [00:49:00] preserving history. Or some part of collecting just, well, if it makes me feel good again, it’s like, okay, what drives you? How do you see it? And I see it as I collect, but I also like to have the history. I like the history, but there’s other people who say, no, I, I want to have this.
I want to have all blue cars. I wanna have all this, or I wanna have all that. And so there’s different reasons. It’s like everything else. But yeah, I agree with you, Eric. You’re absolutely right. Times change. Nobody’s collected typewriters anymore. They don’t understand why you would wanna collect a typewriter.
Right.
Don Weberg: You know? I’m glad you said that. Clarification. There are people, you know, I collect this because it’s blue. I collect this because the history, I’m not gonna go too far down the trough, but I, I think. A lot of collecting in recent years. It’s almost like you have to qualify it. Why do you, oh, [00:50:00] well, I, I collect this because William Sykes III designed it in 1712, and William Sykes, his father was the architect who this building in Brussels and this building fell on a million people.
I mean, who cares? Okay, really? Who cares? Do you like it? Do you like that weird thing hanging on your wall? And if it doesn’t bring you joy, it’s an investment. So we’re gonna go invest in this stuff. I think that was a problem with the eighties, and you remember the eighties all too well, Steve. Everybody’s running around buying Mustangs and Thunderbirds.
Why? Holy cow. They were worth a fortune. And then what happened in the nineties? Oh, oh.
Steve Contarino: They leveled out. The smart guy in the eighties would’ve bought as many DeLorean as he could have. Right?
Don Weberg: A hundred percent. A hundred percent. And Chrysler, TCS by Maserati.
Steve Contarino: Oh my God. So there you go. You You know what?
You’re exactly right. It’s what drives you and Yeah, it does get old Sometimes somebody will talk the [00:51:00] ears off you about something, you know? And, and do you really need to know all that backstory and Yeah, you’re right. It’s absolutely true. And, and they go, oh, well why does Roll Royce have that lady on the front?
It’s like, that’s weird. She looks like, she’s like, cut these wings. That’s not real. They don’t wanna know that whole backstory and all that stuff. And that’s perfectly fine.
Crew Chief Eric: Then there’s some 17-year-old on YouTube presenting it as if it’s new information all over again. Right,
Don Weberg: right, right. And that’s just it.
There’s a, there’s an amazing story. You’re right. And I know you know it, Steve. There’s an amazing story behind the spirit of ecstasy. I mean, it’s the stuff that movies are made of really is, and when you learn it, I think that adds to the allure. Look, when I was a little kid, one of my very first cars, aside from DeLorean, was Rolls Royce and I, I just thought they were fascinating.
I thought it was amazing that somebody would take eight to nine months. To build a car. I mean, that, that just blew my mind. The paint was five feet thick. The car weighed over [00:52:00] 5,000 pounds. It was honestly just astonishing to me. This car, the real wood inside, are you kidding me? I grew up in LTDs. We had nothing but fake stick together, wood in our interiors.
It was, it was something else, but these rolls had real wood. That really impressed me. It amazed me. As time rolled on, I learned more and more about the company. It made me like it more. It made me like the car more. It made me like the hood ornament made me like everything about the company more.
Crew Chief Eric: Something dawned on me while you guys were talking about the trends in the collector market and things like that, and I think the point at which everything shifted, sort of that event horizon, and we’ve talked about this on break fix before we actually have episodes dedicated to the linkage and the crossover between the music industry.
In the automotive world and how one influences the other. And if you think about it collecting changed for everybody almost everywhere simultaneously, when you could no longer really buy an album, when music went digital and you [00:53:00] were paying 99 cents a song from Apple or Spotify or whoever it was, you’re no longer rushing off to Tower Records or Waxy Maxis or whatever it was to buy that new CD where only two out of 14 songs were any good on that album.
That’s when collecting change. ’cause if you think about what you talked about, Steve, with all the history and the minutiae, people knew that stuff about record albums and the vinyl pressings and where the album was recorded and when it was recorded, and what John Lennon was thinking when they wrote the song.
Like all this immense detail. And you saw that in other forms of collecting. And once music changed, I think the rest of collecting changed along with it.
Steve Contarino: You are right. It’s definitely trends. Think about this, how many people still collect stamps? I remember when I was young, that’s a big thing, collecting stamps, you don’t really hear much about that, but yet there’s a whole other arena of stamp collectors, stamp collector shows.
It’s nowhere [00:54:00] near what it used to be, but yet it still exists. It’s just on a smaller scale. So yeah, you’re absolutely right. Popularity definitely changes as time goes on. The automobile, I think, is with us to stay for a a while. I mean, I, I don’t quite see the flying car taken off literally yet. Here we are stuck with technology and well, yeah, we do it differently today, but it’s the same, but it’s trends and it’s always gonna be that way.
Collecting will always be a trend. And, and you know, one of the things that I was surprised that crossed over this particular year was a whole group of collectors of travel agent Mobilia, not Expedia, that’s not a travel agent. So all these travel agents, okay, they got all these like promotional items from the airlines, planes and little statues and all kind of goodies.
There’s a whole different [00:55:00] arena of collectors that. That’s what they collect is old travel agent stuff and all Pan Am signs and the Pan Am plane and it changes. It’s always changing. What do you collect from Expedia? You know, I don’t know. Who knows? But yes, you’re absolutely right. It is gonna change.
Who’s to say the future of automobile seems to be like it’s gonna travel with the, uh, automobile. Then maybe it’ll go up when there are no automobiles anymore, whatever that thing might be. The Jetsons, we all watch the Jetsons, but yet you never saw a Texaco gas pump in the little car landing area. And you never saw George show you his collection of famous SNH Green stamp things.
They forgot all that. Right? Well, what happened to all the cars? You know, where did they all go? Where’s all that Mobile and Exxon and all those [00:56:00] gas pumps and where? Where’d all that stuff go? Oh, the car’s gone. Did we get the Jetson mobile? There’s no history. Where did it all go? Could that be a future? We sure thought so.
We were little kids, didn’t we?
Don Weberg: For sure. Which for me, I started collecting very, very early. ’cause I was just psychotic. Basically. Let’s say somebody’s getting into the Automobilia thing. They’ve been lightly interested in it. They don’t know where to start. They don’t know what to do. Aside from telling them, you know, Hey, check out Automobilia Vintage to see what we’ve got.
What advice would you give them? I mean, how would they start? Where would you tell ’em to start?
Steve Contarino: You buy what you like.
Don Weberg: Mm-hmm.
Steve Contarino: What I like might not be what you like. That’s why if you take a look at the things that I offer for sale, they’re all over the place. I have different things. I don’t specialize in one particular thing.
It’s all over the place. So I always say it and you know, and that’s like right back to the, the story of what we were talking about. What’s worth, what’s value. So buy [00:57:00] what you like. That’s the advice I give somebody. You know what, if you like it. It’s always gonna be worth more, right? If you really like something and you say, oh, I like that because whatever the reason, you could have a reason.
And that reason is what this is all about. Why do I come down here in my garage every day? Why do I do this? ’cause it makes me happy. You know? Why do you wanna drive around in an old car that’s gonna break down on the side of the road? Well, because when it’s not broke down, it makes me happy. So that’s what it’s all about.
It’s our happiness. And there’s some people who are perfectly fine sitting in front of a keyboard all day and going, I like watching the stock. So that makes them happy. And there’s other people who say, I like look on my bank book and that makes me happy. It’s all about that. It’s that happiness and it’s about, okay, what does it take to say.
I really like that. And that’s what I say, don’t buy something [00:58:00] because I say it’s valuable. Don’t buy something because you saw it on this podcast and I say, well, over the next 10 years you are gonna appreciate it 50% per year and I guarantee that all your money back. It’s not about that. It’s, that’s why they sell gold and silver in places and it’s overpriced.
That’s in the back of magazines. So people buy things sometime because of that. But no, don’t do that. Buy what you like. And I know plenty of people who’ve bought those gold things and Sova, Don likes those
Crew Chief Eric: Franklin
Steve Contarino: mint cars. Well, guess what? If you bought ’em a little while ago, probably really happy right now.
Right? So, I mean, you know, it, it’s just what makes you happy and different people. We’ll see something through their own eyes. Could there be five people that see that? Yeah. Most auctions involve two. Sometimes it involves more than two. Sometimes it could be 10. That’s when you’ll [00:59:00] see the crowd going wild.
When 10 people really see the worth in something, not the value. And that’s conversations that you’ll always have with somebody who shares the passion that you have, like all three of us do. In fact, you share that passion. It’s a common ground. It makes us as humans compatible because we could talk about something that we all like.
So you know, you do what you like, buy what you like, look at something and say, you know, I like that. And when it becomes worth 10 times the amount of money that could make you very, very happy. But it also could be something that never is worth more than the day you bought it. But it still will make you very happy.
And I’ve seen that a lot. I’ve seen it a lot with the things I sell. I see it a lot with the cars I’ve sold. I saw it a lot, especially with checker. Owning Checker brought a lot of people to me, [01:00:00] people who said, I remember on the way to the hospital in the back of a checker, my son was born in a snow storm.
And, and I’d be like, oh, okay, that’s great. But see, that’s something they relate to. I have people call me up and they go, well, my father, he had a Fisher Craftsman’s car, and I wish I could find that it really meant a lot when I was young. So there’s different stories you’re gonna hear and different reasons why different people will do different things.
But you know what it’s like they say different strokes are different folks. So buy what you like. If you feel like you like that. That’s how you do it. Don’t go to a book and go, oh, wait a minute, that’s $25. And I only see it in the book at 20. If you really like it, pay the 25. You’ll be happy.
Crew Chief Eric: See, Steve, you remind me of that, that lady that was on Netflix, Marie Kondo.
If it brings you joy, keep it. It’s the same idea, right? At the end of the day,
Steve Contarino: not everybody’s always [01:01:00] happy. Just having a bunch of happy things doesn’t make a happy person, and that’s what life’s all about. You know, learning what things make you happy, and sometimes saying, I don’t think I’m ever gonna be happy again, but then maybe sometimes some of this stuff just does help, doesn’t it?
Don Weberg: All this Automobilia philosophizing brings us to Steve. Where do you see Automobilia Vintage going, your new company? What projects are exciting about it? What’s next for Steve? What’s up for Automobilia Vintage?
Steve Contarino: You know, it’s like with any startup of any company. Not necessarily bigger, but definitely better.
Definitely a more easier and a more streamlined approach to this whole thing. You live and you learn, and you learn. You make your mistakes and don’t we learn by them, so, you know, I wanna make it better. I want to make it easier for our clients to deal with. I want to be able [01:02:00] to offer a service instead of putting that stuff with the trains.
I’m not famous enough yet to help with that. I would like to be able to help with that so that those automobile related items, that automobile gets into the right channel to go to the right place. Because I, I don’t know what would’ve happened, 20 outta 20. It’s a good batting average, but it also makes me think, well, what if I was the only, I believe I was.
And when I went to pick it all up and, um, the auctioneer said, I’m so glad it’s all gonna stay together. And, and I thought. Oh my God, that’s quite an honor. But you were running an auction. You could have put this as one lot. Well, no, we, we thought it would be better if somebody wanted this or somebody wanted that.
And I said, well, I, I’m gonna keep it together. If it’s available, it will be together so that if somebody has, you know, a reason to want it all, they will have the [01:03:00] opportunity to purchase it all. That’s what it comes down to. Right? Making it better, making it be better known. However that becomes, can go as fast as possible and get up higher faster.
So that’s what it’s all about. Right? We give a better experience and that’s one of the things, all of my seven businesses that I’ve ever had. I always want to offer a better experience. Everybody can do what you do, but you could give them a better experience and is that not something that’s lost today?
Try to call somebody at eBay. Try to call somebody at Expedia. Try to call somebody at UPS. I can give a better experience. You call it goes to my cell phone. You can contact me
Don Weberg: and Steve, to be clear, automobilia Vintage is not an auction. It’s a place to go to purchase direct. Is that right?
Steve Contarino: It is. I really feel like an auction is a place where you can go and you, you have to control [01:04:00] your emotions, right?
You have to. It’s like anything else. If you are there and you, there’s no sky, you could be pretty high without a parachute. So what I try to do is I try to offer the unique items. You know, one of the things that I don’t do is say I’m firm, I put a price on something. But if somebody calls and says, you know, I, I, I am very reasonable.
Most of the time it ends up being the freight. You know, sometimes it could be less. But I, I try to give everybody that same opportunity I got. And unfortunately I feel like, you know, an auction, it doesn’t give everybody a fair shot. I mean, somebody’s gotta be a winner. Well, what’s that? Make the guy who wasn’t a winner,
Crew Chief Eric: first runner up.
Steve Contarino: Okay. And we also give everybody a star for effort.
Crew Chief Eric: Ricky Bobby said, if you ain’t first, your last.
Steve Contarino: Right. So that’s what I’m trying to say. I like the auction, but I, I, I’m not crazy about, I’m not sold on [01:05:00] that idea quite yet because I just don’t like that fact of putting someone who wants something in that position.
I mean, if it’s a disposal situation, which a lot of auctions are, they just gotta get rid of this stuff. That’s different. But to say, oh, well, hey, look, today we’re gonna offer something as buyers, we don’t like that, right? What if you went in the grocery store and said, Hey, here’s your steak. Oh, wait a minute, $5, $6, seven.
Do I hear 8, 9, 10, 12? Oh, Don, you’re not eating tonight. Eric, you are the winner of this steak. Don hit the road. So, I mean, we don’t like being put in that position, and I don’t wanna put my clients in that position. You know, I’m trying to make it just what it is. Fun, happy part of an experience.
Crew Chief Eric: Alright, Steve, well we’ve reached that part of the episode where I’d like to invite our guests to share any shout outs, promotions, thank yous, or anything else we haven’t covered thus far.
Steve Contarino: Well, how can I not? Thank you, Eric. You gave me an opportunity to tell all of your wonderful [01:06:00] listeners exactly how. I see things, it’s all opinion. It’s all based upon things that I’ve had in my 62 years of experience. And that’s it, right? I mean, I can’t tell you that I went to the School of Automobilia ’cause I didn’t.
And I can’t tell you that I graduated with a degree in Automobilia because I didn’t. And again, I can never forget my friends. So I can’t forget Dawn. And, you know, I can’t forget the first time I picked up this WOW magazine called Garage Style and met the man behind it. I, I just thought it was so fabulous.
And you know, I, I have to tell you all the years of knowing Dawn, Dawn’s been there for me. So I have to say thank you to Dawn. I, I’ll never forget it. And there’s just so many other people I’ve met through Dawn as well, you know, that are just fantastic car guys. Car girls. It’s wonderful. And that’s one of the things I enjoy the most.
[01:07:00] That’s why I say. Thank you for coming to Automobile Your Vintage. We’ve hoped you had a great experience, and that’s what it’s all about. You’re too kind, Steve. Thank you. Well, thank you Don, and thank you Eric, both really. It does mean a lot to me
Don Weberg: from uncovering rare treasures to preserving the rich history of Motorsport.
Steve gave us a look into the passion, the dedication, and the stories behind every collectible in his extraordinary collection. So be sure to check out Automobilia Vintage online@automobiliavintage.com for more insights, rare finds, and ways to connect with Steve’s world of automotive history. You can also follow him on social media for updates and highlights from the collection via Instagram and Facebook at Automobilia Vintage.
Crew Chief Eric: That’s right Don and Steve, I can’t thank you enough for coming on Break Fix and sharing your story, your passion, and your incredible insights into the world of [01:08:00] collecting with us. And we wish you the best of luck on your new startup, your new adventure that you’re going on with Automobile Vintage. So good luck and Godspeed.
Steve Contarino: Thank you both. You know, it’s, it’s wonderful to be here with both of you. Besides all of the love for cars and the love for automobile and the love for history and all that, it’s about the friends too. Dawn and I have been friends and, um, you know, I, I could never forget my friends and not that I ever would, but I just wanna say that’s a big part and I want to thank both of you guys.
And now, Eric, guess what? Welcome to a long friendship.
Don Weberg: Oh, thank you very much. Thank you for tuning in, and we’ll see you next time for more stories to celebrate the spirit of cars racing and the people who make it all happen.
Since 2007, garage Style Magazine has been the definitive source for car collectors, continually delivering information about Automobilia Petroliana [01:09:00] events and more. To learn more about the annual publication and its new website, be sure to follow them on social media at. Garage Style magazine or log onto www.garagestylemagazine.com because after all, what doesn’t belong in your garage?
Crew Chief Eric: We hope you enjoyed another awesome episode of Break Fix Podcasts, brought to you by Grand Tour Motorsports. If you’d like to be a guest on the show or get involved, be sure to follow us on all social media platforms at Grand Touring Motorsports. And if you’d like to learn more about the content of this episode, be sure to check out the follow on article@gtmotorsports.org.
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Highlights
Skip ahead if you must… Here’s the highlights from this episode you might be most interested in and their corresponding time stamps.
- 00:00:00 Meet Steve Contarino: Founder of Automobilia Vintage
- 00:01:26 Steve’s Passion for Automotive History
- 00:02:56 Owning Checker Cab, The Company
- 00:06:56 The Birth of Automobilia Vintage
- 00:08:55 Collecting Rare Automobilia
- 00:29:16 The Intersection of Automobilia and Motorsport
- 00:34:37 Understanding Value vs. Worth in Collecting
- 00:36:19 The Significance of Fisher Craftsman’s Guild Cars
- 00:38:52 Balancing Quality and Quantity in Collections
- 00:40:27 Evolution of the Collector Community; Generational Shifts in Collecting Trends
- 00:56:18 Advice for New Collectors
- 01:01:22 Future of Automobilia Vintage
- 01:05:44 Closing Remarks and Gratitude
Bonus Content
There's more to this story!
Be sure to check out the behind the scenes for this episode, filled with extras, bloopers, and other great moments not found in the final version. Become a Break/Fix VIP today by joining our Patreon.
All of our BEHIND THE SCENES (BTS) Break/Fix episodes are raw and unedited, and expressly shared with the permission and consent of our guests.
The Collector’s Code: Know What You’re Looking At
Steve emphasizes the importance of research and discernment. “You’ve got to make sure you know what you’re looking at,” he warns. With the rise of 3D printing and replica models, authenticity is everything. He’s become a resource for auction houses and fellow collectors alike, helping identify factory prototypes and concept pieces that others might overlook.
For Steve, collecting isn’t just about ownership- it’s about stewardship. “I love it for a little while, then turn it over to the next caretaker,” he says. His passion is rooted in preserving the stories behind the objects, whether it’s a vintage racing poster or a clay model (seen above) that escaped the crusher.
He’s quick to credit mentors and friends like Jerry, a Rolls-Royce aficionado and appraiser, and Gary Wales, the mad scientist of custom builds. “Everybody needs a cheerleader,” Steve says. “Jerry was mine.”
Where to Pick, What to Watch?
So where should collectors look? Steve’s advice is simple: everywhere. From eBay to flea markets, from Hershey to Monterey, the gems are out there. But diligence is key. “It’s like looking through a dictionary for capital A’s,” he jokes. “You’ve got to keep flipping pages.”
Steve also sees a deep connection between automobilia and motorsport. “Racing and automobiles go side by side,” he says. Whether it’s a dirt track sign from New England or a driver’s helmet from a bygone era, these artifacts capture the evolution of speed, design, and human ambition.
Steve Contarino’s story is more than a collector’s tale – it’s a roadmap for anyone who believes that the soul of the automobile lives not just in engines and sheet metal, but in the objects that surround them. From clay models to hood ornaments, from concept sketches to forgotten prototypes, Automobilia Vintage is a celebration of the stories that make our automotive past unforgettable.
So be sure to check out Automobilia Vintage online at automobiliavintage.com for more insights, rare finds, and ways to connect with Steve’s world of automotive history. You can also follow him on social media for updates and highlights from the collection via Instagram and Facebook at @AutomobiliaVintage.
Guest Co-Host: Don Weberg
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