We’ve all got treasures we’d love to stumble upon. For some, it might be a box of Golden Age comic books stashed away in the attic of an old house. Maybe for others it’s a lost reel of a classic silent movie or a vintage Wedgewood stove.
Mike Hennessy — who hosts “The Car Guy Channel” and produces the annual Hot San Jose Nights car and aircraft show — found his in a private garage in the hills above Los Gatos: A collection of 15 MG cars, with models from the 1940s to the ’70s — including rare and classic versions like the 1961 MGA Twin Cam with just 40,000 miles on it.
Among car collectors, this is what’s known as a “barn find” — and Hennessy said this has to be the “barn find of all barn finds.” Entering the private garage with its black-and-white checkerboard floor and filled with the distinctive British-made cars was “like walking into an Indiana Jones movie.”
“When we opened the door to the heated loft it was like opening the tomb,” Hennessy said. “I expected to hear an air sucking noise, but it was a beautiful personal museum the way the original owner had set it up, with his wonderful cars arranged in order and memorabilia including probably 500 tennis rackets on the ceiling, as his wife loves tennis.”
The previous owner died several years ago, but the family decided it was time to sell the collection, which had been in storage for about 25 years. They wanted it to go to a single collector rather than divide it up, and the buyer also had to be able to clean up the cars. Hennessy said other than a few flat tires and some frozen brake pads, the cars were in excellent condition. The price, however, was well into six figures, and Hennessy said he had to pull his wife, Susan, off the ceiling when she heard that. “But she knows I know the cars, so she said you have to do this,” he said.
Hennessy says his plan is to have the cars on display for the public at this year’s Hot San Jose Nights show in September at Reid-Hillview Airport.
MORE SCHEDULE CHANGES: I had a feeling this was coming, but it was still disappointing to hear that this spring’s Viva CalleSJ, the event that puts pedestrians and cyclists on miles of San Jose streets instead of cars, was being postponed from its original date of May 17. You would think that with fewer cars on the streets right now, it would be the perfect time to have an event like this, but it draws way too big a crowd to maintain proper social distancing. There’s no word on a replacement date yet, but it might be interesting to have the regular fall event take place over two days.
And the San Jose Host East Valley Lions Club was also disappointed when it had to call off its 100th anniversary party scheduled for April 19th at the Villages Golf and County Club. But Club Secretary Gayle Kludt says everything’s going to be OK. “We’ve rescheduled for Aug. 8. The club is 100 years old for the entire year.” The club — organized on Feb. 21, 1920 and chartered March 24 that year — is focusing its centennial celebration on providing art backpacks for the pediatric cancer ward at Stanford Medical Center.
ALL YOU NEED IS GLOVES: The 7-Eleven on South 11th and San Carlos streets in San Jose is looking out for its customers needs beyond potato chips and bottled water. The store has disposable gloves on its door for customers to wear while shopping there. Carl Salas, who works across the street from the store, noticed it and asked store manager Mike Hayes if it was a corporate initiative. Nope, it’s something that Hayes decided to do on his own. Wouldn’t it be great if other stores followed the example? And it would also be great if customers remembered to dispose of their used gloves and masks in trash cans. We’ve got enough litter in our parking lots already.