OnMa Therketplace

Ronny’s Garage • Maintenance • Repair • Inspection • Restoration Specializing in Rolls-Royce, Bentley, Jaguar and Classic Automobiles

1111 West 1st St. Santa Ana, CA 92703 714-953-0896 - [email protected] Owners: Robert and Nancy Ratinoff 1952 Rolls-Royce Silver Wraith Hooper Touring Limo (WOF44)

Since 1995 this elegant motor car has been a shining star in their car collection. The Royal Coachbuilder’s razor-edge Pre- Family owned since 1979. War styling and Hooper’s signature teardrop quarterlites reflect light-years of sophistication far beyond her magical R100 We take pride in our work. headlamps. Nancy is fond of calling her “Our car, the movie star.” Her resume encompasses many film credits including “The Odd Couple II”, “Princess Diaries II”, “The Marlene Dietrich Story”, and “James Dean”, as Jack Warner’s limousine. Call for an appointment – 714-953-0896 Robert’s mother Paula adored this car and enjoyed being chauffeured in the luxurious backseat. One of her last wishes was that this beloved motor car would lead her funeral procession. This commanding, yet dear Rolls-Royce will always hold a special place in their collection and in their hearts.

VOLUME 48 ISSUE 7 JULY 2012 8 RROC-SOCAL.COM July

The Nethercutt Collection

There are car museums and car museums and then there’s the Nethercutt. Starting with the restoration of just two cars in the 1950’s, the Nethercutt collection now showcases more than 130 of the world’s greatest antique, vintage and classic automobiles.

July 14th marks the date for our visit to this jewel, followed by a lavish buffet at the well-known Odyssey restaurant.

The Nethercutt family founded Merle Norman Cosmetics, and in celebration of the 80th anniversary of the company, have recently opened a cosmetic boutique on site.

Come early at 9 a.m. and stroll through the car museum on your own or browse the cosmetics and get a makeover.

Our docent-led tour of the Nethercutt Collection begins at 9:45 a.m. Across the street from the museum, the collection features two grand salons displaying the finest examples of cars of their day in showroom settings. Our tour continues with the Nethercutt’s extensive collection of hood ornaments and antique furniture. The top floor of the collection houses mechanical musical instruments ranging from nickelodeons to music boxes and a Wurlitzer organ.

Following our tour we will lunch at the Odyssey Restaurant in Granada Cell Phone: (949) 439-0465 Hills, just a few miles from the Nethercutt Collection, where we will enjoy an amazing panoramic view of the San Fernando Valley and Los Angeles. The ample buffet is sure to satisfy everyone.

Host: Pierre Lemieux

Date: Saturday, July 14, 2012

Time: 9:00 a.m. - Self-guided museum tour 9:45 a.m. - Docent tour of the collection

Location: Nethercutt 15200 Bledsoe Street, Sylmar, 91342

Odyssey Restaurant 15600 Odyssey Drive, Granada Hills, 91344

For more information on the Nethercutt Museum and Collection, visit their website at nethercuttcollection.org.

Where’s Freddy? Be on the hunt for the foxy character!

JULY 2012 2012

2012

July 14 The Nethercutt Collection Tour $48 Host: Pierre Lemieux

August Chairman’s Corner 26 The Lyon Car Collection $65 I want to thank and acknowledgeWilly Hugron Tony Handler Hosts: Bob and Nancy Ratinoff and Santos Guerra for putting on a well- attended and informative restoration seminar on Santos’ award-winning Bentley. The information shared was invaluable for anyone considering a major restoration. Approximately thirty members attended the seminar September and the knowledge gleaned should be very helpful in 22 Board Meeting their restoration endeavors. Hosts: Tom Holland and Doug Roth Chairman’s The San Marino CarCorner Show was also a successful event and enjoyable for bothW illy the Hugron members who 30 Temecula Wine Tour $43 showed their cars and those who attended the event. Our own member Aaron Weiss was the event Host: Harry Clark chair and participation by RROC members was appreciated. The car show was very well organized and we took away a few tips for some of our future concours. I encourage you to consider showing a car and/or attending this event next year. The level and October variety of cars shown was well worth seeing. 26 Santa Barbara Tour and Conoours Hosts: Ray and Faith Stazzoni I want to congratulate Tom Wright from the San Diego Region and Barbara Kilburn from the Northern California Region for being elected to the National RROC board. Now that we have two California Board members on the National Board we November may have better western area representation. I look forward to working with both of them. Some of you 17 Board Meeting may remember Barbara as one of the chairwomen of Hosts: Tom and Terri Mercurio the Squaw Valley National Meet last year. She did an outstanding job and the meet was a great success. 18 Fox Hunt We are mid-year and we have several events Hosts: Willy Hugron, Andy Lachina and scheduled that you will not want to miss. First we Mike Gormley will be going to the Nethercutt Collection on July 14th. After many requests from our members and many years of trying to coordinate a visit, we will be going to the General Lyon Collection in Coto de Caza on Saturday August 25th. We are limited to 70 guests and this event will be sold out. Please mail December in your reservation early if you intend on attending 16 Holiday Party this unique event. We may be one of the last groups allowed to visit this collection and there may never Host: Karen Perrault be another opportunity. I am looking forward to seeing you at this event. Pierre has a full schedule of events planned for the rest of this year and well into next year. Pierre’s January events are always well planned and organized. He usually calls in his markers with his business TBA Awards Event connections. September finds us in Temecula on a Hosts: Willy and Joan Hugron wine tour. Don’t forget Santa Barbara in October and the Fox Hunt in November. The Fox has been busy trying to identify some interesting points of interest 6 RROC-SOCAL.COM forRROC-SOCAL.COM its hunters. I look forward to seeing you at our next events. We are looking for volunteers to run for next year’s board and officer positions. Feel free to contact any Your Chairman, board member or officer for information on what is involved. Willy Hugron

6 RROC-SOCAL.COM RROC-SOCAL.COM JULY 2012 What a beauty! The May Ghost Tech Meet By Willy Hugron A portion of David’s exquisite collection We would like to give Dr. David Morrison a special thank you for opening his collection of Rolls-Royce Ghosts and vintage race cars to our members. David is passionate about older Rolls-Royces and race cars and on May 5th he provided a guided tour of all of his cars, complete with the background and stories about each car, for the approximately fifty members who attended this event. The stories added to the tour and made it more meaningful. The collection is divided between two adjoining warehouses; one for the Rolls-Royce Ghosts and the other for the race cars. One member commented that the lay-out of the space was very nice because it encouraged the members to mingle, especially because at times it was standing room only. Many of us were surprised to learn that Dr. Morrison also has a vintage race car collection that he drives on race tracks. He David sharing his National presentation with works on his own cars and has personally completed many members restorations. David presented an educational PowerPoint presentation on Ghosts that he gave previously at a National event. We gained a wealth of information, appreciation and knowledge of older Rolls-Royces from the presentation and also through Dave’s stories about his cars. If you missed this opportunity to experience this collection, you really missed a fun day. However, our Webmaster Steve Power-Fardy captured one of the highlights of the day: a vivid presentation of one of the gems in David’s collection – a very rare 1913 British Silver Ghost. Steve made a private video of the event available on YouTube. In order to view the video, please send an email to Steve at [email protected] requesting the youtube.com link. He will notify you via return email.

Cars, Cars, Cars! I have gained a much greater appreciation of Ghosts and would like to own one someday. Again, many thanks to David Morrison for graciously allowing us to view this very special and unique collection. Silver Ghost Tech Meet Video on YouTube If you were unable to attend David Morrison’s lively esentation of his stunning Silver Ghosts at the club’s May Technical Seminar, you now have another chance to see this incredible collection. David has graciously allowed us to post an online video of one of the gems in his collection– a very rare 1913 British Silver Ghost. The video on YouTube is a private video. To see this 7-minute presentation, simply send an e-mail to our webmaster and videographer Steve Power-Fardy at spowerfardy@yahoo. Another happy member seeing Ghosts com requesting the YouTube link. This is really one video you do not want to miss.

JULY 2012 The General William Lyon Car Collection

There has been an important change of venue for the August meet.

We were originally going to go to the Lyon Air Museum and the Crevier Classic Car Collection. We will be having this exciting meet sometime next year.

The distinguished General William Lyon has graciously Enjoying the Ghost agreed to have our region enter the palatial gates of Chateau de Lyon to view his collection of world-class automobiles on Saturday, August 25.

General Lyon has a captivating collection of award- winning automobiles of many Marques, including Duesenberg, Packard, Lincoln, Cadillac, Mercedes Benz, and of course, Rolls-Royce. This will probably be your only chance to view this rarely seen collection of automobiles in an elegant setting befitting their masterpiece status.

For lunch we will be going to the exclusive Coto de Caza David’s vintage Race Cars Golf and Racquet Club for a grand feast. The cost of this event is $65.00 per person and children under 12 are not permitted. We need to know who the driver of your vehicle is for the entry gate admittance list needed to enter the Lyon Estate. We will assume the driver is the first person listed on your remittance envelope unless otherwise noted. This meet is limited to 70 people, so be sure to sign up early for a once-in-a-lifetime event. Hosts Robert and Nancy Ratinoff look forward to seeing you there. “Silver Ghost” – the Movie Martin Scorsese is teaming with Richard Attenborough Host David Morrison with and Anthony Haas to produce Silver Ghost, a drama based on members the true story of the founding of automaker Rolls-Royce. It is described as a complex love story not only between men and women but between men and machines. The film traces the story of Charles Rolls and , as well as the love affairs of the famed Beaulieu family.

“When I read the story of Silver Ghost, I was mesmerized,” Scorsese said. “I immediately thought;, This is a picture that has to be made. And when I was asked to come aboard as a producer alongside Richard Attenborough and Anthony Haas, I didn’t hesitate for a moment.” There is no time line for the Members admiring David’s collection release of the movie. (From Daily Variety, 5/12/12)

What a Collection! More Admiration for David’s Collection

JULY 2012 Member News 2012

Save the Date!!! Temecula Wine Gerri Gibb Tour and Tasting on September 30th

Join the RROC Southern California Region, the In Memory of Gerri Gibb Bentley Drivers Club and our host Harry Clark for this VIP “behind the scenes” tour of one of Temecula Valley’s finest wineries. This tour will include details of the farming By Nancy Ratinoff processes for vineyards, wine making and, of course, wine tasting. Gerri (Geraldine) Gibb passed away on May The winery tours and luncheon will be at the 31st at the age of 65. She picturesque outdoor setting of Leoness Cellars. Please be courageously fought and prepared with layered clothing, sunglasses and sunblock. lost a battle with a second We recommend wearing comfortable shoes as there are episode of cancer. Gerri opportunities to walk through the beautiful vineyards. Gerri and Roger Gibb passed peacefully at home with her loving husband of 10:00 a.m. We will meet at Zin Estate/Classic 38 years Roger, her Labs Bentley and Maggie, and the Chairman’s Corner Promenade to peruse the car collection and vineyard Willy Hugron nurse from Saddleback Memorial Hospice by her side. She estate. received her Bachelor’s Degree from Cal State Northridge in music education. Gerri taught music and was able to 4965 Mesa Verdugo, Temecula, CA 92592 pursue her true passion for music by singing in the second alto section of the 140-voice Pacific Chorale for 34 years. 11:30 a.m. Farming Tour of vineyards and wine making tour at Leoness Cellars Along with the great appreciation of music that she shared with her husband Roger, she also shared his car 12:15 p.m. Wine tasting at Leoness Cellars collecting hobby. Together they toured much of the United States in one of their collector cars. Gerri was always 1:00 p.m. Luncheon at Leoness Cellars The cost unselfishly helping others and she took wonderful care of is $43.00 per person (The normal cost is about $60 per Roger. Gerri and Roger have no children but have had person). great joy from a series of pairs of Labrador Retrievers. For further information, please contact our host Gerri will be greatly missed by her soul-mate Roger and Harry Clark at 951-901-5088 or by email to Harry@ her many friends from the Pacific Chorale Choir and the ClassicPromenade.com. Watch for more details in the numerous car clubs she belonged to. The only way I can August and September issues of The Spirit of Ecstasy. make any sense of her untimely death is that the heavens must have needed a new angel with a beautiful voice to sing in their choir. We Need an Editor!

Do you want to take our newsletter to the Rolls-Royce Owners’ Club Southern next level? California Region Directory Do you like to write and edit copy? Do you like to be involved? Are you organized Enclosed with this issue you will find the RROC and detail oriented? Are you deadline driven? Southern California Region Directory for 2012-2013 in CD format. The directory format was changed from If so, do we have an opportunity for print to CD last year to reduce costs. As this has proved you! The current editor is moving out of the area and we are looking for a new editor to be a popular format we are continuing it this year. for our Spirit of Ecstasy newsletter. This is your chance to communicate with our If you are unable to print or read the directory and club members and give back to our club. wish a printed copy, please complete the enclosed If you think that you might be interested, insert and return it to Karen Perrault at 18 Outrider please contact Chairman Willy Hugron Road, Rolling Hills, CA. 90274. Your directory will be at 714-894-8417 for more information. printed and mailed to you.

6 JULY 2012 RROC-SOCAL.COM RROC-SOCAL.COM Member News The regular technical column ASK RONNY will return in the August issue of The Spirit of Ecstasy. China’s Riding in Style What might be called the Rolls-Royce Index is a Claude Goodman Johnson simple measure of which countries have the most excess wealth to burn (a base model Rolls costs $245,000) and Born: the citizens most eager to display it. October 24, 1864 Datchet, Berkshire, For ages, more Rolls were sold in the U.S. than any Died: other country. But last year, China … led in Rolls-Royce April 12, 1926 (aged 61) , England purchases. Occupation: To honor their new best customers, Rolls is unveiling Managing director “Year of the Dragon” models “with hand embroidered Claude Goodman Johnson, (October 24, 1864 – April 12, versions of mythical animals on leather headrests.” The 1926), was a founding member and managing director of Rolls- sticker price: $1.6 million. (From the Tampa Bay Times Royce Ltd. and often described as the hyphen in the Rolls-Royce Business Section, 1/8/12) name.

Johnson attended the Imperial Institute in South Kensington Can you Assist our Northern Region and organized the first automobile exhibition in England at Richmond Park in 1896. Hired by F.R. Simms, who had noted his organizational Members? ability, Johnson became the first secretary of the Royal Automobile Club (RAC) where he organized the club’s Thousand Mile trial of Northern California Region members Donald and 1900. Leaving the RAC in 1903 Johnson became joint manager Stephanie Bent are asking for our assistance in tracing with Charles Rolls of C.S. Rolls & Co which led in 1906 to Rolls- Royce Limited. the genealogy of their PMC that spent a great deal of time in Southern California. Claude Johnson brought the necessary business acumen to the partnership of Rolls and Royce. It was his idea to limit their various car models to one, the 40/50 (named Silver Ghost by From Donald: In 2006 I purchased a very tired 1976 Johnson), smooth, silent, solid, and almost uniquely reliable as he Silver Shadow, Chassis SRE 25335, as a present for my soon demonstrated. wife, Stephanie. Dubbed “RR LDY S” by Stephanie, we Johnson drove a Silver Ghost non-stop around Britain for have spent untold hours in a “rolling” restoration. SRE 15,000 miles and then asked the RAC to strip it down and restore its 25335 was imported by Central Leasing, Pleasanton, working parts to mint condition. Instead of the major overhaul any other car of the day would have required, the Silver Ghost’s repair California, and leased to an individual in Southern bill came to only £2.14. A journalist promptly dubbed the Ghost “the California, whose name is not known. best car in the world”. The Ghost name caught on and is used for all 7,874 of the 40/50 model which remained in production until The only documents we have show that a Norman Johnson’s death in 1926. and/or Bonnie Schafler were owners in the late 1980s to Johnson was also responsible for the Spirit of Ecstasy mascot early 1990s. Since SRE 25335 appears to have spent for which he hired the sculptor Charles Sykes who used as his model the society belle Eleanor Thornton, who was Johnson’s much of its life in Southern California, Stephanie and I secretary and also secretary to Lord John Scott Montague. are in hopes that someone located in the region might In the winter of 1915 Johnson personally named the first three be able to provide information as to owners, awards and Rolls-Royce aircraft piston engines, the Eagle, Hawk and Falcon, travels of this Silver Shadow. starting the company’s tradition of naming piston aero engines after birds of prey. Please feel free to contact myself at [email protected] During his career, Johnson served as the Managing Director or Stephanie at [email protected] if you can fill in of Rolls-Royce Limited, Automobiles Rolls-Royce (France) Limited some genealogy file blanks. and Rolls-Royce of America Inc.

The company’s 1926 annual report stated, “…the company has suffered a grievous loss by the death of Mr. Claude Johnson to whose policy, coupled with the engineering achievements of Mr. Royce, it owes its present pre-eminence.” Claude was succeeded by his brother Basil Johnson who was appointed the new managing director. Basil was previously the general manager, and for 12 years had shared with his brother the management of the company’s affairs.

Previously-owned copies of the biography of Claude Johnson, “The Hyphen in Rolls-Royce” by Oldham, first printed in 1967, can Jerome Cardenas be found online. Victorville

JULY 2012 $23,000. Must Sell.

The Bentley Turbo R is in outstanding condition with about 54,000 miles. It is charcoal black, with perfect black leather interior. I used this car as my daily driver and it never failed to deliver incredible (Turbo R) performance. It is in Palm Springs, CA, at One Eleven Vintage Cars, the dealer that sold me the Arnage (see front cover).

Asking $ 32,500.

If interested, please call Bob Arzano at 760-323-1161.

JULY 2012