History Cars of the Stars/ Movie world, Buena Park CA

Does anyone have pictures or anecdotes on this old institution, I visited it in 78 and was blown away by the cars there.

 

It seem like I read somewhere all the cars were sold by R&M auction house back in 2005 . HRP

 

I remember going there as a kid, it was awesome. I think I have some pics but I would have to dig, really dig for them.

 

I've noted this before but: Back in 1977 you could see the backside of the property that was the Cars of the Stars from the 91 Freeway in Buena Park. In the back, outside of the main building were a number of cars exposed to the weather. So one day I took a camera and commited a number of felonies and such by tresspassing through an open gate and took a number of photos, including the Professor Fate car from "The Great Race". I got to tell you my heart was really pounding, fearing the worst if I was caught. After several minutes I felt I was temping fate and got out as quickly as I got in. I must say the Professor Fate car was in terrible, really bad condition. The car didn't look like it had much of a future but I think was finally restored. I can't tell which car this was, as I know they made several.

 

One of them is in the Volo Muesum in Lake Villa Ill. Outside of Chicago.

 

My understanding the company that purchase these was imperial palace in Las Vegas. I could be wrong , but I remember reading about it in our local paper

 

Two more cars from the "OFF LIMITS" zone behind the main building, circa 1977. It was clear these had been outside for a very long time and had been negleted.

 

Ed Roth,, worked there, let me know if you contact him....


never ever trust a fart after 65 yrs old.... Tuff times don't last, tuff people do....

 

Was that before or after Ed work at knotts berry farm?

 

The vendor party for the first SEMA show held at the Anaheim Convention Center was held there and Roth was doing the meet and greet that night. That's all I remember as I was over served!

 

Hey,

Contact fellow Hamber ''cruz'' as he use to work with the Bruckers who ran the place. I seem to recall one of the first " Rat Fink Reunions '' bein held there, before the circus that became Mooneyes started

 

I remember going on a elementary school field trip to Cars of the Stars back in 1973 and buying the Quicksilver model kit at the giftshop.

 

Volo auto museum is in Volo, Illinois, no where near lake villa.

 

Very curious if you took any other photo's of the Professor's car, that 3 window in the background has the shape of something seen pounding the pavement.

 

They used to have some really great swapmeets there back in the early 70's.

 

In the background, at the horizon, is the West-bound lanes of the 91 Freeway, so there must have been some freeway work going on at the time and even though I drove right by it I don't have specific memories.

 

Great memories guys, The thing is it was pre anything, so like old stuff then it was the carnival side show , just novelties before it(anything old) was famous.

keep pics coming

 

Vintagegasser it certainly looks like Hot Rod Willys.
tom124 What year was this photo taken, it says 1977 are you right on the year,

 

I recall going there as a kid in the 70's but didn't take any photos.

I'm wondering if the proprietor Jim Brucker was related to the Brucker family that ran Cajon Speedway in El Cajon,Ca. (San Diego area) for 50 years? Sadly, Steve Brucker was murdered in a botched home invasion robbery several years ago.

Oddly enough, after Cars of the Stars closed, there was a "Movie Car Museum" place set up in a strip mall adjacent to Cajon Speedway (on N. Magnolia @ Bradley ave). This may have been in the 80's, but it wasn't there for long. I recall stopping in one time. I seem to recall cars from "Deathrace 2000" (1975) and I believe the Rotor on display. Maybe a fellow San Diegan can also recall the place?

 

That would have been Jay Ohrberg's place. You're right about the time frame. He has since gone on to a bigger setup.
http://jayohrberg.com/index.html

 

Nearly 100% sure I took the photos sometime during 1977. Very remote chance it was early 1978 but I don't think so. There were perhaps a dozen cars in this remote area and the three photos I took were the only cars that caught my fancy. You got to remember I was breaking the law in a very big way just being there so I didn't stay around very long.

 

Its not a Willys, looks close to one but nope.....

 

Does anyone have the street adress?Gonna start a navagational rally there and wanna get the correct building.Or is the actual building gone?Heres some cool ass history from there. https://www.facebook.com/#!/photo.php?fbid=4751588507711&set=o.161270850666797&type=1&theater

 

https://www.facebook.com/#!/photo.php?fbid=4751588507711&set=o.161270850666797&type=1&theater

 

here ya go

 

I spent a lot of time there as a kid. Movie World Cars of the Stars was owned by Jim Brucker Sr. and Jr. It was a collection of not only movie cars, but great classic cars from the Brucker's personal collections as well as those from other noted, early Los Angeles collectors. Not only was it a museum, but many of the local car clubs rented the parking lots and held swap meets there, including the famed Early Times Hotrod Club. My father used to rent the parking lot and had numerous antique and collectible toy shows there over the years. It seems like we were there two or three times a month for either car swap meets or toy shows.
They also had some of the first consignment-style antique car auctions there, and, if memory serves correctly, made national headlines when a consigned Duesenberg Model J Phaeton sold for record price of 100,000.00 which was the highest price ever paid for a collector car at the time.
Yes, Ed Roth and Von Dutch worked there as well-maintaining the property, painting signs, cleaning bathrooms, moving cars, etc. Von Dutch even lived behind the museum in a house trailer for many years.
The museum came to an end mainly because of rising property values in Orange County. At the time, the Bruckers were offered a huge sum of money for the property and could not afford to turn it down. Many of the significant classic cars went back to their ranch in Santa Paula. Many of the movie cars were sold privately and a good portion of the cars were sold at the Rick Cole Auction at the Ambassador Hotel in downtown Los Angeles. This was a monumental auction as it not only included cars from Movie World but also from the famed Pacific Auto Rental Collection. Von Dutch moved to the Brucker's Santa Paula ranch and was their maintenance person there for many years.
The RM Auction that was referred to took place a couple of decades after the closing of Movieworld, and was held at the Peterson Museum. It mainly consisted of many of the thousands of Von Dutch artifacts that the Bruckers acquired during their many years of being associated with him
Jim Sr. passed away many, many years ago, Jim Jr. is still somewhat active in the classic car community.
I have a lot of great memories and stories are associated with Movieworld and am extremely fortunate to have grown up around such a great place and meet so many of the collector car pioneers who frequented it.

 

I bought the book last year at a swapmeet. Lot and lots of pictures but haven`t had time to read it yet.

 

If I remember right in about 1965 Warner Bros. had a promotion at the studio in Burbank for The Great Race..Jack Lemmon's car and the Tony Curtis car were on display and I was told then that Von Dutch had built the cars don't recall any one else's name being mentioned, the black Dr Fate's car was Covair powered as I recall .....................

 

That was Bob Butts' collection, not Jay Ohrberg's...

 

The Professor Fate "Hannibal Eight" movie car went through a few hands and made its way to a museum in Europe. When the museum was sold last year, it was bought by a Detroit area collector and is now in Detroit.

http://www.rmauctions.com/lots/lot.cfm?lot_id=1050083