Good motorsports/car museums near San Jose?

[JFENG]

I’m going to be in Sunnyvale next week and wanted to take an aging uncle out for some car stuff. Can anyone recommend where to go to see interesting collections of old Motorsport or street European sports cars?

We are going to stop by Canepa (Scotts Valley) because he is a life long Porsche fan. I am interested in other suggestions. Fantasy Junction is a possibility but might be too far to the north for him. He has an old 911, but lacks the eyesight and health to drive it anymore, so I may stray from the E9 flock drive it for him if the distances aren’t too far.

Thanks in advance.

John

 

[lip277]

You have two of the ones I would think of up front (Canapa and Fantasy Junction).

There is also Blackhawk in Danville.... https://blackhawkmuseum.org

It is (kind of) similar distance from Sunnyvale - but a bit farther east (off of 680 in Danville).
Truly world class cars...

From there - Maybe others have some additional ideas. Nothing comes to mind from me right now...

 

[JFENG]

Blackhawk in Danville

I forgot about that one. Thanks for the tip!

 

[bmw2800cs]

This is on the 9th if you want to go for a drive:
Not the 49-Mile Drive-2023, 9 December, 2023-- Save the Date
12/9/2023 9:30 AM
3d 3h 47m 7s

Not the 49-Mile Drive-2023, 9 December, 2023-- Save the Date

See later for rally start details! Hey, December is coming up fast— that means Not the 49-Mile Drive on 9 December is getting close! As you know from the BayArea 02 calendar, our rally around San Francisco is the 2nd Saturday in December. At this point our Rallymeister is still working on the rou...

www.bmw2002faq.com

There is also Neue Klass and Kaffee but I don't think it will line up with when you are here. If you're around let the group know. There are 3 or 4 of us that go every few months:

SF Bay Area Neue Klasse & Kaffee - Los Gatos

Neue Klasse and Kaffee is a monthly gathering of BMW Neue Klasse and other Vintage Cars in the Greater San Francisco Bay Area. Los Gatos events are on the third Saturday of every month. All fun cars and people are welcome! We will gather downtown Los Gatos in Parking Lot 3 behind Loma Coffee Bar....

www.bmw2002faq.com

Happy to meet you for a coffee if you're around - maybe a few more in the group would join

 

[JFENG]

Neue Klass and Kaffee

Thanks for the kind offer. Timing doesn’t work. I’m in SoCal till the 12 then San Jose 13-15th. One full day of work. One entertaining my uncle and then back home to New England.

Might get a chance to hit the Mulllin in Oxnard

 

[Arde]

You can visit Roberto Roselli in San Jose, it is a service/repair shop but has more fancy Italian cars than any museum. Nice guy:

Gallery | Roselli Foreign Car Repair

www.rosellifcr.com

 

[JFENG]

fancy Italian cars :

Gallery | Roselli Foreign Car Repair

www.rosellifcr.com

Great idea given that I just finished a course on fabricating alloy body panels (repair or custom) which included a light intro to SuperLeggera construction.. Useless for modern supercars made of carbon fiber, but applicable to Italian exotics and race cars up to the mid 1960's.
john

 

[Arde]

Great idea given that I just finished a course on fabricating alloy body panels (repair or custom) which included a light intro to SuperLeggera construction.. Useless for modern supercars made of carbon fiber, but applicable to Italian exotics and race cars up to the mid 1960's.
john

Call Roberto ahead of time then. He is a super nice and accessible person, also very busy.

 

[craterface]

Once I was guest of a guest at John Mozart's private collection in Mountain View. It is amazing, but I don't know how one gets in. Canepa and FJ are both great to visit. They welcome car fans who are just browsing.

 

[lip277]

My wife and I had a tour of Canapa's a few years back. Ended up that Bruce himself showed us around... Pretty cool... He had a few good stories as well....

 

[jmackro]

Might get a chance to hit the Mulllin in Oxnard

If you have not yet seen the Mullin, then I would highly recommend it. With Peter Mullin's recent death, the long-term prospects for this gem of a museum are uncertain (at least to the general public). The museum also includes furniture and other works of art done by Bugatti family members.

 

[bmw2800cs]

You can visit Roberto Roselli in San Jose, it is a service/repair shop but has more fancy Italian cars than any museum. Nice guy:

Gallery | Roselli Foreign Car Repair

www.rosellifcr.com

Walking distance from my house!

 

[Arde]

Walking distance from my house!

That makes your car safer, who would steal yours with such a honeypot next door?

 

[bmw2800cs]

That makes your car safer, who would steal yours with such a honeypot next door?

Haha - the delta is huge! I saw a recent Lambo out front the other day

 

[craterface]

Great idea given that I just finished a course on fabricating alloy body panels (repair or custom) which included a light intro to SuperLeggera construction.. Useless for modern supercars made of carbon fiber, but applicable to Italian exotics and race cars up to the mid 1960's.
john

That course sounds fascinating. Tell us more! Where, when, how much? When I retire from medicine, I would like to do something like that. There is an Alfa 1900CSS with Superleggera body at FJ right now. So beautiful. what do they use these days to keep the steel from touching the aluminum? In the day they used wool felt? Is it nylon felt today, or some other material?

 

[JFENG]

what do they use these days to keep the steel from touching the aluminum?

as you well know, corrosion happens when the two dissimilar bare metals touch. So the key is to have a protective coating on the wire frame or to make the frame out of compatible aluminum alloy rod. This one is the former — steel wire frame which will be painted ( epoxy primer and a durable top coat).

 

[JFENG]

Alfa 1900CSS

There was a lady there who has an RS60 (and a speedster and a 906, and a …). cool that she wanted to learn what it takes to make a body.

BTW, making a die and stamping body panels in a huge hydraulic press is 30x faster and more efficient, but you need economy of scale to justify the cost of the dies. That’s why you can buy a fender for a Mustang 350GT for $400 (made in China or Vietnam), but it’s 30x for a SWB or 250GTO.