A new facility featuring vintage autos and memorabilia opened in Oyster Bay last week, yet another reason to ensure both car aficionados and history buffs will visit the region.
Collector Car Showcase (CCS) is a multi-level, 18,000-square-foot facility on Route 106 (aka Pine Hollow Road) at the gateway to the hamlet and just opened after undergoing extensive construction since summer 2013. The showcase is expected to have great appeal to avid car, Petroliana and advertising collectors, American history buffs and those who enjoy casual antiquing or just love unimaginable craftsmanship and beauty of a passing era.
Some would call it a museum, but its creator David Jacobson, 51, a local resident, said it better by calling it a showcase of imaginable achievement in engineering and design. In it, you will find vintage automobiles from several countries, gas pumps from the early 1900s and advertising signs that date back to late 1800s.
The showcase is open five days a week, has more than 1,000 items on display that adorn the walls, ceiling and floors. A complete listing of the collection has been researched and is maintained online.
There are many car hobbyists and collectors in the area, Jacobson noted.
“By coming to see our facility, they can relive their youth, show off to their kids, engage in ‘auto talk’ with like-minded visitors and spend as much time here to rekindle memories when they were growing up,” he said.
He explained that Petroliana, or antiques related to gas stations and the oil business, is a collecting area focused on advertising, with key subcategories being gas pumps, gas pump globes, oil cans, road maps, signs, and major names like Mobil, Texaco, Standard Oil, Phillips 66, Shell, Sinclair and Esso.
“New York deserved something like this,” Jacobson explained in describing his rationale. “Although this is a private venture, other collectors’ personal car collections are on display as well. But, it is a showcase that tells a visual story about the evolution of cars, artifacts, memorabilia, advertising and everything associated with the early 1900-’50 time period that many collectors rightly call the heyday of cars in this country.”
Rather than serve as a permanent exhibition, the intent of CCS is to shift the showcase theme every two months.
For example, a Corvette Showcase is being considered for the spring where significant Corvettes from 1953 through 1978 would be displayed, allowing the facility to host many national and regional car clubs. An important role for the showcase is to serve not only as a meeting place, but as a venue for corporate, personal and family-oriented events and parties.
Jacobson envisions using the showcase as a living laboratory for nearby schools, including colleges that offer advertising courses.
While the facility is a first class museum-like facility that showcases yesteryear, CCS also provides custom detailing, exterior and interior reconditioning services, car storage, hand car washing and window tinting, among other amenities. Cars displayed can also be purchased.
“This is a perfect window to the ‘Mad Men’ era that will excite all types of people as it certainly has for me in making this extraordinary place a reality,” said Jacobson.
Hours of operation and other information may be found at www.collectorcarshowcase.com.
