Canepa Design photography & article

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Have you ever tried to photograph an entire classic car collection in just 1 hour? This past spring (2016), my wife and I took a vacation to California, which included a road trip from the Bay Area down the Pacific Coast Highway to Los Angeles. Canepa Design was on the way, so we decided to take a quick side trip to see what was on display. I recently published a small collection of my best shots from that quick visit to my car blog, HOONART. Follow the link for the full selection. Canepa Design, owned by retired race car driver Bruce Canepa, is a company which buys, restores, and sells classic and collector cars. Canepa is located in Scotts Valley, California, about 40 minutes south of San Jose. On site, there is a showroom, museum, and a garage where one can look down and see the rare cars being worked on.

On entering the ground floor display area, we were greeted by an early D’Ieteren-bodied Porsche 356B roadster and an early ’70s 911. If you look further back, you can see a Mercedes 300 SL roadster just peeking over the green 911. There’s history everywhere in here. That 356 was imported back in ’62 by Knievel Imports, which was owned by Robert E. Knievel, father of the famous Evel Knievel.

This 1974 Ducati 750 Sport was built into a Super Sport by Australian motorcycle racer Gavin Martin and Ducati legend Ian Gowanloch.

One of three Lamborghini Countaches that I would see that week. This one is a 25th Anniversary edition from 1989.

1994 Porsche 964 Turbo 3.6 was a one year Porsche model. Behind it, you can see a Carrera GT and a 959. Rare, rare, rare!

The Interscope Porsche 934.5’s wide body is quite menacing in person.

Upstairs is where many of the older historic race cars were kept, the Canepa Motorsports Museum.

I had no idea what this was at first, but it definitely had presence. This is a 1926 Miller 91, built by Harry Miller, a man who has been called “America’s Ettore Bugatti.” Winning 5 Indianapolis 500s between 1922 and 1929, the Miller cars dominated American automotive racing in the 1920s (for more on the history, see this article by Sam Smith in Road & Track). This particular car, a front wheel drive variant of the Miller 91, is one of only two which survive in original form. It was the sixth car produced by Harry Miller and was delivered to driver Leon Duray in the summer of 1926. It would go on to set a lap record in Europe, at the Monza Grand Prix.

Cars this old can be interesting in just how far removed they are from what is sold or raced today.

Indianapolis 500 competing 1953 Kurtis 500B. Freddie Agabashian qualified 2nd at the 500 in this car at a speed of 137.546 mph. This car technically captured 2nd place in the 500 as well, but was cheated of it’s victory due to a scoring error placing it in 4th. This car is from the days when only 5 cars competed in the 500, manned by several drivers throughout the race who would change place as they were exhausted by the extreme heat.

The 270 cubic inch Offy engine which powered the Kurtis 500B.

The USAC Championship-competing 1960 Kuzma built by Eddie Kuzma, was driven by legendary driver Parnelli Jones. It won two “Hoosier Hundred” races and was the last dirt track car to compete in the Indianapolis 500 before being replaced by rear engined cars.

This So-Cal ’34 Ford Coupe utilized a supercharged Flathead V8, chopped top, and custom aerodynamic nose to set a class-C speed record at Bonneville of 172.749 mph back in 1953.

The famous 6-wheeled 1976 Tyrrell P34, from back when Formula 1 was more experimental and open in its specifications.

Porsche 934.5 in which Bruce Canepa competed, in 1977 and ’78.

The last factory-built Porsche 935, which was driven by Bruce Canepa in 1979 after he had impressed Porsche with his racing in the 934.5 over the previous years.