Dream Machines Can Be Yours for a Song, Plus Mileage

If you don’t own a classic car but would like to be a great pretender--for a special night out, to impress the in-laws or just to feel what it’s like to rise above the masses for a bit--well, you’re living in the right part of the country.

Southern California overflows with car-rental outfits, and most are run by people who know their market and their customers. And in the land of boundless ambition, where wannabes can become somebodies overnight, where arriving is more important than getting there, that means that some rental companies provide classics, collectibles and convertibles to help make their customers’ dreams come true--if only by the hour.

Given the value of a true collector car--and the price of insurance, the dangers of driving on the freeways or even surface streets these days, the litigious nature of the general populace--finding someone to rent you a 1935 Bugatti Cabriolet or ’29 Duesenberg is going to take some doing (the movie companies can find ‘em, but they pay killer fees).

But there are more modern classics to be had--’57 Thunderbirds, vintage Mustangs and Cadillacs, even a 1933 Rolls-Royce Phantom limousine (you’ve got to rent it with a liveried chauffeur, though).

For more standard fare, including most modern domestic luxury cars and convertibles, just dial up any of the big rental car chains.

Many car dealerships also offer rentals, and if the manufacturer has a big, honking luxury model in its lineup, rest assured some dealer, somewhere, will make one available.

For tastes that run more toward Ferrari, the choices are fewer, and the prices reflect that.

A sampling of the exotic and classic rental offerings around Southern California:

* Beverly Hills Rent-a-Car, Los Angeles. (800) 479-5996. Here you can get classics as well as contemporaries, and the rates don’t stop till you get to the Bentley Azure convertible at $2,800 a day.

Available models include BMW’s roadsters and the four-seat 328 ragtop, Chevy Camaros and Corvettes, a Ferrari 355 Spyder and a four-place Mondial, a Jaguar XK8, Mazda Miatas, all of Mercedes-Benz’s topless models, a high-performance Saleen Mustang, a Plymouth Prowler, Porsche’s 911 and Boxster models and a Rolls-Royce Corniche. Restored classics for rent include a 1965 Mustang GT and a 1969 Cadillac Coupe de Ville (each $375 a day) and a 1957 T-bird ($549 daily).

* Budget Rent a Car of Beverly Hills. (800) 729-7350. This is probably the best known of the “you name it, we rent it” places, with a fleet that runs the gamut from a $40-a-day Geo Metro to a $1,300-a-day Ferrari. Among the cars on hand are Boxsters, Corvettes, several BMW roadsters and four-seaters, a Plymouth Prowler, Mercedes-Benz’s retractable hardtop SLK230 and two SL roadster models, and a Ferrari 355 Spyder.

* Rent a Wreck of Los Angeles. (800) 423-2158. This lot, which specializes in what the fancier dealerships call “previously owned classics,” has a modest list of interesting convertibles from the ‘60s and early ‘70s. Rates start at about $90 a day for an older Mustang and top out near $500 for a ‘70s vintage Cadillac ragtop. In addition to an assortment of Mustangs from 1965 through 1973, the agency offers a ’69 Chevy Impala, a ’68 Pontiac Le Mans, several Caddys and a ’69 Buick Skylark convertible.

* Exotic Car Rental, Santa Monica. (800) 385-8888. The agency’s price list runs from a Volkswagen Golf Cabrio at $79 a day to a V-12-powered Mercedes SL600 roadster at $575. Exotic’s list includes Miatas, ’98 Corvettes, a couple of Jaguar XK8s, a Porsche Cabriolet and Boxster, Camaros, Mustang GTs and a Mercedes-Benz SLK230. The company rents to 18-year-olds--one of the few that does--but adds a $25 surcharge.

* Limousine Experience, Los Alamitos. (714) 995-8959. The agency has a number of modern limos as well as a ‘50s vintage Rolls-Royce Princess that rents for $130 an hour, with a chauffeur. To book the old Roller, it is best to call at least six months in advance of your need--eight months if you want it on a weekend.

* Rolls-Royce Rental, Orange. (714) 997-9450 (also listed in some areas as Classic Car Rentals). You’ve got to make arrangements early to get one of the three Rolls limousines this company rents out, and you’ve got to be willing to let someone else do the driving--all come with chauffeur, as the owners aren’t quite sure they’d be comfortable letting just anyone drive off in their babies. The stable, mostly rented for weddings but available for most other uses as well, consists of a 1933 Phantom, a 1957 Princess and a 1959 Silver Cloud. Rates run from $100 to $200 an hour, depending on day and time. The company suggests calling at least two months in advance, three if you want to book for a Saturday evening.

* Exotic Auto Rentals, Vista. (888) 639-6842 or (760) 431-1683. The company has an eclectic stable and, for a fee, will deliver and pick up its cars in most of San Diego and Orange counties. Rentals range from $295 daily for a Ferrari Mondial four-seater down to $75 for a replica of a 1929 Mercedes-Benz Gazelle open roadster. The fleet includes a Porsche 911, a 1978 Porsche 930 Turbo (one of only 50 built), ’92 Mustang LX and ’97 Mustang GT convertibles and a 1991 Mercedes-Benz 300SL roadster.