Richard Nolind, 78; Helped Build Classic Car Collection

He came to the car-collecting world in a roundabout fashion, but Richard Nolind was a significant figure in the car culture.

As president of the Sylmar-based Nethercutt Collection, Nolind worked with his boss and close friend, Merle Norman Cosmetics Chairman J.B. Nethercutt, to build one of the finest collections of classic automobiles in the world.

Together they won an unprecedented six best-of-show trophies at the renowned Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance--Nethercutt, the owner, and Nolind, the go-to guy.

“J.B. always says there’s no such thing as the impossible, but that’s because he always gave those impossible tasks to Dick, and Dick would figure out how to get them done,” said Bruce Meyer, chairman of the Petersen Automotive Museum Foundation and a member of the Nethercutt Collection advisory board. “He and J.B. set the standard for Concours-quality restorations.”

Nolind died Nov. 18 of complications after heart surgery. He was 78.

Nolind was not a serious collector himself, spending his passions instead on a variety of interests, including Arabian horses and his avocado ranch in Fallbrook.

But as president of the Nethercutt Collection, he pulled together a crack team of restoration specialists and often could be found in the garage getting his hands dirty as he helped one of the mechanics or metalworkers wrestle a part into place.

He helped scout the globe for rare parts for cars last made before the Depression, and he delighted in obscure finds that helped establish the authenticity that marks a Nethercutt restoration.

One of his favorites was a 1930s-era automated shoelace-weaving machine that was modified by the collection’s artisans to produce the intricately woven cloth covers used to sheath automobile wiring harnesses in the days before plastic insulation came into vogue.

Nolind was a native of Santa Monica and a graduate of Santa Monica High School. He joined Nethercutt’s businesses in 1953 after a three-year stint in the Air Force, working, in Nethercutt’s words, “as an ordinary laborer, wrapping targets” in a trapshooting target factory the future cosmetics king had acquired.

“But it wasn’t long before it became apparent he had the qualities that made him a supervisor, and that’s where he was when we moved the factory to Sylmar” in 1958, Nethercutt said. “So it was natural to send him there and put him in charge.”

After Nethercutt acquired his aunt Merle Norman’s cosmetics company in 1968 and started making all of the company’s plastic containers at the Sylmar plant, Nolind “just naturally took charge of that operation too” and was made vice president of packaging production, Nethercutt said.

Nolind, in an interview last year, said he became involved with the boss’ cars because in the late 1950s and ‘60s, Nethercutt used the Sylmar facility to store his growing collection. In 1968, Nethercutt formalized his hobby as the Nethercutt Collection and made Nolind president--a job that shared time with his other duties as a vice president and director of Merle Norman Cosmetics.

As head of the collection, Nolind had to ensure that restorations were completed on time and to Nethercutt’s exacting standards and to figure out how to help Nethercutt share his passion.

“He didn’t just work for me,” Nethercutt said. “Neither of us were ever aware of the fact that he was an employee.”

Nolind oversaw construction of San Sylmar, the four-story building that houses the original Nethercutt Collection and restoration shop, and the recently completed Nethercutt Museum across the street, which houses more than 100 other cars from the collection. Both facilities are open to the public at no charge.

Nolind was buried Nov. 26 at Forest Lawn Hollywood Hills.

He is survived by his wife, Lisa; daughters Pamela “DeeDee” Langeli and Eryn Leedom; sons Michael and Kelly; eight grandchildren; and five great-grandchildren.