Vehicles muscle their way into annual show

A mix of shoppers and gearheads lined a busy corridor of the Americana at Brand for the second annual Caruso Concours d’Elegance, an up-close look at 25 rare and classic convertibles that have either been owned by entertainers or have appeared on the big screen.

Visitors pushed strollers past new favorites — a 1999 Plymouth Prowler nicknamed “Kisscat” and Mach 5 prototype from the movie “Speed Racer” — while others snapped photos of cherry drop-tops from a bygone era at the event.

The entrance to the free car show, presented by the Petersen Automotive Museum, featured a white Popemobile, a black 1965 Imperial Crown once owned by actress Katherine Hepburn and a 1968 Excalibur Series Phaeton that formerly belonged to comedienne Phyllis Diller.

“This one has been restored, but it’s been done by the book,” said Lenz Meylan, leaning into a sea-foam green 1939 Plymouth P8 Deluxe, which conjures up images of bootleggers, bank robbers and Tommy guns. “See that one?” he said, pointing to a 1948 Chevrolet Fleetmaster once owned by actor Jack Nicholson and driven in the 1990 film “The Two Jakes,” starring Nicholson and Harvey Keitel. “The way that it has been restored, it isn’t worth as much.”

A tour guide at the Petersen Automotive Museum on Wilshire Boulevard, where many of the concours vehicles live permanently, Meylan said the position of chaperoning 150 students daily between 10 a.m. and 1 p.m. beats having a job where the only way he’d see cars is through an office window.

“Working there allows guys like me, who cannot afford a collection, to have one,” he said. “You are what you drive. Our cars, in Los Angeles and Southern California more so than in other places in the country, are extensions of our personalities.

“Soccer moms have minivans. Now if you play for the Lakers or the Clippers that probably wouldn’t suit you. I think most of us fall somewhere in the middle.”

None of the vehicles on display Sunday occupy that free-floating middle ground, certainly not the 1970 Oldsmobile 442 convertible, astroblue metallic in color and one of 2,933 big-block drop-tops built in 1970.

“People identify with cars from their birth date to time they reach the age of 21,” Meylan said, which explains the popularity of muscle cars as men in their 40s and 50s reach the age when they can finally afford what was once a childhood dream.

The car’s owner, Ken Blumer, agrees.

“These are getting a lot more attention than the pre-war cars,” said Blumer, of Encino.

At the big car auctions held in January in Arizona, muscle cars exploded in popularity, Meylan said, many going from $100,000 to $150,000.

Browser Juan Garcia thought the car more suitable for his father-in-law and moved on to a azure blue 1957 Ford Thunderbird owned by Jo Dunn, of Pasadena.

The 312 V8 engine boasts 245 horsepower, has an automatic transmission and power steering, suitable for three rides a month around the Rose Bowl, said Dunn, the car’s second owner.

“The speedometer goes up to 140 mph,” she said. “I’ve had it at 100, but that was years ago.”

Rene Deleon strolled past the 1951 Mercury from David Lee Roth’s “California Girl,” past the 1956 Jaguar XKSS that once belonged to Steve McQueen and the 1949 Delahaye Type 178 Drophead Coupe once owned by Elton John, before arriving at a 1972 Ferrari Daytona Spyder 365 GTS/4.

“What beautiful cars,” said Deleon, a mechanic and former professional soccer player. “So many of the ones today are plastic.”