When John Brinzo retired as chief executive and chairman of a Cleveland-based mining company, he found that he could finally indulge a lifelong fascination for vintage cars. His collection of American classics grew to 27 cars, mostly postwar cruisers, convertibles, muscle cars and customs.
Brinzo is now paring his collection, sending 21 collector cars to be auctioned at Mecum’s 32nd annual Spring Classic sale in Indianapolis, to be held May 14-19. Nearby every car is offered without reserve.
Brinzo calls his offering The Vintage Dream Car Collection, and it includes many of the popular collector car touchstones, all of them in apparently immaculate condition.
Among them are a 1936 Ford Club Cabriolet street rod, a 1953 Buick Skylark convertible, a 1954 Cadillac Eldorado convertible and a custom 1954 Chevrolet Corvette. Restored cars from the Tri-5 Chevy years are represented by a 1955 Bel Air two-door post, a 1956 Nomad and a 1957 Bel Air convertible.
Other ’50s convertibles include a 1957 Oldsmobile Super 88, a 1957 Pontiac Bonneville, a 1958 Chevy Impala and a 1959 Chevy Impala. The 1960s convertibles are a 1963 Chevy Impala SS, a 1966 Chevy Impala SS and 1966 Pontiac Catalina.
There are a couple of very different Chevrolet pickup trucks, a 1941 half ton and a 1959 El Camino.
Then they are the muscle cars from various eras, a 1957 Ford Fairlane 500 E-Code, a 1962 Chevy Impala SS 409, a 1967 Buick Riviera GS, a 1970 Dodge Challenger T/A and a 1971 Buick GS Stage 1 convertible.
Brinzo said he is selling cars that he would not ordinarily part with except that he wants all his collection to fit in his home garage, and those are the overflow. He also wants to devote more time to enjoying the cars that remain.
“It’s been fun, and now I’ve decided I just want to get it down to about the capacity of my garage,” he said. “I’d like to get to where I just have my garage full here, where they’re handy and I can go out and drive them every day.”
The Brinzo cars will be among 2,000 vehicles offered during Mecum’s six-day collector car auction at the Indiana State Fairgrounds. For more information and to see all the cars in the Vintage Dream Car Collection, visit the auction website.
Like the 1958 Chevrolet and the 1957 Pontiac
Yes, the 1958 Chevy was really underrated…great styling, and quite a departure from the 1957. I knew some ice hockey players from Detroit back then who had a black ’58 convertible…
Departure? How about 56-57-58-59 Chevy’s.