In the heart of downtown Orlando, in the neighborhood known as Ivanhoe Village, there is a three-story building that houses some but not all of Tim Majors’ companies. A burly lad of 48 summers, Majors is an Australian transplant entrepreneur who deals in real estate and other ventures, but he also happens to be a car nut.
So, the M Bar, an operating cocktail and small-plates bar on the ground floor of his building, is absolutely stuffed with cars, nearly 50 of them.
The front window houses a spinning turntable and a red Ferrari Dino 246 surrounded by motorcycles, candelabra and art objects. The entryway is guarded by a white Metro bread van lettered Majors Motors. The letter M is everywhere. The deejay station in the bar is made from a Beetle convertible.
The M Bar car collection contains the world’s largest private collection of Kaiser Darrin roadsters, the wonderful collaboration between metals magnate Henry J Kaiser, who supplied the chassis and running gear, and designer Howard “Dutch” Darrin, who designed the car with its signature sliding doors. There are 10 of them here in their own room, celebrating the fact that the Darrin was America’s first production fiberglass sports car, introduced in 1951.
Across the aisle from the Darrins, a very tasty collection of early Corvettes and other roadsters, punctuated by a Lamborghini Jarama, a one-of-two Californian roadster, and a Daimler SP250.
Off in the corner are some of the very many minicars that populate the collection. In this and the other rooms of this giant bar, there are Velocars, Bond Minicars, Kings (not King Midgets), Friskys, Freeways, Vespas, Messerschmitts, Trojans, three-wheeled minicycles, and a whole bunch of very rare and very nice motorcycles.
Behind the big bar, which is made from a stretched Cadillac, there are two more cars mounted vertically, holding liquor bottles, a carbon fiber Cobra replica and a red Singer roadster.
The cushily upholstered furniture is surrounded by all kinds of aluminum automotive, marine and aviation sculptures, beautiful model boats, Bakelite radios and other ephemera from around the world, and the hallway is slathered with historic and Hollywood glamour photography.
Everywhere you look, there is something worth your notice.
