History in the fast lane

“I wanted something to do in retirement with something to do with cars,” says retired neurosurgeon and Murphy Auto Museum owner Dr. Dan Murphy. That “something” turned into the only car museum between San Francisco and Los Angeles.

From Oldsmobiles to Packards to Ford Woodies to Corvettes and even a small limousine once featured in the Pasadena Tournament of Roses Parade, the Murphy Auto Museum in Oxnard has approximately 78 cars dating from the 1920s to recent years on display loan from 35 private owners in the Ventura and Santa Barbara areas.

Established in 2002 as a way for Ventura and Santa Barbara area car collectors to store their private collections, the museum houses vehicles in a safe environment while sharing them with a larger community. Every vehicle featured in the museum is a functioning automobile and able to be driven in and out of the showroom. Most owners keep one or two cars at a time at the museum.

“Our collection rotates automatically,” Murphy says. As result of the museum collection belonging to so many various owners, the collection has a greater quantity of cars rotating in and out of the museum than most other collections that are owned solely by a museum. Cars are taken out of the display by their owners at any time, so long as the museum is given 24 hours notice to charge a car’s battery.

Cars made during the ’20s and ’30s had the ability to drive at current highway speeds of 65 mph, but the road conditions were less predictable then, so car manufacturers geared the cars to stay at lower speeds. Today’s collectors have the option of adding overdrive to the driveshaft, somewhere between the transmission and the back of the car, Murphy says.

“This one sold for the price of a three-bedroom, two-bath house when it was new,” says museum volunteer docent Dave Colvin while standing next to the cranberry-colored limousine driven in the Tournament of Roses Parade.

Murphy stresses that the museum likes to house more than just rare collectible cars. “We’re trying to offer a car for every person’s interest that walks through the door,” Murphy says. He described some of the collection pieces as “an everyman’s car. People still love looking at them.”

Murphy’s own personal collection at the museum includes a collection of Packard automobiles. Packard was an American automaker originally based in Detroit, Mich., and later became the Studebaker-Packer Corporation. The automobiles were not manufactured after 1958. Murphy says when he first started collecting 30 years ago, he was interested in cars from the ’30s and ’40s. “They’re just great cars,” he says.

Originally, cars had a steel frame and a steel skin over wood doors and wood under the upholstered seats. During the latter part of the 1930s, car manufacturers switched to completely steel frames for cars, which previously would have been too heavy without improvements in steel production.

The museum is a family affair for Murphy. His daughter, Laura Jespersen, an architect with a degree from Cal Poly San Luis Obispo, poured over ideas on how to transform the former factory space into a classic showroom modeled after a typical dealership in the ’40s. Murphy’s son-in-law and KZB architect Todd Jespersen helped his wife and father-in-law navigate structural changes to the building’s ceiling during the remodel.

The result is a bright and open space with cars lined up and grouped by make, model and era. The museum allows patrons an up-close view of every automobile on the showroom floor.

In addition to Murphy’s personal collection of Packards, the museum houses a wide variety of automobiles including classic Cadillacs, American muscle cars of the ’60s and ’70s, and even hot rods. “We try to present cars that are fun to look at,” Murphy says.

The museum is still accepting cars into the collection. Murphy says he would like to see an increase in the number of muscle cars, ’30s cars, ’50s cars, Corvettes, Jaguars and street rods.

Mannequins dressed in era-specific outfits designed by local historical costume designer Holley Gene Leffler are often posed next to a group of vehicles to provide visitors with a more complete view of a time period.

The most recent addition to the museum is the presence of the Gold Coast Modular Railroad Club. In the center of one of the showrooms is a digitally controlled command railroad set on top of several 6-feet-by-4-feet models. Each railcar is individually powered on a track that receives a constant stream of electricity.

The railroad display took a week to set up and will be featured at the Ventura County Fair from July 30-Aug. 10, when another set of individual running boards of model train sets will be hosted at the museum. After the fair, the original train set is scheduled to return to the museum.

Since its establishment in 2002, the museum has been looking for various volunteers and docents. Among those to offer their services was a group of Seabees, the nickname for members of the Naval Construction Force.

The Seabees volunteered their time and energy for a cleaning and organization project at the museum.

Museum board member Dana Newquist envisioned a project for the Seabees to gain skills remodeling classic “muscle cars,” or a type of American-built autos of the late ’60s and early ’70s, to thank the group’s prior help to the museum. Newquist is in the process of putting together a pilot program where Seabees will take apart an entire car down to the basic components of the brakes, steering, electrical systems and even body work.

The project seeks a donation of a muscle car dating prior to 1972. In accordance with the Clean Air Act of 1970, cars built in the United States after 1972 have more computer-based systems for smog pumps and catalytic converters.

For Seabees born in the ’70s and ’80s, the older cars are part of an era before their own lifetimes.

The Seabees are “a perfect match for this,” Newquist says. “These guys are all gearheads.” Newquist wants to sell the car the group rebuilds and buy another classic car and start the process all over again. His model creates a continual stream of funding for the project. His hope is that someone can donate a vehicle that needs a lot of work that perhaps an individual would be “better off donating,” in the words of Murphy, than attempting to sell it.

There is a potential to see the project extend out beyond the Seabee community to students taking automotive repair classes at Oxnard College as extra credit in addition to syllabuses focusing on modern developments in vehicles.

The museum will feature two community events for the summer. A Father’s Day Car Show at the Harbor is the first event, scheduled for June 15. The First Annual Cool August Days plans to bring cars from all over Southern California to the museum and caravan to Downtown Oxnard on Aug. 9.   

The Murphy Auto Museum (2230 Statham Blvd., Oxnard, 487-4333) is open Saturday and Sunday, 10 a.m.-4 p.m. For more information on the museum, visit www.murphyautomuseum.com.