British motoring journalist and TV presenter Jonny Smith showcased an incredible collection of rare custom and micro cars on his YouTube channel The Late Brake Show. He managed to gain access to a secret stash of vehicles located in the basement of an unassuming apartment block in London.
The owner, Gary Hillman, a builder by trade, holds a fascination for weird and wonderful vehicles. He’s a man that likes to collect oddities. And someone that's impressed by optimistic post-war designs, classic cars, and fun collectibles. After trading emails with Jonny for a number of years he finally let the journalist inside his private car cave to share the rare gems that he's accumulated inside.
The Underground Collection
On his way into the basement space, Jonny squeezes past Gary’s everyday ride. A gray Ferrari FF Shooting Brake that looks like it's sitting on guard and blocking the tight tunnel entrance. The low mileage estate car which was once owned by JK from Jamiroquai has a rare orange leather interior worth $50,000.
Inside the underground concrete space the first thing that catches Jonny’s eye is a big red Cadillac. “That’s bloody cool!” he yells, marveling over the 1959 Cadillac Eldorado Biarritz convertible, which has been in Gary’s possession for 22 years. A fairly rare example that he imported from Sweden, one of just 1,320.
As the film crew make their way past the Caddy, they get to see some really cool vehicles in Gary’s stockpile. Rows of classic micro cars line the side walls facing outwards. Gary is an avid collector of these mini automobiles, and even on the day of filming a late 1950s Mk1 Scooter car arrives at the hideaway location.
These miniature cars were very popular in the UK after World War II. At a time when people were looking for cheap runabouts that didn't require you to take a driving test (motorcycle licenses were sufficient). The Suez crisis in the '50s pushed fuel prices up and made them even more significant. The boom lasted until the end of the decade, when smaller, cheaper mass-produced cars started to hit the market. And it was cars like the Mini, the Fiat 500 and the Renault 4 that pretty much killed off the micro car.
Micro Cars Galore
Today, they are very popular with collectors. Models with glass aircraft-style canopies, affectionately called ‘bubble cars’, are particularly sought after. The UK, Germany and Italy produced some iconic brands such as the Peel, Trident, Messerschmitt, Heinkel, Isetta, and Lambretta. And Jeremy Clarkson famously drove one of these little cars into the BBC's Top Gear offices, showing off its maneuverability and even driving it into an elevator.
Gary has a fine selection of Peel P50, Tridents, Isettas, Trojans and other quirky microcars. He even has a Messerschmitt TR200 bubble car which Evel Knievel used for his pre-show parades. As part owner of the Peel Engineering company he now remanufactures these cool little cars, bringing them back to their former glory and selling them to collectors all over the world.
The secret car cave also houses a bunch of rare custom show cars. A long term friend of the late George Barris (the man that designed and built the original Batmobile), Gary once owned twelve of George’s creations. Now he has four; Alvin's Acorn, The Sidewinder, Sand Draggin and The Pool Hustler.
And if you’re into water sports, he has the 'Speedboat car' that Andy Saunders featured in Street Machine. Which is a mad combination of a Reliant Robin three-wheeler with a speedboat body, that Gary hails as his favorite car. A car that is fully road-legal and one that he actually drives around the streets of London from time to time. Sitting next to it is another of Gary's fun toys, the ‘Amphicar’. A fully water-going car that’s built on Triumph running gear which Gary once found himself stranded in when it ran out of petrol out on the water.
Squatting in between all the exhibits is a motorcycle that Gary bought from UK stunt bike legend Eddie Kidd. Eddie is the UK's equivalent to Evel Knievel. He used the bike for his pre-show warm-ups, pulling wheelies, and mini stunts before performing the major jumps that he's famous for. It was one of the heroic jump attempts, which sadly went wrong, that left Eddie paralyzed and brain-damaged in 1996.
Packed tightly on large shelves along one side of the room is a load of vintage kids pedal cars. All different makes, shapes, sizes, and colors. Dating as far back as the 1930s up to the 1960s. Jonny is a keen fan and collector of these himself, and he quickly picks out a couple of 1950s Murray models to drool over amongst the dusty little toy vehicles.
After a brief tour of the basement complex, Jonny discovers that Gary has saved the best till last. Because in the penthouse flat, which he owns, at the top of the building, a short elevator ride away, are his prize possessions. A couple of extremely rare micro cars sit center stage, elevated behind a sofa in the 1950s diner style apartment. “It’s just Art isn’t it” he says to a smiling Jonny, who looks like a young kid in a sweet shop.