Vehicle Exhibit to Help Fund-Raiser

OXNARD —  For those who prefer a black Harley to a black tie event, Saturday offers a rare chance to view more than 150 classic motorcycles and automobiles while benefiting the Muscular Dystrophy Assn.

The occasion is a daylong paean to glittering dream machines at the Vintage Museum of Transportation and Wildlife in Oxnard to be held in conjunction with Sunday’s 15th annual Love Ride, a charitable fund-raiser that attracts 20,000 motorcyclists for a 50-mile ride from Glendale to Castaic.

Last year, 2,000 people--including actor Peter Fonda of “Easy Rider” fame, talk show host Jay Leno and U.S. Sen. Ben Nighthorse Campbell--showed up for the local festivities at the museum that houses the personal collection of Otis Chandler, The Times’ former publisher.

Considered one of the finest privately financed automotive museums in the world, its collection ranges from one of only two 1901 Indian motorcycles ever built to a blood-red 1992 Ferrari.

“This is stuff [people] would probably not see in the course of their life,” said Glenn Bator, the museum’s general manager. “And it’s right here in Oxnard. This is probably one of the best-kept secrets in Ventura County.”

Indeed, the multimillion-dollar collection is tucked away in an anonymous industrial building in Oxnard that opens to the public for only a few hours several days each year.

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Chandler has refocused his museum collection in recent years. Until recently, the 45,000-square-foot space housed an extensive Porsche collection and a boutique of American muscle cars from the 1960s and 1970s.

But the 70-year-old Chandler has sold many of those vehicles, replacing them with more than 30 classic and antique American cars that he has acquired at the rate of one every two months, mostly within the last 1 1/2 years, Bator said.

“It’s the hunt, the chase, the acquisition” that drives Chandler, said Bator. “We’re very selective in what we collect and we try to go for the best and rarest.”

Almost all the cars feature custom coach work and many of the vehicles are either among the first or last examples of particular models or are landmarks in other ways, he said.

The pristine cars include a black 1933 Cadillac once owned by actress Joan Crawford, a rare 1912 Oldsmobile and a low-production 1911 Simplex.

The motorcycle collection spans the 20th century. Included are one of only 14 1912 Wall Wallcycars ever manufactured; a 1929 Harley Davidson once owned by Bud Ekins, who was Steve McQueen’s stuntman for the movie “The Great Escape”; and a 1998 BMW K1200RS.

The museum will be open to the public from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Saturday; children under the age of 12 are not permitted. Admission is $7.

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Activities staged for this peripheral Love Ride event will include live music, vendors, a stunt motorbike performance and a ride-in bike show. The show entry fee is $10, with seven categories ranging from antique motorcycles to “extreme custom” bikes.

All proceeds from the day’s events go to the Love Ride Foundation.

The museum is at 1421 Emerson Ave. For more information, call 486-5929.