Detailing? Car Storage? That`s Just the beginning!

PHOTOGRAPHS BY MATT MAKOWSKI
Detailing? Car Storage? That’s
Just the beginning!
WRITTEN BY
MATT MAKOWSKI
Collectors Car Corral Pampers You and Your Car
COMBINE EQUAL PARTS BATCAVE
AND THROWBACK 1950’S LOUNGE;
ADD TWO PARTS WAREHOUSE AND
STIR IN A 30,000 SQUARE-FOOT
CONTAINER; GARNISH WITH WAX AND
A CHAMOIS—DON’T SHAKE—YOU
COULD BRUISE THE MERCHANDISE.
What you wind up with is a facility
resembling the Collectors Car Corral.
Granted, a cocktail metaphor may not
be the most suitable one to use when
describing anything to do with cars, but
there aren’t many ways to clearly portray
a concoction like this. There’s plenty of
car clubs, electronically secured storage
facilities, and detail businesses that can
bring back that fresh-from-the-dealer
16
WashTrends / Summer 2006
shine, but not many – if any – that
concentrate on all three.
The Collectors Car Corral has an
unassuming brick facade with a simple
black canopy over the front
entranceway. The only distinctive
feature that separates this building from
the myriad of other warehouses in
Owings Mills, MD is the ultra-fancy
cursive “CCC” emblazoned on the
canopy. Past the portico and inside the
characterless walls is where ordinary
ends. This is a Mecca for car lovers,
hobbyists, and those WHO simply don’t
get enough car in their lives.
At the CCC, the toys come both small
and large. Just behind the tinted glass
doors in the lobby are custom-built
shelves made for housing scale models
of Ferraris, Grand Prix racers, as well as
a compendium of other visually
venerated vehicles. The rugged
diamond-plate aluminum floor of the
lobby gives way to a subdued carpet,
and a lounge that can renew memories
for any nostalgic baby boomer.
There’s an eight-foot, gray felt pool
table next to the enclosed stogie room,
swanky red leather couches, a blackand-white checkerboard bar and coffee
table, and why-didn’t-I-think-of-that bar
stools fashioned from sterilized chrome
rims. Of course the art on the walls
keeps consistent with the motif and
celebrates all things fast. Among others,
two prints from famed motor sports
artist Randy Owens adorn the walls near
the bar.
Despite the retro appeal, the CCC
isn’t built for Luddites. We’ve come a
long way from 12-inch black and white
televisions. The only thing that beats
watching the Sunday races on their 62inch HDTV with the surround sound
blaring is actually being there, and even
that’s debatable.
Clubhouse members who pay the
$300 yearly fee get to bask in all this as
well as a full-service Porsche Tangerine
Orange locker room, guest office,
extensive automotive library/
conference room, and even a video
game room dedicated to the racing
game Gran Turismo 4. There is one
catch; members also have to donate a
vehicle to the scale model collection in
the lobby, a book or technical manual to
the library, and a piece of automotivethemed and framed artwork.
As for the remaining square-footage
not used for socialization, that’s where
the toys get bigger. “I’m into the car
hobby and I started storing my own
personal cars here at the facility,” said
Randy Moss, president of the CCC.
Moss has owned the building for
more than 24 years. It was headquarters
for Holstein Paper & Janitorial Supplies
until he merged the business with a rival
company in order to make room for his
vision and more cars.
“A friend of mine called me; he
wanted to put his car here. I let him put
his car here. My dad had somebody who
asked for a space, and he put his car
here. So then I put two and two
together,” Moss said.
The vast room once dedicated to the
storage of paper and janitorial supplies
is now a climate controlled, 24-hour
electronically secured storeroom for
cars, motorcycles and trailers, complete
with hydraulic lifts and work bays for
those who need to get under the hood.
The storage area looks like a poster
on an adolescent boy’s bedroom wall.
Classic Mustang convertibles, shining
Porsches galore, a pair of ’57 Chevy Bel
Air Convertibles, an unspoiled 70-plusyear-old Model A Ford, and the list goes
on. All in all, the street sign-decorated
warehouse is prepared to house 70 cars.
Once the CCC hits the 70 mark, buddy
lifts will be installed to raise the limit to
100. Although not there yet, the
warehouse has already come a long way
from being a paper holding tank.
Of course not only classic and exotic
cars grace the hallowed walls of the
CCC. People store cars for any number
of reasons, not just to protect them from
the elements.
“A car is being dropped off next week
because a guy is getting a [job] transfer to
Ireland,” Moss said, adding, “The red
convertible [in storage], it’s owned by a
guy who works for the State Department
who was transferred to Hungary for three
years. He visited the car last August.”
Moss recently got a phone call from a
family remodeling their home. They
needed to store some of their weatherprone cars so they could turn the garage
at home into a staging area for the
renovation.
“With the older cars you can put on
all the cover you want, but over time it’s
going to deteriorate… We’re trying to
offer a solution to these problems,”
Moss said.
Storing an automobile at CCC runs
$175 a month, or $1,800 a year. But you
get what you pay for. Yearly storage
customers get the added perk of free
clubhouse membership. Simple storage
solution aside, the CCC also offers
battery tending, fluid checks, periodic
cleanings and occasional movement of
the vehicles to prevent tire flatspotting and infestation problems.
Besides the problems listed above
and high gas prices, a car’s biggest
enemy is dirt. The inevitable fact of
the matter is any car taken on the road
will get dirty and for most cars, the
local carwash is more than fine. But
Opposite page: The lounge at
Collectors Car Corral featuring
pool table, lounge area and bar.
Bottom left: PresidentRandy Moss
in the library/conference room.
Bottom right: Joe Manger detailing
a client’s car.
(Continued on page 25)
WashTrends / Summer 2006
17
Collectors Car Corral (continued)
why keep a 40-year-old piece of
automotive history in normal
condition? The CCC’s other specialty is
keeping cars picture perfect.
Off to the side of where the cars are
stored is a clean checkerboard-floored
detail bay where vehicles regain their
showroom shine. This is Joe Manger’s
area. He’s been detailing cars for more
than 15 years. He used to own and
operate Distinctive Detailing in
Glyndon, MD, where he met Moss.
Distinctive was a 3,000 square-foot
shop where on top of detailing, Manger
stored 10 to 13 cars at any given time.
Manger ran out of space before he ran
out of clients.
“Joe would tell me, ‘I get a call once a
month from someone looking to store a
car,’” Moss said of his personal trips to
Manger’s shop.
Between Manger’s additional
connections and his expertise in
spotlessness, Moss saw a possibility for
a business partnership – one that
would help separate his facility from
other luxury car storage facilities.
“I think our business plan is
favorable because with a detail shop
here on site it gives you staff to take
care of the cars that are in storage,”
Moss said.
And it doesn’t hurt to have someone
around who is as good at shining up a
sedan as good as Manger.
“I used to pride myself on the fact
that I liked to go into the garage and
scrub my own cars, but after he started
doing it I realized what a weak job I
did,” Moss said of Manger’s talents.
Manger’s new detail bay at the CCC
is loaded with high-end cleaning and
polishing products, chamois galore,
plenty of rags and a healthy dose of
bathroom toiletries. Here, the cotton
swabs and toothbrushes aren’t used for
personal care. Manger uses the Q-tips
for wiping the dust off of air
conditioner vents and the
toothbrushes for any other nook or
cranny where dirt may hide.
“It’s not uncommon for a halfmillion-dollar car too come in here for a
detail,” Manger said before racing from
his office to the detail bay on a razor
scooter.
Before
everything is
said and done,
Manger isn’t
happy until he
can see the
color of his
eyes in the
glistening
surface of a car.
“It’s like a
black mirror,”
Manger said
peering into the finish of a BMW Z3.
That’s the way it’s got to be when
sterilizing top of the line vehicles. They
can be a discerning crowd.
With three distinct enterprises
revolving around the care, collection
and commemoration of ground
transportation, Moss spots room for
more.
After a successful Super Bowl party
with more than 100 guests, Moss sees
additional uses for the site. The site has
already hosted a number of car club
meetings, which Moss hopes is just the
tip of the iceberg.
Couple the boom in condo living and
single car garages with a growing hobby
that requires space, and Moss could
have a match made in heaven.
“We just want people to be able to
relax and enjoy it here,” Moss said.
Matt Makowski has toiled in various
forms of media over the past six years.
He is currently a freelance writer based
in Maryland.
WashTrends / Summer 2006
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