Hollywood Sports Cars

I was looking at a series of ads for Hollywood Sports Cars in some 1975 issues of Ferrari (the FOC magazine) and noticed they included an address of 1934 Wilshire Boulevard, Beverly Hills in addition to the normal 5766 Hollywood Blvd. Now Beverly Hills is in the 9000 block of Wilshire and the 1900 block is in the McArthur Park area of Los Angeles; not your typical Ferrari locale. Can anybody shed some light on this?

 

I was in the Beverly Hills store in 1973, it was located next to Hillcrest Cadillac on Wilshire Blvd. As far as the address is concerned, perhaps it was a typo and should have been 9340 Wilshire you knows? It was a small 3 car showroom.

 

There was the main store in Hollywood then then the service department for the Ferraris on Gower.

If I remember correctly the Ferrari of Beverly Hills was originally a Hollywood Sports Car entity but later FNA forced the sale to FNA to become a company store.

Jeff

 

Sounds reasonable to me but there must have been a bunch of disappointed Ferrari owners wandering around McArthur Park in the '70's. The ad and address were the back cover of the Ferrari Owners Club newsletter for the year and a half of issues that I have.

 

I remember my dad put a deposit in 1985 down on the Testarossa and I think the dealership closed shortly after.

 

Hollywood Sports cars (the Vandegraffs) was just east of the Hollywood Freeway on Hollywood Blvd in the 1960s.

 

Chick Vandergriff, the father, ran Hollywood. His son Chris Vandergriff opened the current Ferrari of Beverly Hills in early 1984 with Factory backing. He was promised the dealership for himself but the then FNA administration under Buitoni (of the famous pasta family) had other ideas. Chris was removed about a year later and the factory later gave the store to a a Ferrari family member.

 

I bought a 1987 328GTS in 1988 from Chris. As I remember the dealership was around for a couple of years after that. After my warranty expired, around 1990, I started going to Bruno on La Brea and lost contact with Hollywood Sport Cars. I do remember Chris telling me that he had a law degree and only intended to stay in the Ferrari business as long as the market was crazy and afterwards he would practice law. He mentioned that he had made a fortune buying and selling cars during that period.
Morris

 

Yes, but both Chris and Skip both worked at the Hollywood Blvd store (which also sold some British cars) before the Wilshire Blvd store opened (it was foremerly a Fiat dealership!)

 

Chris is a big shot at one of the vintage racing associations on the west coast. I think it's HMSA....

 

I remember the dealership having the British range (specifically recall Jaguar) plus Ferrari and Maserati.

Jeff

 

A little piece of their history! I believe Chris is still very active with V.A.R.A.
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I just noticed that I posted 1984 instead of 1994. That's when FoBH opened.

 

The last time I was in L.A. was back in '94 and drove by to check them out and it had looked like they had just closed. The signs were still up, yet there were loads of graffiti on the walls of the building and was generally quite trashed (office chairs and filing cabinets strewn about the parking lot).

I was quite saddened to see that. The first time I visited was back in '88 and I was 12 years old at the time. They were very friendly and showed me around the place, they let me take pictures (I nearly s*** my pants when I saw they had TWO 288 GTO's in the showroom!!!) and at at the end of the "tour" one of the managers gave me a poster of Michelle Alboreto driving one of the F1 cars... It was an experience I still vividly remember, even while typing this...

 

Didn't Chris provide a 288 GTO for the story in the American magazine 'AUTOMOBILE' about 1985?
CH

 

The trip Dan Gurney took up Mrs. Orcutt's driveway; I have that issue and could verify...

 

I have an original Ferrari full-line brochure printed by Hollywood Sports Cars that covers the 365 GT 2+2, 365 GTB/4, and 365 GTC/4. There is a picture of a Ferrari 512 S race car on the cover of the brochure along with two of their addresses posted:

Hollywood Sports Cars
5766 Hollywood Boulevard
Hollywood, Calif.
(213)464-6166

Newport Imports
3100 West Coast Highway
Newport Beach, California 92660

The brochure is also stamped with a 3rd address with I believe is the name of a salesman that worked there at the time:

Please ask for:
Dave Lewis C/O
Hollywood Sports Cars
5768 Hollywood Boulevard
Hollywood, Calif. 90028

I think it would be really cool if someone could post some original photos of the dealership from the past!

 

What was the exact adress of this dealer in the 60s?

 

Hollywood Sport (not Sports) Cars
5766 Hollywood Boulevard
Hollywood 25, California
(213)464-6166

 

The service department for the Ferraris was some blocks away on Gower.

Jeff

 

THanks Boudewijn & Jeff!

 

now a BMW/Saab/Volvo repair place.

how the mighty have fallen.
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Who was the owner of that dealership in the 60s/70s?

 

Chick Vandagriff was the General Manager and was the majority interest owner. His son is Cris Vandagriff currently the President of HMSA (Historic Motor Sports Association) and can be reached at their offices located at 2029 Verdugo Blvd, #1010 Montrose, CA 91020 Phone # 818-249-3515.