Bridgehampton Motoring Club in The New York Times (with a Ferrari Headline)

Unfortunately, The New York Times Long Island section is not available online. The article was half a page with two color photos of BMC.

So here is the text. With a photo of our own.

Thanks to all of the EC'ers for your support.

Best.

www.bridgemc.com



A Garage Worthy
Of Any Ferrari

By ROSAMARIA MANCINI
BRIDGEHAMPTON

THINK pampered auto storage.
That's what the Bridgehampton
Motoring Club is about. The
club, which began accepting memberships
last fall, runs a garage that
offers car enthusiasts a resortlike repository
for their prized possessions.
"This is a place for people who love
and really care about their cars,"
said Matthew Harris, an owner of the
motoring club and a managing director
of Credit Suisse First Boston in
London.
This is no dark, damp garage. The
cars are kenneled at a constant 68
degrees, with 50 percent humidity.
The place is well lighted and immaculately
clean.
The cars undergo "mechanical integrity"
checks every two weeks,
which means they are started and
the engine temperatures and tire
pressures are recorded. An e-mail
report is then sent to the owner.
The garage, which has 12,000
square feet, provides other services
as needed — washing, vacuuming
and underhood cleaning — and will
take the car to a mechanic or inspection
station. The garage will even
send a truck with a tilting flat bed to
pick up and deliver cars.
The club's fees depend on the level
of service required, but the average
cost of membership is about $325 a
month, Mr. Harris said. "We didn't
want to make it exclusive," he added
without a trace of a irony.
Mr. Harris, who has a home in
Southampton, said the club meets a
need because many East Enders are
seasonal or weekend residents who
want a storage garage. This being
the Hamptons, the cars are usually
expensive, often exotic or collectible.
And because the ocean is nearby, the
salt air can lead to corrosion if cars
are not carefully garaged.
Bill Hickman of Manhattan keeps
his gray 1970 Mercedes-Benz 280SL,
a two-seat roadster, at the Bridgehampton
Motoring Club.
"The car is in a clean, stable environment,
and that's very important
to me," said Mr. Hickman, who described
the car as a "treasured family
possession" that he has always
pampered.
A part-time investor who heads
out to the Hamptons for day trips or
weekends, Mr. Hickman said he used
to store his Mercedes at a garage in
East Rockaway but when it closed,
he began looking for a garage on the
East End.
He came to the motoring club. "I
found the place, and I liked what it offered
and decided to move my car
there," he said.
There are currently 16 cars at the
garage, including a 2003 Ferrari
575M Maranello, a 1978 Alfa Romeo
Spider, a 1969 Ford Bronco and a
1965 Ford Shelby Mustang. The original
Chitty Chitty Bang Bang is being
stored there during promotions for
the musical that is to open on Broadway
this spring.
Although there is room for 60 cars,
Mr. Harris said the garage would not
be filled to capacity.
"It's about trying to maintain the
spirit of the facility,'' he said. "We
want to keep it small and not turn it
into just a giant garage." To that end,
a member lounge and outdoor picnic
area add to the club feel, he said.
Owners are allowed 24-hour access
to their cars — key cards open the
doors — and if they like, they can log
on to the club's Web site and monitor
their cars via seven cameras that
pan, tilt and zoom.
Mr. Hickman said the garage's location,
on Tradesman's Pass a couple
of blocks from the Bridgehampton
train station, is convenient. "I
just take the train out, walk a few
feet, and then I have my car,'' he
said. "It's very efficient."
There are other storage garages
on the East End, but none are as fancy
as the Bridgehampton Motoring
Club. The Kensington Motor Group
in Bridgehampton, which is best
known for its annual auction and
show of vintage cars, has two garages,
one heated and one not, with a
total capacity of 60 cars.
"It's definitely not as elaborate as
that place,'' said Peter Mole, Kensington's
president. "There are no
weekly start-ups or anything of that
sort, but if a customer asks for it, I will do
it." Cindy Brower of Manhattan, who is building
a house in Bridgehampton, took her 1956 Ford
Thunderbird to the Bridgehampton Motoring
Club. "I just love this car and needed a good
place to keep it," she said.
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