For third generation Academy of Art University president Dr. Elisa Stephens, running the university is a family affair. So is collecting cars.
The Academy of Art University (AAU) Automobile Museum contains 200 vintage cars, including some that are among the rarest and most valuable in the world. According to museum coordinator Paul Borgwardt, more than half belong to the Stephens family; the others are property of AAU. To quote the museum’s website: “Richard A. Stephens, former Academy of Art University President, has always had a penchant for cars.”
The Stephens family began seriously collecting antique cars in the 1990’s. In 1999, AAU purchased its main showroom at 1849 Washington Street, and in 2012 they bought an additional showroom/storage space on the corner of O’Farrell and Van Ness (a former Mercedes Benz dealership). The two buildings were part of the university’s pervasive real estate acquisition throughout the city.
Although the University claims the car collection offers “unparalleled reference material,” the vehicles aren’t always accessible to students. At any given time, only about 50 cars are housed at the museum — a quarter of the entire 200 car collection. Industrial Design Professor Antonio Borja said that special requests can be made to shift specific cars from storage into the museum, but that takes time. And neither students nor the public can access the storage space on O’Farrell, where another 150 cars are kept.
Landon Shore, a 2013 Transportation Design graduate, said that despite putting in long days — sometimes 15 hours in the Industrial Design building (the three stories above the Automobile Museum where there are classrooms, labs, and student workshops) — he and his classmates were only allowed in the museum once a semester. “Those cars are hermetically sealed,” he told me.
He added, “[The museum] isn’t part of the school experience. If you really needed to see [the cars] as a student, you ultimately could, but it would take talking to the right teacher. Even then, those cars were not to be touched.”
Shore took several classes with Industrial Design Director Tom Matano, who assured me that his students use the Automobile Museum frequently for educational purposes. He called access to the vehicles “priceless.” Paul Borgwardt echoed this, saying, “Primarily, [the Automobile Museum] is for the benefit of the students.”
Once inside the museum, Transportation students do have access to the vehicles, however limited, so long as an AAU mechanic is present. Herman Francisco Delos Santos, a 2009 Transportation Design graduate who currently works at the Lexus/Toyota design studios as a 3D sculptor, wrote in an email, “The on-site mechanic was happy to answer any questions, which turned out to be very helpful in our research for designing new automobiles. We had full access to the vehicles as transportation designers.”
Today, a staff of seven full-time AAU employees is responsible for polishing, waxing, dusting, and otherwise maintaining the cars.
The building itself has a long history with cars. Its first owner was Pacific Nash Motor Company (1921–1935), who sold the property to Dodge and Plymouth in 1936. The building remained a Dodge property until 1960, when it became Copenhagen Furniture. The Stephens family purchased the building in the ’90s and has owned it ever since. The Automobile Museum opened its doors there in 2012. Today, a staff of seven full-time AAU employees is responsible for polishing, waxing, dusting, and otherwise maintaining the cars.
One of the most prized vehicles on display is the Tucker 48. Introduced in 1947 by Preston Tucker, only 51 such models were made; the car on display at the Automobile Museum is production car #1003. Formerly owned by George Lucas, a producer of the 1988 film Tucker: The Man and His Dream, the car has been exhibited at several car shows, including the San Francisco International Auto Show.
Another highlight is the 1933 Pierce-Arrow Silver Arrow, which can reach a speed of 115mph. It’s one of five ever built (and one of only three that still exists). The car was previously owned by casino magnate William F. Harrah and was restored in his world-renowned facility.
Although the value of the entire car collection is very hush, hush — “We’re not privy to that information,” Borgwardt told me — the AAU’s Silver Arrow was acquired at the 2012 Barrett-Jackson auction in Scottsdale, Arizona for $2 million. It was the first time the car had been on the public auction block since 1973. That same year, another Tucker 48 (#1043) very similar to AAU’s sold for $2.91 million.
And the list goes on. A 1928 Hispano Suiza H6C, which AAU also owns, has an average vale of $426K; a 1928 Stearns-Knight F-6 roadster has an average value of $126K; a 1929 Packard 640 Custom Eight 640 has an average value of $125K — $150K; a 1930 Bugatti Type 46 sold for $951K at a recent Bonhams auction; a 1930 Duesenberg Model J sold for $363K at a recent Sotheby’s auction. While a car’s value depends on a variety of factors, there’s no doubt that each car in AAU’s collection is hugely valuable. And given there are 200 cars in the collection, we’re talking millions of dollars in cars alone. You can browse all of them here.
During a hearing in January 2013, AAU argued that the Automobile Museum “does not operate as an institutional use” but is merely a private antique car museum open to the public and often visited by students. In order to operate its private auto collection under university property, AAU filed an application for use of the space as a “social service or philanthropic facility.” During museum hours — it’s open four hours each week — every $10 admission fee is donated to rotating charities such as Rotary Club and Boys & Girls Club.
In the end, the Planning Department provided the proper permits for post-secondary educational institution use, noting, “AAU students frequent the property to study the vehicles.” Yet, a 2012 study found that only 30 tours had visited the site that year.
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