Quirky cars on the Cape
Putman has a huge automobile collection, most of which are red and British
Bill Putman is a collector and no ordinary one. Step behind the doors of his Simmons Homestead Inn on Cape Cod and a visitor is allowed a glimpse into the quirky mind of its 78-year-old proprietor.
First, it’s impossible to miss the cats, including no fewer than 20 orange ones. Then there are the bottles of single-malt Scotch — 621 kinds, to be exact — that line the walls. But most revealing, out in the back, is Putman’s collection of 45 sports cars, most of them British and all of them painted red.
Housed in a custom-built storage building, the collection is a snapshot of a period in auto history when Britain was a major car maker and its sports cars captured the imagination of America’s postwar generation. Putman calls it the Toad Hall Classic Sports Car Collection; the name is borrowed from “The Wind in the Willows,” which featured the fast-driving and somewhat reckless Toad. “His cars were red,” Putman said. The cars, packed in tightly as if in a New York parking lot, are each lettered Minuteman Racing, a nod to the days when Putman competed in races staged by the Sports Car Club of America. “I always loved cars,” Putman said. “My first was a 1949 Ford, bought in 1953 on the day I turned 16. In 1972, I bought a new Datsun 240Z to drive,” he said, referring to the Japanese sports car, “then stripped it three years later for use as a race car. SCCA events then featured a lot of British cars. They were very successful as competitors, and that’s when I really started getting into them.” But serious collecting would have to wait. Putman, who had previous careers in advertising and real estate, bought the inn (then a private residence) in 1988, and began expensively restoring it.
By the late 1990s, the inn was doing well and an inheritance gave him further means.
He soon bought 30 cars, housing them in sheds that expanded as the collection grew. Eventually, he joined the buildings together.
It’s all a bit ramshackle, with roaming cats, an antique gas pump outside, the stone floor liberally strewn with throw rugs and the walls covered with old signs, British flags and license plates.
At its peak, the collection had 61 cars. Some have been sold in recent years to support operation of the inn, and now there are 45.
“I’ve been selling some of the newer ones,” Putman said. “Most of the cars have been sitting for years, so it takes a bit of work to get them ready for the street.”
Michael Cucurullo of Brookline, Massachusetts, a commercial artist, was staying at the inn in late January and said he discovered “this incredible collection of cars. I recognised nearly all of them, because British cars back then were within the reach of the average person.”
Cucurullo intends to come back with his sketchbook next summer.
Aside from some Datsuns, Hondas and Mazdas, Toad Hall offers mostly the performance-oriented British sports cars from the 1950s through the 1970s that sold well in the United States.
“The British sports car craze started when the servicemen came back from Europe and wanted roadsters like the MGs they had seen over there,” said Manny Dragone, who runs a classic-car business in Connecticut. “Companies such as Jaguar, Triumph and MG ended up being very dependent on the American market.” British cars weren’t known for being reliable — Lucas, which supplied much of the electronics, including lights, was called “The Prince of Darkness” — but buyers who wanted good handling and wind in their faces didn’t have many other choices in the postwar years.
Putman has most of the important bases covered.
“This is perhaps the most comprehensive collection of postwar British cars that I’ve seen in terms of covering the significant producers that exported to America,” said Gary Anderson, former editor and publisher of British Car magazine and author of books on the subject.
Anderson estimates that if the collection were sold in its entirety, it might sell for up to $3 million, but Putman thinks the value is less than that.
As Putman looked out on the sea of red, he identified a clear favourite: the Jaguar E-Type. Parked close together were two: a 1968 convertible and a 1970 coupe.
“They have such classic lines, and are very comfortable, too,” he said “They handled well, and there was a lot of horsepower to get them moving.” Not far away was a Sunbeam Tiger. Known as the poor man’s Cobra, the Tiger was another British sports car that racer Carroll Shelby helped equip with an American Ford V8. Dragone said that high-quality Tigers were appreciating.
“Some are north of $150,000 [4.9 million baht],” he said.
Putman also has two examples of a strong-selling British sports car, the MGA. He has closed and roadster versions from 1958. The MGA was introduced in 1955 and succeeded by the MGB in the early 1960s. The rarest version of the MGA, with a twincam 1.6-litre engine, attracts high prices at auctions.
“The market for all British cars has been moving up,” Dragone said. “The MGA was very affordable, but now $10,000 buys one needing a lot of work, and a restored example is $20,000 to $25,000.”
Dotting the room were other sporty gems as well. Putman is an enthusiastic owner of 11 Lotus cars and he also has several Triumphs and a rare 1960 AC Ace roadster, a version of the car that later became the AC Cobra.
There are a few newer cars, but most are from the halcyon years before 1980, when the British auto industry went into steep decline.
“This collection becomes a set of relics of an industrial disaster,” Anderson said, “though with products that are fondly remembered for their quirky attributes.”
It’s enough to attract 30 to 40 people a day during the peak season and bring in about $25,000 a year in revenue from the $8 admission.
Putman said he was often asked if there was a price for seniors.
“I tell them $12,” he said, “because they’ll relate more to the collection than younger people do.”
It’s all a bit ramshackle, with roaming cats and an antique gas pump