A Walk Through the Warehouse

OSCAR DAVIS DIDN’T set out to start what would become one of the preeminent collections of pre- and post-war European sports and luxury cars. Instead, he bought what caught his eye, what fascinated him, and, in time, his collection would include dozens of high-end machinery of all shapes, sizes, and eras.

Born in 1925, his family emigrated to the U.S. in 1928 from Budapest, Hungary, when he was three years old. As he grew, his early beginnings in America involved carrying on the toolmaking trade his father had taught him. With home now set amidst hustle and bustle of mid-20th-century New York City, an 18-year-old Oscar would enlist in the United States Army and serve in Europe until the cessation of hostilities. His role would then focus on assisting displaced people and refugees in the aftermath of the war, a position that was aided by his European heritage and multilingualism.

This undoubtedly difficult and heart- wrenching assignment would have a curious upside, however. Like many enlisted men overseas, Oscar returned to the U.S. with a fascination for the automobiles he’d encountered while stationed abroad. Back home, he resettled into daily life with a job working with machined thermoplastic materials — or, in layman’s terms, plastic pipe fittings. Yes, much like the famous life-advice scene in 1967’s film The Graduate, Oscar recognized the future was in plastics. He eventually took over the shop where he was working and, for the princely salary of 75 cents per hour, set the foundation for his business success, along with the means to allow him to build and curate a world-class assemblage of automobiles until his passing in 2021 at the age of 95.

Linkage magazine recently sat down with Oscar’s son, Robert Davis, to discuss the collection’s past, present, and future. The unassuming brick building where the vehicles have long been housed is tucked among innumerable storage facilities, warehouses, and looming logistical buildings all within the shadow of Newark Liberty International Airport and the Port of Newark, New Jersey. The first challenge proved not only finding the correct address within this labyrinth of shipping and industry, but dodging endless lines of tractor trailers barreling along, laden with goods that apparently had to be somewhere else, and soon.

Yet, upon stepping inside the Davis collection, the effect proved akin to finding a Faberge egg in the dairy section of a grocery store. Positioned side by side, automotive gems like a pair of gleaming early-1930s Alfa Romeo 8C 2300s were tangible proof we’d very much come to the right place. Joining us was Dennis Radtke, the head of the collection who for many years accompanied Oscar around the globe as he attended various concours events and bolstered his growing collection. Robert Davis chuckles at memories of his father and Dennis during their global automotive- themed endeavors. “Someone had to stay home and work, after all,” he said, good naturedly, adding that he had “no input whatsoever” regarding the cars his father sought out.

Having sold his plastic pipe fitting business in 1961, several years later Oscar Davis would go on to buy and expand a swimming pool parts manufacturer. This would eventually become Hayward Industries, a global leader in pool manufacturing and a company where both Robert Davis and Dennis Radtke have worked for decades. As business successes accumulated, so did the scale and scope of Oscar’s collection. Robert Davis recalls his father’s early lineup of exotic automobiles, often bought in desperate need of restoration and repair. This included a 1938 BMW 328, purchased around 1955 in Philadelphia for all of $200 dollars. This was followed by a 1957 Triumph TR2, as well as a Lancia Spider. “That was his everyday car for a short while,” said Robert Davis, adding that this would soon lead to his father’s favorite vehicle.

The cherished tan over brown leather 1959 BMW 507 Roadster is still present and perhaps the most prized vehicle, at least from the Davis’ family perspective, in the collection. On a wall next to it is a photo of Albrecht von Goertz, the industrial designer hired by BMW to pen the 507, standing alongside this very car. “It was his dream to own a 507,” recalls Robert Davis and how he and his father first encountered this achingly gorgeous BMW sports car during a visit to the New York Auto Show around 1959.

While at the time the car was well beyond his budget, Robert Davis says his father’s business acumen helped turn this dream into a reality. “One Saturday morning, I must have been about 10 or 11, I hear this rumbling outside the bedroom window and in the driveway is this beautiful car. It was a second-hand car but barely used, and he found it. Of all the cars he ever owned this was by far his favorite, he drove the wheels off it.”

Riding on a shortened version of the chassis used in BMW’s 503 grand touring coupe, the 507 is motivated by a 150-horsepower 3.2-liter V8 coupled to a four-speed Z4 transmission. While considered a design masterpiece, the 507 nearly drove BMW into extinction due to its sky-high manufacturing costs and slow sales. With only 252 examples sold, Oscar Davis can count himself among a selection of lucky 507 owners that included the likes of Fred Astaire, Elvis Presley, Prince Rainier of Monaco, and Formula One driver John Surtees.

Over time, Oscar Davis would evolve his collection of vehicles to not only reflect his personal taste, but also makes, models, and eras that seemed on the verge of an upswing in interest. By the late 1980s into the early 1990s, Dennis Radtke said signs were pointing at a market cooling in terms of large pre-war luxury models — such as Duesenbergs, Packards and the like — and increasing buzz around 1950s and 1960s-era European exotics, particularly Ferrari.

“I sat with [Oscar] one day and I said, you know, you’re from Europe, you played with military cars during your military service. You bought them when you came back to the U.S. I said the next wave is Ferrari, Bugatti, Alfa Romeo, Lancia,” Radtke explained. This pivot saw the Davis collection expand to include models like a 1962 Ferrari 250 GT Cabriolet Series II by Pininfarina, a 1958 Maserati 450S by Fantuzzi, a 1939 Bugatti Type 57C Aravis Special Cabriolet by Gangloff, and 1953 Ferrari 375 MM by Scaglietti.

These cars, along with approximately 16 others of varying age and provenance, went to auction in 2022 with RM Sotheby’s during the annual Monterey Car Week. While Italian machinery was undoubtedly a star attraction — including esoteric models like a charming wood-paneled Lancia Aurelia B53 Giardineta wagon by Viotti — the most head-turning vehicle to go up for bid was arguably a black 1938 Talbot-Lago T150-C SS Teardrop Coupe by Figoni et Falaschi.

With its long hood and seemingly endless curves, it was one of only 11 such “New York” models produced between 1937 and 1938. Despite its debonair design, it came with a racing pedigree, having participated in the 1939 24 Hours of Le Mans endurance race. Under Oscar Davis’ stewardship, a restoration in 2006 and 2007 by Classic and Sport Auto Refinishing in Edinburg, Virginia, led to multiple concours wins. This included Villa d’Este, in 2010, along with the Louis Vuitton Concours Classic Award recognizing the creme de la creme of classic cars in 2011. When bidding stopped at the RM Sotheby’s auction, the price of this masterpiece on wheels had unsurprisingly soared to $7,265,000 dollars.

The auction was not so much the end of the collection, but rather the beginning of a new chapter, Robert Davis explained as our conversation moved from an elegantly appointed conference room to the floor of the warehouse. His tastes have evolved and are equally wide ranging, though he admits his preference is for cars that can be driven and enjoyed, versus simply enjoyed as static pieces of automotive art.

Not all the vehicles from the original iteration of the Oscar Davis collection went to new homes. Some, like the pair of Alfa Romeo 8C 2300 racing cars and the 1959 BMW 507, obviously remained and are still enjoyed on open road adventures. Robert Davis pointed to the 1933 8C 2300 and explained how his wife and son have rallied the stripped-down racecar in events like the Colorado Grand. Peeking inside the open cockpit, it’s obvious this is not a feat for the faint of heart (or the faint of hearing). Except for chocolate-brown leather seats and a matching satchel tucked in the passenger’s footwell, the interior consists of a bare metal floor, a steering wheel the size of a garbage can lid, and a row of six small gauges positioned in an arc spanning the width of the dashboard.

Another car held in especially high regard by Robert Davis is a one-of-kind 1960 Ferrari 250 GT SWB Cabriolet by Pininfarina. The ocean blue color alone is stunning and accentuated by chrome Borrani wire wheels and chrome vents in the front fenders. But the most interesting feature is that this convertible looks all the world like a hardtop coupe upon first glance. Originally commissioned by Maître Paul Villard, a Parisian attorney and legal counsel for Ferrari’s French distributor at the time the car was new, it sports a removable hardtop complete with a sunroof neatly worked into its design.

Additional highlights during our informal tour of the collection included a 1967 Ferrari 275 GTB4 coupe with aluminum bodywork. A sign playfully positioned in front of the car reads “Yes, I’m alloy. Please don’t knock on my fenders, nobody lives there. Grazie.” One row away, a stately 1964 Aston Martin DB4 Vantage Series IV holds court and adds an Anglophone touch to the assembly.

“I found this in the middle of the night looking at some automotive magazines to get sleepy and there was this little ad for an auction in Germany of a DB4 Vantage. Fully restored but unassembled, it didn’t really say much about why the car was at auction,” recalled Robert Davis, who eventually learned the Aston had been taken by the state to settle the previous owner’s debts. With only three people bidding, he won and had the car sent to Boston, where a friend of his restores Aston Martins. “It drives great… everything was done, it just needed to be assembled,” he explained.

Returning to all things Italia, a sumptuous bright-red Maserati 300S — one of only 29 built — is so full of curves it proves impossible not to break that alloy Ferrari rule and run our hands along the fenders. Apparently, for those brave enough to dare, this 3-litre racer can achieve a top speed of 175 mph. Despite his generosity and infectious enthusiasm, we opted not to ask Robert Davis if we could put this claim to the test at the conclusion of our visit.

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