By Andy Stiny / Journal Staff Writer
SANTA FE – About 20 years ago, Tom Linton had a problem – four cars and a garage too small.
“I had a two-car garage and it was always a scramble, where I am going to put this, the winter’s here. So I thought I can try and add on to my garage, which would have cost a lot of money, or maybe there are other people with this same problem,” said Linton.
He calls it an “aha moment,” leading to construction of the first of three car storage facilities on a half acre on Airport Road. His business, located on Avenger Way and Mallard Way, is called Collector Cars of Santa Fe.
The third building, just completed, is the Mallard Motorplex – a 15,000-square-foot building designed to hold eight to 10 cars. As it turns out, the building also can store art. It opened in November, and was built by Sarcon Construction and designed by Dudley Architects, both of Albuquerque.
Linton’ first two buildings were quickly occupied. “One of my first tenants was a guy that had seven Buicks, so it actually filled up relatively quickly,” he said.
Linton grew up in New York and became familiar with New Mexico from family ski vacations here.
After graduating with a Fine Arts degree in graphics from Cornell in 1977, he moved to Southern California where he worked as model-maker building prototype toys and started a flower delivery company.
“I always had an interest in cars but, when I got out to California, I got involved with Porsches … and I got my hands on this car (he points to a photo of a Porsche), and I still have it actually.” He started going to Porsche events in 1980 and raced at the club level for about 35 years.
Linton, 61, moved to Santa Fe in 1993. “I didn’t have a job or any idea what I was going to do, so I figured the best way to meet people was to go up to the ski basin and get a job, so I got a job teaching skiing and I worked there for seven years.”
He met long-time Santa Fe resident, and famed car racer, automotive journalist and car show judge Denise McCluggage, who died last year.
“We had this weekly lunch that Denise started at least 15 years ago called the Car Table Lunch,” he said. Thirty like-minded people met every Tuesday at a Santa Fe restaurant. “So I would meet people through my interest in the Porsche Club and the Vintage Car Club, because I think, for a business like this to be successful, you have to have sort of a personal touch and be a like-minded soul,” said Linton. “Car guys are all cut from the same cloth.”
Linton, by default, also became a self-taught mechanic. His inside-outside knowledge of cars has helped provide the personal touch for his storage clientele. “You know, it’s kind of like a family – the car community,” he said.
After outgrowing the original building with more than 25 garage spaces, Linton built three office warehouses and another storage building with 18 units with four-post lifts so that cars can be stored in two levels.
Part of his newest storage facility was custom-built to accommodate a client’s travel bus. The original concept was four car condos like “man-cave type things – where you have a little office on the second floor and you have your car collection downstairs.”
The configuration for the Mallard Complex is like an open warehouse floor with lofts above. A news release from builder Sarcon says that the second level overlooks “skillfully spartan mechanic areas and car collections below.”
Two clients were ready to take new spaces, but construction took six months longer than anticipated.
Linton also was approached by someone that was looking to store art. So “now I am in the art storage business,” he said.
Linton hasn’t been actively calling people, but generally has a waiting list. “As soon as I get a vacancy, someone takes it. I generally have been staying pretty full.”
No typical client
Linton estimated that 80 percent of his clientele are local people, with the rest second-home owners from elsewhere. There is no “average” client, he said.
“Every person has a different story. I had a guy from Los Alamos who went to England for two years, and he had like an old cop car and he stuck it here. I mean the car was not worth anything, but he wanted to keep it.”
Then there are the classic cars. “Quite a few of tenants are just car guys and they have some nice cars. They want to have them here to drive, but they might live on a dirt road or they only have a two-car garage like I did and they have four cars … . So where are they going to put the toys?”
Pictures he provided from the facility’s recent grand opening show an enviable mix of classic rides, including a Ford Cobra and assorted Porsches.
Linton said a friend kept his expensive Porsche in a carport, but it became infested with pack rats. “So when you figure I am charging $160 a month to store a car, it’s cheap insurance and it keeps them out of weather.”
His personal passion for Porsches – he has five – put him in touch with Porsche aficionado Jerry Seinfeld, the comedian and star of the hit television series. At one point, Seinfeld owned as many as 46 of the famous German cars before selling off some of his collection.
“He’s a Porsche freak,” Linton said. “When Jerry wants a car, he doesn’t go out and shop for it.” Through the man who deals with Seinfeld’s car collection, Linton offered up his own 1974 Carrera IROC RSR Porsche at the end of the 2004 club racing season. “I just thought, it’s a museum piece, I shouldn’t put it in harm’s way and I was racing it a fair amount,” Linton said.
He called Jerry’s guy and made the case that Seinfield really needed the car for his collection. The deal went down in early 2005. “Jerry said to me ‘I’ll never sell this car,’ so I was pretty surprised when he did sell it and hit a home run.” The car sold for $2.3 million at a Florida auction in March.
So what does Linton enjoy most about his unique business? “I meet incredible people from different walks of life – car guys, it’s not just wealthy people, it’s across the population,” he said. “You could have some blue collar guy that has his old Chevy Impala that he’s in love with, so it’s the people – meeting the people and being around cool cars – which makes it fun.”