Neighbors Fume Over Restorer of Classic Cars

Some people aspire to live in a neighborhood where garages are filled with elegant Rolls-Royces and Bentley automobiles.

But homeowners in Woodland Hills demanded Friday that Los Angeles officials ban a collection of classic British luxury cars they claim is ruining their 30-year-old San Fernando Valley neighborhood.

In the first test of a 1 1/2-year-old city law that governs the storage of historic vehicles in residential areas, homeowners complained that their neighborhood echoes with noise and reeks of fumes coming from garages used by car restorer Gary Wales. In the end, the city sided with Wales, provided he takes steps to improve his relations with neighbors.

Business Alleged

At a hearing in Van Nuys before the city ruling, neighbors complained that the 49-year-old Wales has turned his car-repair hobby into a thriving restoration and resale business that has all but taken over his ranch-style home.

“If he was fixing Chevys or Fords, you wouldn’t call this anything other than a body shop,” neighbor David Weiss told a city zoning officer. “But if it’s a Rolls-Royce, it’s ‘historical.’ ”

Added neighbor Eyvonne Harlow: “With all the pneumatic drilling that goes on, I get the feeling I’m in a dental chair. It’s the same annoyance if you’re grinding the fender of a Rolls-Royce or a Ford Pinto.”

The historic vehicles law was enacted in 1987 to establish guidelines for automobile hobbyists who want to collect or restore old or unusual cars in areas where zoning would normally prohibit such activity.

The ordinance requires hobbyists to screen cars from public view and restricts where the cars can be stored while being worked on. It says nothing, however, about the number of cars that can be worked on at one time, or the hours in which repair work can be done.

Wales was the first automobile collector to apply for authorization under the law. He did so after protests by neighbors prompted an investigation by the city’s Building and Safety Department.

Wales, who described himself as a retired stockbroker who works as a consultant to other classic car collectors, denied that he runs a business from his home or its two garages. He said his garages are heavily sound-proofed and his rear yard is fenced so that passers-by are unaware that he is rebuilding wrecked and scrapped touring cars. He currently keeps eight vintage autos at his home.

Dozens of other car collectors traveled to Friday’s hearing in heavily polished cars ranging from a 1957 Rolls-Royce to 1961 Corvair to lend support to Wales--who arrived in a burgundy 1954 Rolls bearing a license plate reading “Prince.”

‘World Is Listening’

“The whole world is listening to this decision,” said one supporter, Eric Baltzer of Palm Springs, who said he had received telephone calls about Wales’ case from car restorers as far away as Georgia.

Restoration hobbyist Stan Opatowsky of Woodland Hills declared that driving a new car is a “sign of failure” to true auto aficionados. “If you don’t like what your neighbor is doing, move away,” said Opatowsky, who owns 15 old Chryslers.

Several of Wales’ neighbors supported him.

“I’m an expert on offensive sounds,” said one of them, Don Nelligan, a music professor at Valley College in Van Nuys. “We’ve never heard sounds that were complainable about. If it had bothered me, I’d be one of the first to complain.”

Lawrence Freeman, a lawyer for Wales, pledged that a noisy air compressor outside Wales’ main garage will be muffled and two smelly solvent barrels will be moved inside. He reminded associate city zoning administrator Jon Perica that state and federal laws allow auto hobbyists to sell up to four cars a year without being considered professional auto dealers.

After listening to three hours of such charges and rebuttals, Perica ruled that Wales could continue with his collecting and restoring if he promises to mend fences with his neighbors.

“A year from now we’ll have another meeting and see how well it went,” a weary Perica said.

Disappointed opponents said they will wait to see what restrictions Perica imposes when a final written decision is filed in about three weeks. That will spell out how many cars Wales can keep and how many visitors he can entertain at his home during parties he occasionally hosts for car collectors.

“A neighborhood is a place you go home to after work,” said one neighbor, Randy Brogna. “It shouldn’t be a place where you work. You’ll be seeing more and more of these popping up in neighborhoods all over the city after this.”

Brogna and his wife, Debbie, stepped into their sporty Saab Turbo for the ride back to Woodland Hills as Wales and his wife, Marilynn, climbed into their Rolls to make the same trip.

“I hope we can be friends eventually,” shouted Wales.