Bulgari Car Collection Gives Allentown PA Special Luster [GALLERY]

While the annual orgy of elegance and indulgence known as Monterey Car Week and the posh Pebble Beach Concours D’Elegance engulf the high society of the auto world this week in California, the distinctly more modest upstate burgh of Allentown PA boasts its own claim to rolling stock glory.

In 1995 famed Italian jeweler and brand magnate Nicola Bulgari needed work done on his 1942 Buick woody wagon and was recommended to a modest garage maestro in Allentown named Keith Flickinger.

From that interaction Flickinger became the curator of Bulgari’s world famous collection of mostly American classic and antique cars, including extinct Hudson, Nash and Graham models as well as eye-popping Cadillacs and Bulgari’s favorite: 1930’s era Buicks. More than 110 of the classic beauties live at a 20-acre former Drive-In Movie theater 12 building complex in Allentown, while Bulgari also maintains smaller garages throughout Europe also supervised by Flickinger.

More than an idle hobby, Bulgari has created an important historical record of the US auto industry by being the first collection to painstakingly certify the first 19 entries to the official National Historic Vehicle Register.