COSMETICS KING'S SECRET STASH SHOWCASES MUSIC, MOTORCARS & MORE.

Byline: Susanne Hopkins Daily News Travel Editor

Tucked away in a relatively plain white building on an unassuming street in Sylmar is a collection of fabulous treasures of the past - antique luxury cars restored to pristine condition, Lalique crystal hood ornaments, Louis XV furniture and enchanting mechanical musical instruments.

This is the Nethercutt Collection at San Sylmar, and it is, by reservation only, open to the public free of charge. Some 40,000 people tour the facility each year, says archivist Lori Underwood, adding that most utter the same words upon leaving: ``I'm amazed.''

And well they might be. The extensive collection was assembled by one couple, J.B. Nethercutt, chairman of the board and co-founder of Merle Norman Cosmetics, and his wife, Dorothy. When it got too big for the Sylmar-based Merle Norman premises, he had this structure built to house it, thinking to open it only to friends. But word got out and public demand grew. In January 1974, Underwood says, San Sylmar (``It comes from the names of two communities - San Fernando and Sylmar'') opened.

The amazement starts at the beginning of the two-hour, guided tour, when guests assemble downstairs in the Rolls-Royce Gallery. More than a dozen of the gleaming vehicles line the hall, ready for inspection (but not for touching). They range from 1913 to 1985 models, and it's ``the only collection in the world with a full Phantom (model) series,'' Underwood says. ``We have all six, from 1930 to 1972.''

Then, it's up a wide, elegant staircase to the Grand Salon, where luxury cars from every era up to the 1940s are showcased against a backdrop of polished red marble columns and black marble floors and illuminated by the gentle light of elaborate crystal chandeliers.

``You see about 50 cars,'' says Underwood, who also occasionally leads tours. ``We have about 200 in the collection, and we do rotate them, so every time you come back, you see something new.''

(The collection is still growing, she notes; two cars have been added so far this year, and within a few years, she says, a facility will be built nearby that will allow the entire collection to be on view.

For now, you might see a sunny yellow 1934 Packard Dietrich convertible sedan or perhaps a silver-tone 1933 Duesenberg Arlington torpedo sedan, called the ``20-grand,'' a one-of-a-kind model designed specifically for the 1933 Chicago World's Fair. There's even a 1933 Bugatti Grand Prix and an 1898 Eisenach, a German-made, three-wheel vehicle that is the oldest in the Nethercutt Collection.

The opulence of the luxury vehicles usually prompts gasps of admiration. Gleaming rosewood dashboards, sterling-silver flower holders, velvet seats and embroidered upholstery - these were the accouterments of early luxury autos.

But they aren't just pretty to look at. The cars, says Underwood, are all in working order, kept so by a full staff of in-house mechanics. They are taken on the road once a year, she says, when the Merle Norman Cosmetics annual company picnic is held, and the autos ferry invited guests and some employees to the picnic site.

From the Grand Salon, swirling staircases lead from floor to floor and treasure to treasure. On the mezzanine, stunning pieces of Boehm porcelain, delicate antique French furniture and fine art are displayed with ``mascots'' - antique hood ornaments in a variety of sizes and materials from metal to Lalique crystal. Some are what were called ``motormeters,'' hood ornaments with temperature gauges.

The ``Stairway to the Stars,'' a winding circle-and-a-half staircase, leads visitors from the mezzanine to the fourth floor, where a collection of musical instruments, most from Germany and Belgium, is on display. Music boxes, nickelodeons, wall-sized orchestrions (giant music boxes) and the Mighty Wurlitzer Theatre Pipe Organ fill the room. ``We have about 10 on display,'' Underwood says, adding that the instrument collection contains almost double that number, and they are sometimes rotated.

To the delight of tour participants, four or five of the instruments - which date from 1910 to 1930 - are played on the tour. (The number, Underwood says, ``varies from tour to tour, and we don't always play the same ones.'')

In rich tones, jaunty songs such as ``If You Knew Susie,'' as well as classics and tunes from operettas, ring out in the hall. ``They (Germans and Belgians) loved American music, so you'll find a lot of American music on those rolls,'' Underwood says.

The room also boasts a 160-year-old Tiffany grandfather clock, and, tucked off to one side, an elaborate dining room furnished with Louis XV antiques and a chandelier similar to those in France's palace at Versailles.

But the showpiece is the theater organ, the second-largest such Wurlitzer organ in the world, (the largest is in a private collection in Indiana, according to Underwood).

``The (1994) earthquake pretty much destroyed it,'' Underwood says. Indeed, while the cars came through the disaster in fine condition, the musical collection was damaged. The facility was closed for 14 months while extensive repairs were made. ``When we were closed, we enlarged the organ,'' adds the archivist. With 5,000 pipes, it is now 30 percent larger than the one at New York's Radio City Music Hall, she says.

The grand finale of the tour is a short, computerized concert featuring the organ. ``We always play our theme song, `Stairway to the Stars,' and now we're playing the `Old Piano Roll Blues,' and our finale is usually `Back Bay Shuffle,' '' Underwood notes.

The rousing mini concert usually leaves guests asking for more such music. San Sylmar can oblige.

``We do live concerts two to four times a year that are free to the public,'' Underwood says. The concerts are publicized on the facility's hotline, [phone].

THE FACTS

The Nethercutt Collection at San Sylmar is located at 15200 Bledsoe St., Sylmar.

Free tours are offered at 10 a.m. and 1:30 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday. Reservations are required and can be made by calling [phone] between 9 a.m. and 3:30 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday or faxing a request to: [phone].

The collection is accessible to the disabled.

Restrictions: Children under 12 are not admitted; no jeans or shorts are allowed; cameras may be used, but only without a flash; and video cameras and tape recorders are not permitted.

CAPTION(S):

8 Photos

Photo: (1--2--Cover--Color) FUNCTIONAL ART

The cars all run and the pipes all play at cosmetics king's museum hideaway

(3--Color) The Nethercutt Collection at San Sylmar features vintage automobiles - all in working condition - in its Grand Salon.

(4--Color) Visitors to the Sylmar museum can see the inner workings of the Mighty Wurlitzer Theatre Pipe Organ, which is 30 percent larger than the instrument in Radio City Music Hall.

(5--Color) The collection includes many decorative hood ornaments.

(6--Color) Among the Grand Salon's classics is this 1933 Bugatti Grand Prix.

(7--Color) In lieu of a flesh-and-blood ensemble, the museum's Hupfeld Orkestrion - a giant automatic music box - can fill a room with sound.

(8--Color) The Nethercutt Collection includes this Mills Violina Virtuoso, which plays two violins and a piano.

Photos by David Sprague