LANSING — The large single-story building sits nearly at the corner of East Lenawee Street and South Grand River Avenue, as unassuming as the rest of the three-story former Lansing State Journal office it’s attached to.
What’s stored inside it is anything but.
An estimated 75 cars worth millions of dollars fill the space at the rear of the building. Tried and tested race cars, classic and antique cars, sports cars with shiny exteriors and swoopy hoods bearing both American and foreign names — General Motors, Ford, Jaguar, Ferrari and Porsche.
Two dozen of the vehicles are in various stages of construction or restoration, and some of them are one-of-a-kind, built from scratch so that they’re lighter and faster than similar stock models.
Local developer and race car driver Paul Gentilozzi owns them and the property. He bought the building after the newspaper moved its offices to the Knapp’s Centre in 2015. Most of his cars are housed there — just over two dozen are elsewhere.
If you ask him, he’ll tell you he’s been in love with cars his whole life. Gentilozzi, 76, bought his first one at age 15 and has been on the lookout for models he likes ever since, but collecting them isn’t about vanity or status and he rarely gets attached to any of them, he said.
“They’re adventures,” Gentilozzi said. “Cars are adventures and there are stories that go with them. Each one tells a story.”
On a recent Tuesday afternoon, he walked among the rows of vehicles lined up inside the warehouse, sharing more than a dozen stories, each one attached to a different car.
“If it has a motor, I like it,” he said.
Collection is varied, unique
If pressed, Gentilozzi will name favorites among his collection.
The most obvious is a 1998 Corvette built from scratch for racing. Black with the words “Auto Link” running across the hood, it can get to 60 mph in seconds.
Gentilozzi’s racing career is intertwined with Corvettes. “I’ve driven 60 different race cars,” he said, but he won his first championship in the Trans Am Series with the ’98. It’s been part of his collection for nearly 30 years, longer than any other vehicle.
“So, I was given this taste of what it was like to win, and it is unbelievably addictive,” Gentilozzi said. “We built this with our own hands, and my son built the engine. It’s an important car to us.”
A two-toned gold 1937 Ford with no original parts other than its oval-shaped headlights is parked next to a 1954 convertible “that’s all original,” he said. The ’37 is fiberglass with a modern frame and a leather interior, while the 1954 is true to its make and model.
“They’re two completely different disciplines for a collector in the sense that one only has the original headlights and the other one is completely original,” Gentilozzi said. He appreciates the merits of both, but understands the creativity of the 1937 Ford more.
That might be because Gentilozzi likes to build unconventional cars. Like a red Jaguar in the warehouse that weighs 2,000 pounds less than factory Jaguars. “It’s built to be fast on the street,” he said.
Then there’s a 1967 Camaro that’s been modified with a different engine, Corvette suspension, Ferrari seats and “big carbon fiber brakes,” Gentilozzi said. He’s been working on it for at least five years and is less than a year away from finishing it. “I’m building my view of a perfect ’67 Camero. My interpretation, anyway.”
It’s no secret he loves horsepower, but Gentilozzi appreciates cars made for Sunday drives too, like his 1971 Chevrolet Nova.
“This was Grandma’s car,” he said. “The engine is this little 262-cubic-inch six-cylinder with a one-barrel carburetor. No performance. None.”
The collection also includes a Ferrari 575M he acquired after taking a tour of the Ferrari factory in Italy with Piero Lardi Ferrari, and a completely restored all-original 1964 Oldsmobile Cutlass convertible.
“The simplicity is the important part,” Gentilozzi said of its engine and design. “It’s so fundamental.”
READ MORE:
7 major projects are changing downtown Lansing’s skyline this year
Delta Township postpones vote on rezoning for 100 new homes
New home for cars in the works
The car collections won’t be at the Lenawee property for much longer.
Gentilozzi is currently renovating another Lansing property into a car warehouse for the vehicles. They’ll be moved once that space is ready, he said. There’ll be plenty of room there for new finds, too.
Gentilozzi works on his own cars whenever he can, first transporting them to his own auto shop in DeWitt Township.
“I can do welding and cutting and I can build engines,” he said.
Major development projects his company is constructing, including the 28-story Tower on Grand in Lansing’s downtown, have left little time for him to pursue car projects lately, but he’ll always go back to them, Gentilozzi said.
“The 80 hours a week I work on that has displaced my passion for this,” he said. “We can only afford so many vices, and this was my vice and it will return to be my vice again, but it’s not this minute.”
Contact Reporter Rachel Greco at rgreco@lsj.com. Follow her on X @GrecoatLSJ.
This article originally appeared on Lansing State Journal: Lansing developer Paul Gentilozzi has extensive, unique car collection worth millions
Reporting by Rachel Greco, Lansing State Journal / Lansing State Journal
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
