Cars were in Brian Burnett’s blood before he was born. His father, Rex Burnett, worked for Trend, Inc. and drew cars for Hot Rod, Motor Trend, Auto, and Cycle magazines in the 1940s and 1950s.

Brian’s dad would drive slowly by parked cars, pointing out roof slopes, shapes of fenders and grilles and teaching him how to recognize a car. Family and friends would try to test young Brian by giving him a clue about a car and then asking him to identify it. At four years old, he could usually tell them the year, make and model. It excited his dad to tell Brian about cars and then watch him amaze the rest of the family with what he knew. It was a long time ago, but to this day Brian is still pretty good – just show him a little piece of a car and he can usually tell you what it is.

     Back of photo shown above 10-18-1952

In 1960, his parents accepted an opportunity to work for Lockheed Aircraft Company in California and the family moved out west. The Burnett’s decided to live in the sunny town of Saratoga, up the hill from Los Gatos. Since Saratoga High School was new and only went to the 11th grade, Brian finished his senior year at Los Gatos High. He graduated from a high school located one block from the corner that would become home to Ferrari of Los Gatos some fifteen years later.

A New Way of Selling Cars to High School Students

Not to anyone’s surprise, Brian was more interested in cars than in school. On weekends he’d drive around neighborhoods in nearby Santa Cruz and look for older model cars. When he spotted one in an open garage or driveway, he’d walk up to the house, ring the doorbell and ask the owners if they wanted to sell it. Most people were surprised when they found a door-to-door buyer on their front porch and sent him on his way. Occasionally, someone said yes, providing the inventory he needed each month to have extra spending money.

Once back in Los Gatos, he’d get busy selling cars from the library parking lot across near the high school. If a buyer, usually a schoolmate, had a small amount of cash along with a car to trade, the deal was done. After that, Brian would find someone else to sell the trade in to. And the cycle would repeat itself as many times as possible. While he only made a small profit on each car, by taking a trade in, he doubled the number of transactions and his income.

Between the experiences with his dad and the car deals in the Los Gatos Library parking lot, Brian learned how to buy and sell cars on the street.

Eventually, a time would come when he’d have a business behind him to do the same thing.

If you have any high school hot rod stories, please share them in the comment section below.

In the next post, read the first story of a series on Ed Hugus and the Ferrari’s he drove in the 1950s and 1960s.