Tony Scivetti Jr., of Marblehead, has been obsessed with classic cars for as long as he can remember.
“My grandfather had this 1930s Ford and he used to drive me to my first day of school every year,” he recalls. “The seats were like Lazy Boy couches, no seat belts, and the smell. Just the way you felt driving in that… I was like ‘this is sweet!’”
Now, 20 years after riding to school in his grandfather’s Ford Model A, he, alongside his father, Tony Sr., have built a slice of car enthusiast heaven within the walls of a former machine shop on Park Street in Beverly.
The building in which G63 Auto Club resides was initially meant to be nothing more than an extra space to store some of the classic cars owned by the Scivettis after their Marblehead driveway space had been exhausted following the addition of a 1967 Pontiac and a 1968 Ford Mustang to their collection in 2019.
“It started because we had this building, we had our cars here, and then friends and family heard that we had this space and they would bring their cars here,” Tony Jr. said when discussing the origins of the club. “We were like, ‘we could probably make a business out of this.’”
The club, named after the Mercedes-Benz luxury SUV model, acts as something of an automotive speakeasy, a way of doing business that, according to the Scivettis, is by design.
“We don’t put up signage,” said Tony Sr. “We don’t want anyone to know that we’re in here. But, sometimes we have our door open and people walk by and say ‘We’ve always wondered what was going on in there!’ People are starting to know, but I don’t want to be too flashy about it.”
G63’s busy season is from November through the start of spring. While the club currently houses about 10 cars, by Thanksgiving the space will be packed with over 40 vehicles of all shapes, sizes, makes and models.
The full range of vehicles stored at the facility include a Porsche 911 Turbo S (which has a top speed of 200 miles per hour), a “slammed” Volkswagen Golf and a 1940s Packard sedan. Collectively, the cars stored at G63 have a valuation in the millions of dollars.
If the storage and social club aspect of G63 weren’t enough, the Scivettis also rent out vehicles from their personal collection, including a 1964 Chrysler Imperial, a 1972 Mercedes-Benz 280 SEL and a 1985 Dodge Custom Van for private events, films and even a Samsonite ad campaign last fall.
“My grandfather loved 30s Fords,” said Tony Jr. “At some point in the 80s, he had a fleet of three Ford Pheytons and he would rent them out for weddings. He had his own business called Doc’s Livery, so he would do similar things to what I do now.”
More than anything, the club is a family affair for the Scivettis. When asked about how he got his father to go ahead with the plan, Tony Jr. said, “It’s not hard to persuade when we both have a bug. We both have the car bug. It’s in us. Luckily, we’ve been blessed with the opportunity to do this and we’ve just been running with it.”
In the future, Scivetti hopes to build a wide reaching community of car enthusiasts with G63 clubhouses in major cities across the country.
“My dream is to have a G63, not just here in Boston, but in Miami or Houston,” said Tony Jr. “It would all be connected. There’s so much opportunity, especially with the rentals, storage, clubhouse activities, events. I think the sky is pretty much the limit!”
