Who We Are

The two guys that originally came up with the CoolBeachCars.com website concept are a pair of South Floridians named Jim & Don.  And as you might have guessed, we are both avid (rabid?) car collectors.  Vicky, Joanna, and Tyler also had a hand in the original concept, and we wouldn't have anywhere close to the amount of content (which is still growing DAILY) without help from Parker, Bill, Scott, Julie, Dan, Nick, Priscilla, and Barry.  They all contributed either personal stories, photos, allowed us access to their collections or encouraged us to keep adding to the site.  Thank you all for your support and ideas!

My long time pal Jim and I both had already started our car collections by the time that I bought my first beach car (a 1960 Fiat Jolly de Plage 500) in the early 1990's.  After Jim stopped by and saw the Jolly, he became a "man on a mission," determined to find one to add to his collection.  A week later I watched as the only car that he had (at that point) ever bought "sight unseen" - a 500 Jolly- rolled off of the transporter!  These Jollys were the start of both of us branching out our collections into the "beach car" area, and are the two that are parked together in the picture on the "Home" page of this site.  We had both grown up in South Florida in the 1960's, and we frequently saw many of the models that are included on this site long before they ever became classics!  But they had stuck in our minds, and as our individual collections grew, we added these pieces of our childhood.  As Jimmy Buffet (another car fan by the way) said: "I'm growing older but not up..."

Jim is a die hard; he almost never sells or trades a car.  His collection seems to just keep growing.  On the other hand, I have a "core group" of cars that I'm very fond of, but I usually have a few that I wouldn't mind trading if something else catches my eye.  With that in mind, in early 2007 I decided to sell my Jolly.  I had moved to a very hilly area of Virginia, and the little 2 cylinder was having a hard time keeping up with the high speed limits and steep grades of our local roads.  I knew that the best way to reach other collectors was through Hemmings magazine, but I wanted to have a better more in depth presentation of the car than I was able to produce with a magazine ad.  Even though I had no previous website experience, I bought the domain name jollyforsale.com and proceeded to create a multi page site with dozens of pictures that was able to project the car as it really was.  I learned (and am still learning) along the way about how websites work.  From 1,000 miles away Jim pitched in with ideas as I continued to expand the site.  Jollys being as unique as they are, I figured that I might ultimately gather a few dozen "visitors' or so, and maybe I would be lucky enough to ultimately end up with a buyer.  I really wasn't prepared for the hundreds of hits that we got in the first couple of weeks, and the volume of emails and calls from some very serious collectors, two of which are Forbes 400 List members.  Not only did I find a buyer immediately, but I had backup contracts that even exceed my asking price.  It was great to have this idea work so well and so fast.  But a funny thing was happening, the number of "hits" or "unique visitors" was increasing daily!  And I was getting more email complimenting the "Jolly History" page that Jim and I had assembled.  Jim and I talked often about the information that was coming in, and we began to realize that we weren't the most fanatical cool beach car fanatics out there.  We also realized that there really wasn't a central place for information about these types of cars that we had become so fond of, and that so many others enjoyed as well.  The concept of CoolBeachCars.com began to take shape.  We realized that this should be a site that will continue to evolve, and should be open for other collector's input.  We hope that you like what you have found here and will share any information or photos that you might run across, and that you too will become a contributor to the site.  Thanks for looking us up, and please check back often!

"CoolBeachCars.com" and "Cool Beach Cars" are trademarks of Rich Retail Group, Inc.  This entire website is copyrighted by Rich Retail Group, Inc., all rights are reserved.