Inside an Epic Pennsylvania Buick Collection

Allentown, the Pennsylvania city most famous for a Billy Joel track, is probably the last place one would associate with the Italian luxury brand Bulgari. But it’s in this sleepy town — on a 21-acre compound — brand chairman Nicola Bulgari maintains seven warehouses filled with classic American cars. Welcome to the NB Center for American Automotive Heritage. On a recent visit to the facility to view Bulgari’s new, and world’s thinnest (in current production) Octo Finissimo Minute Repeater watch, journalists were given a first-ever tour of the fully restored site. Among its jewels: a drive-in movie screen that had been Allentown’s original drive-in theater. Growing up in post-War Rome, Bulgari became enchanted with American cinema — and, more importantly, the cars he saw in those films. In 1961, Bulgari, who became the first Italian member of the Buick Club of America, bought his first car — a 1938 Buick. But it didn't stop there. Here, take a tour through Bulgari’s collection of his favorite Buicks.