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Auto Aficionado Bruce Cusmano, Vintage Car Collector Bruce Cusmano was raised by an uncle who was entrenched in the car scene; as a boy, he helped his uncle create a 1963 documentary about the Le Mans race called Va Voom I Love You. Now all grown up and the owner of Buckhead’s Metropolitan Artifacts, Cusmano has a dozen hand-selected European cars that he constantly rotates (he’s had 23 Porsches over the years, for instance). Cusmano tends to stick to classic German, British and Italian cars from the ’50s, ’60s and early ’70s. “It brings me back to a period of time when I had nothing,” he reminisces. Though he’s come a long way since he had to scrape together $450 for his first car (a 1954 Triumph TR2), Cusmano’s appreciation for the old has only increased with time. “It’s not only having the cars and driving the cars and fixing them,” he says. “It’s the people you meet that also like them and appreciate them … It’s not a status symbol.” With four garages full of cars (his latest, a 1974 Alpha Romeo, was purchased from France, sight unseen) and plans for an old Ferrari next, Cusmano enthusiastically gets behind the wheels of all his cars. “I drive them in the sun, the rain, the snow. It’s an exciting collection that’s meant to be driven. They’re meant for pleasure,” he says. Cusmano even organizes two rides a year in the North Georgia mountains with his classic car-loving friends or “aficionados,” as he calls them. Cusmano loves that each of his antique cars has its own shapes, sounds and characteristics. “You have to work driving some of my cars; they’re cumbersome and cranky. Sometimes they don’t start. They’ve got quirky personalities,” he says. “You know, I started [collecting] so early on I was fortunate. I’ve been able to fine-tune what I look for in cars. It’s like driving a piece of art down the road.” Most cherished cars: Black 1959 Jaguar XK 150 (his wife’s favorite); off-white 1970 Mercedes 280 SL (his 6-year-old granddaughter’s favorite, and the car he’s had the longest). Claim to fame: Cusmano’s cars have been featured in movies and commercials, including a Georgia Lottery commercial. n
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January/February 2013 | Simply Buckhead
Above: Bruce Cusmano’s 1974 Alpha Romeo is on display in his Buckhead shop, Metropolitan Artifacts. Below: Cusmano and his wife inside a 1959 Jaguar XK 150. “It’s a strong old car. My wife got a new Jaguar and she still likes this one better.” Bottom: A sampling of Cusmano’s rides: a 1989 Porsche 928 S4, a Porsche 911, a 1970 Mercedes 280 SL and a 1959 Jaguar XK 150.