The Lazarus Collection gets new life in form of permanent Provo display
This "Lioness Yellow" vintage 1968 Honda S800 convertible classic will be on display during the open house for the Lazarus Collection at Specter Design in Provo. April 15, 2021.
This 1959 Austin-Healey Sprite MKII is part of the Lazarus Collection on display. April 15, 2021.
This 1969 Triumph GT6+ coupe race car in the Lazarus Collection that will be on display from 10 a.m. to 10 p.m. at Specter Design just north of the Provo Towne Centre mall in the old Sears Tire building. April 15, 2021.
Classic cars from the Lazarus Collection.
This 1967 Triumph TR4A IRS convertible vintage classic is one of the cars in the Lazarus Collection that will be on exhibit. April 15, 2021.
This 1966 Lotus Elan Coupe joins a handful of other cars in the Lazarus Collection on display at Specter Design. April 15, 2021.
Some of the cars that are on display at Specter Design in Provo. The Lazarus Collection will have two or three join the group soon. April 15, 2021.
A rare 1960s sports car assortment, dubbed the Lazarus Collection, has announced a permanent home at Specter Design in Provo.
The Lazarus Collection includes European sports cars like: A 1965 Triumph Spitfire MKII; 1967 Triumph TR4A; 1969 Triumph GT6+; 1959 Austin Healey Sprite; 1967 Lotus Elan Coupe; 1966 Honda S600 Coupe; 1968 Honda S800; 1969 MG MGB (not currently in Provo, but on its way soon); 1958 Berkeley Sports SE492 (getting put back to life in San Francisco then on its way to Provo soon); and a 1970 Triumph GT6+ modernized race car (located in Mendocino, California).from 10 a.m. to 10 p.m. Saturday and Sunday in the parking lot of Specter Design (the old Sears Tire store) just north of the main buildings of the Provo Towne Centre Mall.
A one-hour, open-to-all classic cars sunset drive will take place both days at 6 p.m. in which all of The Lazarus Collection cars will be driven around Provo.
The Lazarus Collection is a nonprofit featuring a fleet of 10 rare 1960s sports cars in original condition.
“The organization aims to promote community advancement and delight, educate and empower community members through preservation of the past,” said Anna Dunford, spokeswoman.
The Lazarus Collection offers free and donation-based classes in restoration, maintenance, and buying and selling on site at Specter Design.
Tanner Boyes — the owner of Specter Design, which renovates and rebuilds old cars — is excited to have the exhibit at his business.
“The passion for cars is universal,” Boyes said. “It gives you emotional and tangible memories. That’s why you see these cars around.”
Boyes said vintage cars are his whole life. He will be responsible to take care of the Lazarus Collection, which is owned by Cory Crellin.
According to Dunford, “the collection began to form in August of 2020, when owner and Brigham Young University Marriott School alumnus Crellin acquired a 1965 Triumph Spitfire MKII convertible dubbed ‘Little Blue.’ Since then the collection has grown to 10 sports cars, ranging in year from 1959 to 1970 and in color from Signal Red to Iris Blue to British Racing Green.”
The cars will be available for use in community events, school visits, Alzheimer’s facility visits, and as a fundraising mechanism for other nonprofits, according to Dunford.
Operations will be funded by the rental of the vehicles to photo shoots, films, weddings, for-profit companies and more.
“Each car in the collection is not only original and unique, but also carries a story with provenance from the day the car was first purchased to the present day,” Dunford said. “Like the 1968 Honda S800 in Lioness Yellow that was purchased in Guam in 1969 and owned for 51 years by the original buyer until her husband passed away in late 2020.”
Crellin sees these cars as art, history and technology all wrapped in one.
“If I had to pick a single word that I think is ever-present in every interaction I have with these lovely sports cars, the word is ‘delight.’ I want to share the delight that stems from the mere existence of these never-to-be-recreated human transportation gems,” Crellin said.
“For me the ideal dual purpose of this collection has always been and remains; to provide this collection as a community resource delivering the most value it can to the most in need, and to fund the charitable operations of the non-profit via revenue generated from customers who pay to use the cars for photos, film and more.”
Once the collection began to take shape it became clear that some of the vehicles would need an expert to properly restore the cars. Crellin enlisted the help of Boyes.
Boyes works on many different kinds of cars and is the maker of the “Specter Porsche”: a completely new sports car that features a 130-pound aluminum space frame and a Porsche 356 engine and represents a significant advancement in sports cars post-1973.
Crellin has a history of preservation and restoration. While living in downtown Salt Lake City, he purchased a 102-year old house two blocks from the Salt Lake Temple in order to preserve and maintain it.
He is also the lead preservationist and historian for the Dollaradio Station in Pacifica, California, a palatial residence built around a 1930s radio station that first enabled maritime wireless radio communications and currently stands 15 feet from an eroding 140-foot tall cliff edge.
Additionally, in 2012 he rescued more than 4,000 old library catalog cards from BYU’s Harold B. Lee library that he turned into a sculpture now housed in the entrance of the Springville Public Library.
For more information about the open house or about the Lazarus Collection at Specter Design, visit their Facebook or Instagram pages or send an email to anna@lazaruscollection.org.
