LIFE BEYOND FIRST CLASS
DESIGN & ARCHITECTURE
HORSEPOWER &
HOSPITALITY
At California’s Finish Line Auto Club, designer Page Sigband creates an extraordinary private retreat where a passion for automobiles, the pleasures of entertaining, and decades of memories shared between father and son come together.
REBECCA ETORIA
PHOTOGRAPHY: HUGO LANDA GARCIA
Four remarkable automobiles, a rather enviable bar, and enough Ferrari memorabilia to delight even the most devoted enthusiast. At California’s Finish Line Auto Club, an extraordinary private retreat celebrates the pleasures of collecting with considerable style and a welcome sense of personality. But woven into the architecture is a story far more personal, one of a father and son, decades of race weekends, and a shared passion that has taken them from one circuit to the next. Designer Page Sigband has given that history a home every bit as compelling as the machines themselves.
For Sigband, founder and principal designer of Joyride Garage Design, the first revelation came before a single finish was selected. The collector and his son had spent decades attending Ferrari events and racing weekends together, accumulating an enviable assortment of automobiles and an equally fascinating collection of memories. What they wanted was a place to enjoy both, somewhere the pleasure of returning from a drive might rival the drive itself.
“The collector and his son have been going to race weekends and Ferrari events together for decades, and the cars are the excuse for the time, not the point of it,” Sigband explains. “I wasn’t designing a garage for a man and his Ferraris. I was designing a place for a father and son to keep doing the thing they’ve always done together.”
The resulting project, appropriately named The Sound of the Engine, occupies a two-level private automotive condominium in Costa Mesa, California. Delivered as little more than an unfinished shell with a mezzanine, the space offered Sigband the freedom to create an environment that would accommodate the practical demands of serious collecting while possessing the character and comforts of a beautifully appointed residence.
Four extraordinary automobiles take center stage beneath soaring 25-foot ceilings, where sculptural lighting, charcoal-stained concrete, and Ferrari-inspired details transform a private garage into an automotive gallery.
The collection level is wonderfully theatrical. Beneath soaring 25-foot ceilings, four automobiles occupy a setting of charcoal-stained concrete, softly graduated gray walls, and sculptural black pendants suspended within the immense volume. The floor, burnished to an exceptionally fine finish, catches the light without becoming overly reflective, while carefully positioned illumination emphasizes the curves, colors, and intricate details of the cars themselves.
Sigband’s experience designing museum exhibitions, including projects for the Smithsonian, is evident in the considered presentation. She understands the importance of allowing exceptional objects to hold an audience, and here the automobiles are given the same thoughtful attention one might expect in a private art collection. The lighting is precisely controlled, sightlines are deliberate, and the architectural palette provides a sophisticated backdrop for the collection’s unmistakable personality.
Ferrari’s Italian heritage offers a particularly charming source of inspiration. A weathered brick wall recalls the masonry traditions of Modena, Enzo Ferrari’s birthplace, while the marque’s famous yellow illuminates the Ferrari script against it. Murals featuring Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz Jr. add a contemporary racing flourish, and two brilliant red lines trace their way across the ceiling, ascend the staircase, and continue into the mezzanine. Programmable to change color or move in sequence, they bring an unexpected sense of motion to the architecture.
Yet the real surprise awaits upstairs, where the atmosphere shifts from automotive gallery to something resembling an especially well-appointed private club.
Custom Italian cabinetry by Scavolini anchors a handsome wet bar, its stone countertop and integrated appliances offering everything necessary for an evening of effortless hospitality. A wood-slat ceiling conceals the lighting and audio systems, while porcelain wood-plank flooring brings residential warmth to the mezzanine. An inviting sectional, a swivel lounge chair positioned to enjoy the automobiles below, and a dining table create a series of comfortable gathering places. A large screen stands ready for Formula 1 weekends, and a racing simulator powered by a computer the son built himself suggests that the family’s enthusiasm for driving extends well beyond the open road.
Custom cabinetry provides an elegant setting for the family’s collection of racing helmets, photographs, and treasured memorabilia, bringing decades of automotive passion into a space designed for entertaining.
“A garage becomes a room the moment there’s a reason to stay after the engine is off,” Sigband observes. It is a philosophy beautifully expressed here, where every detail encourages another conversation, another drink, or another hour spent enjoying the collection.
The mezzanine also houses what may be the family’s most meaningful collection. Racing helmets, paddock passes, photographs, yearbooks, and treasured souvenirs occupy open shelves surrounding the bar, creating an intimate archive of decades spent together. These are wonderfully personal objects, each carrying the possibility of another story, another remembered race, or an afternoon that neither father nor son has forgotten. Rather than consigning them to storage or placing them behind glass, Sigband has made them part of everyday life.
“Downstairs is where they went, and upstairs is what they do now,” she says. From the mezzanine railing, the entire automotive collection comes into view, creating a delightful connection between the machines that inspired so many adventures and the memories gathered along the way.
A little humor has found its place among the more sentimental details. Across an upstairs wall, the collector requested the inscription, “I walk around like I am OK, but deep down I want to buy another car.” It is an amusing admission, and one likely to resonate with anyone who has discovered that collecting rarely ends with the acquisition of a single masterpiece.
“A museum tells you not to touch.
A collector’s garage should be daring you to.”
Page Sigband, Founder of Joyride Garage Design
Photography By: Dominic Petruzzi
The project arrives at an interesting moment for luxury automotive culture. Private car condominiums are increasingly becoming destinations in their own right, attracting enthusiasts who appreciate not only secure, climate-controlled accommodation for their automobiles but also the opportunity to gather among like-minded collectors. At Finish Line Auto Club, automotive events, social gatherings, member lounges, and shared amenities create a community around the pleasures of ownership. Scottsdale, with its celebrated auction calendar and established car culture, is embracing a similar enthusiasm for these sophisticated automotive environments.
Sigband sees the evolution as something more personal than a search for additional garage space. Today’s collectors are creating places that reflect their interests and accommodate the ways they genuinely enjoy spending time. Comfortable lounges, entertaining spaces, carefully integrated technology, and thoughtful displays of personal memorabilia are becoming as important as the automobiles themselves. “They aren’t building storage. They’re building a third place: not home, not office, but the room where they’re most themselves.”
For this particular father and son, that philosophy has produced something especially appealing. There is room for another race weekend to be remembered, another helmet to join the shelves, and perhaps another Ferrari to find its place beneath the dramatic lighting. The automobiles will undoubtedly continue to command attention, but the moments spent together are what give the entire space its wonderful sense of belonging.
And when the engines have cooled and the evening moves upstairs, the best part of the day may still be ahead.
Discover more at joyridegaragedesign.com.
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