Marin County has always understood classic cars. The roads practically demand them: Paradise Drive tracing the bay, Lucas Valley Road unwinding westward, the coastal run over Mount Tamalpais to Stinson. It is a landscape built for machinery with character, and the collectors of San Rafael, Ross, Kentfield, and the surrounding towns have filled their garages accordingly. For more than four decades, the dealership serving that community has been Cars Dawydiak at 5830 Paradise Drive in Corte Madera, roughly fifteen minutes south of San Rafael straight down Highway 101.
Family-run since 1981, Cars Dawydiak is not a used car lot with a few old Porsches in the corner. It is a genuine specialty house: a curated collection of exotic, classic, and imported automobiles, backed by an in-house service operation, a dedicated classic Porsche restoration program, and one of the Bay Area’s most respected consignment desks. What follows is a rundown of the kind of collection currently on the floor, and an explanation of why these particular classics stand apart from what the broader market offers.
The Collection: What Is on the Floor
Inventory at this level turns constantly, and the full current inventory is always the definitive list. But a look at the recent floor tells you exactly what kind of dealership this is.
Air-Cooled Porsche: The House Specialty
Porsche is the beating heart of the Cars Dawydiak collection, and the emphasis falls on the cars collectors chase hardest: the air-cooled era. Recent inventory has spanned the full arc of that history. An early 1969 911 S, the raw, high-strung sports purist’s choice from the original long-hood generation. A 1971 911 T, the approachable entry into vintage 911 ownership with all the period charm and a friendlier temperament. A 1988 Porsche 930, the legendary widowmaker Turbo, presented in menacing black over black with the explosive boost delivery that defined an era. And bridging into the modern classic period, a 1998 911 Carrera S from the final year of air-cooled production, its 3.6-liter flat-six wrapped in the widebody 993 shape many consider the most beautiful 911 ever made. Few dealerships anywhere assemble this breadth of air-cooled history under one roof at one time.
The Singer Study: Access to the Extraordinary
The clearest proof of this dealership’s caliber is the presence of a Porsche 911 reimagined by Singer. Singer builds are hand-crafted, bespoke commissions with waiting lists measured in years, and examples essentially never sit available for purchase. Finding one on a showroom floor in Marin County, in a beautifully refined specification, is the kind of opportunity that draws collectors from across the country. It also says something important about Cars Dawydiak itself: sourcing relationships at this level are earned over decades, and they are exactly why serious collectors keep this showroom on their regular circuit.
Italian and British Character
Beyond Porsche, the dealership specializes in the great character marques of Europe. Classic Alfa Romeos, vintage Maseratis, collectible Ferraris, and Lotus sports cars all move through the collection, chosen for originality and condition rather than volume. These are the cars that reward the Marin roads most generously: light, vocal, and built in an era when every marque had an unmistakable personality. The in-house service operation maintains dedicated expertise for Alfa Romeo and Lotus specifically, which means these cars are bought, prepared, and supported by people who genuinely know them.
Classic Mercedes-Benz and Beyond
The collection regularly extends to the elegant side of the classic world: Mercedes-Benz SLs from the Pagoda and R107 generations, stately W108 and W116 sedans, and the indestructible W123 diesels that have become cult favorites. Alongside them, the floor often holds well-chosen modern collectibles and imported rarities that fit the house standard. The common thread across everything is simple: originality, documented history, and condition that holds up under a collector’s scrutiny.
What Makes a Cars Dawydiak Classic Different
Curation Toward Originality
The market is full of classics that look right in photographs and disappoint in person: repaints hiding history, replaced interiors, drivetrains far from factory specification. Cars Dawydiak curates in the opposite direction, favoring original and highly original examples whose value rests on authenticity. Every car is selected the way a collector would select it, because after forty years in this business, that is exactly what the family and team are.
Restoration and Service Under the Same Roof
Very few classic dealerships anywhere operate what Cars Dawydiak operates: a dedicated classic Porsche restoration program alongside a full service center with marque expertise in Porsche, Alfa Romeo, Lotus, and Land Rover, plus a renowned body and paint shop in San Francisco trusted with the Bay Area’s finest sports cars. The practical meaning for buyers is enormous. Cars arrive on the floor mechanically sorted by specialists who restore these exact vehicles. Pre-purchase questions get answered by technicians, not just salespeople. And after the sale, the same operation handles everything from routine vintage maintenance to full restoration work, keeping the car’s history complete in one set of expert hands.
Honesty as a Business Model
Four decades in the same community leaves no room for shortcuts. The dealership’s reputation, built customer by customer since 1981 and reflected in its long record of testimonials, rests on transparency: honest representation of every car’s condition and history, straightforward pricing conversations, and the kind of after-sale relationship that turns first-time buyers into decades-long clients. In a collector market where trust is the scarcest commodity, that record is the real product.
Selling or Consigning Your Classic
The same curation works in reverse. Collectors in San Rafael and across Marin with a classic to sell have three clean paths here: sell the car to the dealership outright with no purchase required, or place it in the well-established consignment program, where the team prepares, presents, and markets the car to its national network of collectors while handling every inquiry, showing, and piece of paperwork. For special cars, consignment through a respected specialty house routinely achieves stronger results than private listings or auction risk, and it costs the owner nothing but patience.
Visit from San Rafael
The drive from San Rafael takes about fifteen minutes: south on 101, off at Paradise Drive, and along the water to the showroom at 5830 Paradise Dr., Corte Madera, CA 94925. Browse the current inventory online first if you like, then come see the cars in person, because photographs never do justice to machinery of this quality. To ask about a specific car, arrange a viewing, or discuss selling your own classic, contact the team or call 415-924-3800. Financing can be arranged for qualified buyers, and the staff is always glad to talk through a car’s history and provenance in as much detail as you want. Some dealerships sell old cars. This one has spent forty years earning the word specialty.
