by Mike Carroll Jr.
Copyright © 2002. All rights reserved.

Around 10 years ago, I had the honor to meet a Bay Area legend, Earnest Mancini, owner of Mancini Motors in Mountain View California. As I spoke to the gentleman in his well groomed back yard in Los Altos California, it soon became apparent that this son of the original founder had a very interesting story to tell.

When I was a child, I was always fascinated with Mancini Motors' tower and globe as we drove past it. In the spring of 1966, my parents purchased a Chrysler 300 from the dealership, which got their attention as the vehicle proudly sat on display underneath the famous globe.

As our conversation progressed, Mr. Mancini pulled out an album of priceless photographs and newspaper clippings, spotlighting the dealership in its heyday. He mentioned that he had a brother who helped carry on the business.

The elder Mancini originally opened his doors as a gas station on Castro Street in downtown Mountain View sometime in the 1930s. As the story goes, someone in a big car pulled up one day and offered to help bankroll the business into a Chrysler dealership, which his father eagerly excepted.

Starting out with a few cars, the dealership at the Castro Street location soon began to outgrow itself.

Around this time, the World's Fair at San Francisco's Treasure Island was going full bore. In one of the Fair's gigantic halls sat the Chrysler exhibit. It was an array of towers capped with globes, which lined the edge of a cylindrical platform. This structure indeed helped define the art deco look throughout the fair, with futuristic shapes and design that predicted a bright future for the second half of the twentieth century.

The senior Mancini felt that a piece of this exhibit would fit well into his new location at Castro St. and El Camino Real in Mountain View. When the Fair closed, he was able to purchase one of the towers and globe. There was one snag: union members were required to dismantle the structure, adding a cost that Mr. Mancini hadn't planned for.

As the World's Fair on Treasure Island was winding down, exhibitors were folding up. Late one night, all personnel had gone home for the night. .All was quite except for the sound of the occasional fog horn. Out in a distance the waves from the bay could be heard gently hitting the edge of the small island. A flatbed truck slowly backed into an open roll up door at the hall's entrance. In those days, it was unnecessary to secure buildings. Several large heavyset set men with tools and rope quietly piled out of the truck and proceeded toward the Chrysler exhibit. It was Mancici and his crew, who were there to claim what he rightfully bought, but refused to pay the outrageous charges from Fair dismantlers.

Hours later, the tower and globe were secured on the back of the flatbed truck. Mancini and his crew began their 40 mile trek back to Mountain View. After they slowly drove across the Bay Bridge and up the sparsely populated El Camino Real, the structure had reached its final destination, where it would sit for more than 30 years.

The tower and globe became a well known landmark. It was the southern gateway into downtown Mountain View, with the Southern Pacific train depot at the northern end.

The sun's rays played havoc on the sphere, causing the once vibrant colors that defined the continents and water to fade. The globe was replaced once and painted several times at a local auto body and paint shop. The giant metal ball once rolled out off a truck after being painted, marring it with dents and gashes. But quick body work from auto body specialists made it look as good as new in short order.

By the early seventies, the business moved down to Sunnyvale, some five miles away. Earnest Mancini attempted negotiations with the City of Mountain View to keep the tower and globe at its location as a historic landmark, but hard headed city politics lead to its destiny with the scrap yard.

The Washington Mutual Bank now sits at the location today, but Mancini Motors of Mountain View and its colorful history will be long remembered.