Tompkins, on first impression, isn't the kind of guy you would expect to casually use words like 'behooved.' Tan as an El Dorado's golden interior, Tompkins has long, straight, gray hair that is always falling in his face. 'They felt we were limiting ourselves to only one part of the market, but I felt it behooved us to do it because people would know the product better. Eventually, one day, they said to me, 'Hey, Gar, we're all Cadillacs. 'What I did, I just kept buying Cadillacs and more Cadillacs and weeding the other stuff out. 'My brother, my mom, everybody fought my idea,' Gar said. It was Gar who badgered and cajoled his mother and brother to turn the junkyard into a Caddie-only enterprise. Before that, the family leased land in San Leandro and made a good profit dealing in parts and 'old rust buckets' for a variety of makes and models, everything from Chevys to DeSotos.Д«ut it was Gar who was consumed with Cadillacs. But it has only been in Brentwood since 1973. The brothers inherited the yard from their father, who started in in 1963, in the 1970s. Tompkins runs the family wrecking yard with his brother, Val, and general manager Steve White, a family friend. And if he don't got it, you don't need it.' I tell people desperate to redo their Caddie, 'Go to Gar.' Let's put it this way: If nobody else has it, he's got it. 'I'll call up Gar and mention something, and he don't even need to look,' said Dick Somlo of Wise Auto Body in Oakland, who has been a customer of Tompkins' for more than 20 years. He also has an encyclopedic knowledge of Cadillac parts and what he has in stock in this 10-acre ranch. Take a walk through the dusty acres of skeleton frames of old Caddies, the pyramid of discarded grills and fenders stacked like cordwood, and he has a story for nearly every hunk of metal. Tompkins is a gregarious sort whose immersion into all things Cadillac is as endearing as it is mildly scary. Tompkins' 'Cadster' first cruised to prominence in 2000, when it earned the 'Most Beautiful Car in the World' award at the 50th Sacramento Autorama.Дon't even breathe on his car, buddy, unless you want to incur the wrath of Gar. Cadillac never made such a two-seat roadster model, but Tompkins saw something similar in the film, 'The Buddy Holly Story,' and inspiration struck. It's an impressive arrangement of steel and leather, painted purple-and- silver with pricey chrome illusion paint. Its worth, Tompkins has been told, more than $250,000.

It features 10 acres of Cadillacs and Cadillac parts to cater to automobile aficionados who sometimes travel from as far as Australia to nose around for '57 Eldorado fins or a '67 Coupe de Ville hood.Д«ut to appreciate Tompkins' dedication to all things Cadillac fully - his friends and associates, without hesitation, call him obsessed - check out the 'Cadster.' Although its name and roadside appearance don't let on, Tompkins' junkyard is nothing less than Northern California's unofficial Cadillac Ranch. Tompkins, 51, tells this story while he lovingly runs his hand along the customized '59 Cadillac Coupe de Ville parked at his Brentwood business, A&A Auto Parts. 'I guess the value of a Cadillac was hammered into me at a young age.' 'He whomped my butt pretty good on that one,' Tompkins remembers. A two-tone custom job to the body was little Gar's 3-year-old brainstorm, so he found some garish green house paint downstairs and went at it. Paint Dad's sleek, gray brand-new 1951 Cadillac. Toddled to the garage of his parents' San Francisco home with one thought, and one thought only, in mind. He was just a little guy, barely out of diapers, but Well, buddy when I die, throw my body in the backДЄnd drive me to the junkyard in my Cadillac

Auto dismantler san francisco