Vintage car specialist Auto Extras in Rocky Point closing after decades

Car collector John Marchese was taken by surprise when he learned that his beloved automotive shop in Rocky Point, which has serviced his replica Batmobile since 2020, was closing. 

"I have no idea what I’m going to do with the Batmobile," he told Newsday.

Marchese, 67, of Brookhaven, has owned the replica, based on the 1960s TV series, since 2017. And for five years, he has shopped at Larry Smith's Auto Extras at 560 Rte. 25A for must-have car accessories. 

Smith has installed a GPS stereo system in his Corvette so Marchese can find his way to car shows across Long Island. Smith also has installed backup cameras, stereos, seat covers and running boards on Marchese's eight other vehicles. 

Smith "does jobs you can’t bring to a mechanic to do," Marchese said Friday.

Now, Smith is putting the brakes on his auto business. 

On Nov. 15, he will shutter his shop, where he has souped up cars with audio equipment, tinted windows and remote engine starters for nearly 40 years and for dozens of patrons, he told Newsday. Smith said his landlord is planning to sell the building and he didn’t want to enter the holiday season selling gift cards his customers might not be able to use.

"I can't go into that season selling gift certificates, not knowing if somebody's going to buy the building and say, ‘I want you out,’ " Smith said.

Smith's landlord, Christina Dries, confirmed that the single-story, 1,400-square-foot auto shop is for sale, which is listed online for $385,000. Her broker, Larry Oxman, of East End Commercial, based in Riverhead, did not respond to a request for comment on the property, just north of the sprawling woods in Rocky Point State Pine Barrens Preserve.

A figure in the vintage community

Auto Extras' closure is a loss for the vintage car community and Rocky Point, where Smith is a well-known figure, said Gary Pollakusky, president of the Rocky Point Sound Beach Chamber of Commerce. Smith was one of the first members of the chamber when it was founded in 2018, said Pollakusky who is one of Smith's customers.

"He's a personality in the community and it's unfortunate that he's moving on for the whole North Shore," Pollakusky said. "He has relationships with most of the automotive community in the North Shore. As a longstanding business and community member, he knew that the lifeblood of his business comes from these car clubs."

Smith often attends the Saint Patrick's Day Parade in Rocky Point, which rolls right past his shop, and the regular car show at Smith Haven Mall on Sundays, which gathers around 800 classic vehicles, Pollakusky said. But, he added, most of Smith's business comes from referrals from Long Island’s vintage car owners.

Smith has around 50 vintage car customers on the Island, and does all the work himself or with the help of his part-time staffer, Andrew Fiore, who will work at other shops in the area after Auto Extras closes, Smith said.

"I’ve worked on cars going back to the 1930s all the way up to the 1970s muscle cars," Smith said. "Any of the old muscle cars and hot rods, I love doing that. I love to do custom wiring — that’s my specialty."

Smith opened Auto Extras in 1984, and by the 1990s business was booming as the car stereo industry took off, he said.

He spends his days working on up to six cars, and business has been profitable, aside from the Great Recession of 2008 and the COVID-19 pandemic of 2020, he said. But what kept Smith busy was his work rewiring Long Island’s vintage cars, or adding accessories to older vehicles.

"He’s an honest, respectable guy and he does the work himself, and he never puts me in the wrong way," said Robert Blandi, of Wading River, one of Smith’s longtime customers.

Smith has installed remote starters and tinted windows on a dozen of Blandi’s cars, he said, including a white 1989 Corvette that Blandi purchased to replace his 1970 Chevy Nova race car when his daughter was born. Blandi said the Corvette was "more practical" than the Nova.

Marchese trusted Smith with much of his "small-time" collection of nine cars, which includes the Batmobile replica, a speedy 2004 Pontiac GTO and a rare 1989 Shelby Dakota.

"I’m certainly not the only person that uses him," Marchese said. "Other people feel the same way — they trust him with their collector cars."

But Smith doesn’t want to quit working on cars cold turkey. He said he plans to do the occasional odd job for the handful of collectors in the area who have their own garages.