Pomona : Red Light for Car Collector

Automobile collector Jim Phillips failed Thursday to persuade a judge to stop San Bernardino County authorities from seizing his collection of more than 100 dilapidated Chevrolet Corvairs.

County environmental health officials have declared the collection--stored on a lot on Mission Boulevard in an unincorporated area near Montclair--a nuisance.

Phillips, a Pomona resident, sought a preliminary injunction from Superior Court Judge Joseph E. Johnston, saying that recently installed bamboo fencing screens the cars from public view, thus eliminating any unsightliness.

But Susan Nash, deputy county counsel, said that the fence is inadequate and, in any event, that Phillips would need a conditional-use permit to store the cars legally. Nash said the county plans to remove the cars, store them and eventually auction them.

Phillips, who said he had hoped to restore the cars after retiring next year from his job as a data systems technician, said he is uncertain whether to appeal the ruling. He said he has been unable to find another site for his collection.