On a one-lane road just off Highway 92 in Williamsburg sits a time capsule. Few know of its existence. Only a privileged few have been granted an opportunity to explore it. That’s because its creator, Danny Sullivan, owner of Danny Sullivan’s Towing (“We want your tow, not an arm and a leg”), is a private person, a self-described simple, hardworking man.

The time capsule is filled with Danny’s collection of antique Americana brought together over 30 years and lovingly crammed floor-to-ceiling in a dimly lit room behind his shop. Six antique cars, ranging from 1920 to 1968, serve as focal points in the collection. A vast array of other items surrounds them, including a mannequin sporting a bright red poodle skirt and a headless mannequin wearing the service station uniform Danny wore as a young man. License plates cover one wall; one rare one is made from soybeans. "They (the government) needed the metal for the war," Danny says, "so they started making license plates out of soybeans. Out in the country, cows would eat them off the farm equipment. Henry Ford even made a trunk lid out of them."

Danny’s collection is so extensive and of such rare quality that appraisers from the Antiques Roadshow or American Pickers television shows might be gobsmacked if they saw it.
But to describe Danny as an ordinary collector of antiques is to mistake him. In fact, Danny cannot accurately be described as a collector at all. His motivation is different from most collectors. He doesn’t collect antiques to quickly resell them for a profit as the stars of American Pickers do. Nor does he buy antiques as curiosities with which to impress his friends and neighbors. Danny collects antique Americana because he loves the history associated with it and wants to preserve it for future generations.

Standing amid his beloved relics like a rancher among his prized herd, Danny points to a 1920 Dodge Brothers coupe parked in the corner. It’s a majestic-looking thing, although its oversized headlamps give it a nearsighted, google-eyed appearance.

“The man who owned that (car) sold it to me because he knew I’d keep it safe,” Danny says.
This is the remarkable thing about Danny: People, mostly older men, know they can safely sell him their cherished antiques, knowing he will never part with them or allow them to waste away. Danny says his dream is to someday build a museum to house his many treasures and finally share them with the public. But for now he is satisfied with preserving America’s rapidly vanishing past for future generations.