Top Ten Car Museums

[Monk]

Interesting read..........I've visited a couple.
The 57 Heaven Collection was cool but has been sold off.
Thought Floyd Garrett's stuff might be on here.

http://www.10best.com/interests/travel-features/drool-away-jaw-dropping-car-museums/

[Barry Donovan]

They are far from me.

this void tells me maine has one, but not for the movies.

if to base on culture outside the museum, stuff that influenced locations, kids now adults etc..evolution in reality.
that would be quite a museum.

maine does good with some of that thought. I get upset over not acknowledging that a crazy maine survivor could be from anywhere, and be as outlandish as a premeditated movie car...but that takes time too.

I remember this pickup, that was already a 3/4 ton, old school woodsman got angry over the machines. He made one to haul a 2000 pound skidder tire in the back.
manual tranny, treated the engine as if it had turbos, low compression...it was just a carb. the weight added made a big motor. All old school stuff people forget. I was friends with the son of that old woodsman, around the same age.

we skipped school to beat a genuine IH scout often.

that pickup, froma distance, loaded..it sounded just like a diesel earning a hill. No cats, as I said the guy was an angry woodsman, a real product of reality. This was the 80s. A 6.2 diesel was laughed at like a ford.

I still may offer my sube to a museum. there is one that had snow going antiques, crazy machines.

[SuperBuickGuy]

I've not been to all of the majors; but of all the ones I've been to - LeMay's museum is the best I've been to.

[Aircooled]

What a screwed up list!
The Henry Ford Museum is a lot of things, but it is not much of a car museum.
The Auburn Cord Duesenberg Automobile Museum should be near the top of the list.
Then you should probably pick either the Garlits or NHRA museums. There is also Speedway motors.

Oh [sarcasm on] how could they overlook Houston's famous Art Car museum?

[PatricksDad]

I'd add (or substitute) the Barber museum. Worth the trip, even if there wasn't a brilliant track right next door.

In my top ten "anti-glitz" list is definitely the Eastern Motorsports Museum. It's a little pocket of a place that can suck you in for hours. Also significant for housing the Chris Economaki Collection.

http://www.emmr.org/whatisemmr.htm

[groucho]

Where's the Garlit's Museum on that list?

[Monk]

Where's the Garlit's Museum on that list?

Yep......been to that one and it's great place.
Lots of nostalgic stuff there.

What a screwed up list!
The Henry Ford Museum is a lot of things, but it is not much of a car museum.
The Auburn Cord Duesenberg Automobile Museum should be near the top of the list.
Then you should probably pick either the Garlits or NHRA museums. There is also Speedway motors.

Oh [sarcasm on] how could they overlook Houston's famous Art Car museum?

Auburn Cord Museum North of Ft. Wayne is a great place as well.
Those cars are rolling pieces of art.

Most times these guys don't get it right.

[Scott Liggett]

Just another car article written by a non car guy journalist.

[38P]

The Henry Ford

What a screwed up list!
The Henry Ford Museum is a lot of things, but it is not much of a car museum.

I respectfully disagree.

The Henry Ford is a world-class museum with a fine selection of museum-grade automobiles. It has many milestone vehicles, such as a Kennedy Lincoln limousine, a Tucker Torpedo, a Bugatti Royale, the first Ford Mustang prototype, Jim Clark's Indy-winning Ford-Lotus, a Le Mans-winning GT 40, the Summers Brothers Goldenrod land speed record car, the "Rosa Parks" bus that was at the center of the historic Montgomery, Alabama bus boycott, and many other milestone vehicles. It also presents a fine display of the evolution of the automobile over its first 100 years.


And it's one of the few museums where you can actually ride in one of the cars that changed the world . . . the HF has a fleet of operating Model Ts, including six or so built to exacting original specs for Ford's Centennial.

While the HF isn't exclusively (or perhaps even predominantly) an automobile museum . . . and it's permanent vehicle collection on display isn't a large as some automobile-only museums, the HF is one of America's great and significant historical collections and is most certainly deserves inclusion on the list.

[38P]

I've been to all but Volo, Saratoga and Punta Gorda. I doubt I'd kick any of the seven I've been to off the list. The Le May is deserving of inclusion IMHO, given its shear size, the uniqueness and diversity of its collection, and the recent upgrade to its facilities (in the interest of full disclosure, I've been a "member" of the Le May at various times over the years . . . lapsed at the end of 2012 only because I couldn't find the renewal envelope on "tax deduction charitable donation deadline day" (December 31)). The Studebaker is a high-quality smaller museum, but I'm not sure that it trumps Auburn-Cord-Duesenberg.

The list is a tad light on racing museums, such as the Wally Parks NHRA Motorsports Museum, Garlits, the Museum of American Speed, the International Motorsports Hall of Fame & Museum at Talladega, etc. But Indy is certainly must see.

[Scott Liggett]

I respectfully disagree.

The Henry Ford is a world-class museum with a fine selection of museum-grade automobiles. It has many milestone vehicles, such as a Kennedy Lincoln limousine, a Tucker Torpedo, a Bugatti Royale, the first Ford Mustang prototype, Jim Clark's Indy-winning Ford-Lotus, a Le Mans-winning GT 40, the Summers Brothers Goldenrod land speed record car, the "Rosa Parks" bus that was at the center of the historic Montgomery, Alabama bus boycott, and many other milestone vehicles. It also presents a fine display of the evolution of the automobile over its first 100 years.


And it's one of the few museums where you can actually ride in one of the cars that changed the world . . . the HF has a fleet of operating Model Ts, including six or so built to exacting original specs for Ford's Centennial.

While the HF isn't exclusively (or perhaps even predominantly) an automobile museum . . . and it's permanent vehicle collection on display isn't a large as some automobile-only museums, the HF is one of America's great and significant historical collections and is most certainly deserves inclusion on the list.

The Towe Ford Museum in Sacramento offered classes to learn Model T's right out of their collection. Did it for years. Not sure if they are open anymore.

[38P]

The Towe Ford Museum in Sacramento offered classes to learn Model T's right out of their collection. Did it for years. Not sure if they are open anymore.

Towe is a sad story. The IRS basically broke it up to settle a lengthy tax dispute. Before that, it was one of the worlds most complete single-marque collections ever assembled. What they could salvage ultimately became the California Automobile Museum. http://www.calautomuseum.org/

Some of the more unique Ford bits from the Towe ended up in other museums, including the Early Ford V8 Museum.

While the California Automobile Museum is still a worthwhile stop (albeit not really "world class" IMHO). . . and probably much more interesting to non-Ford fans than the Towe was . . . much as with what's left of the legendary Harrah collection in Reno (@#$& you Holiday Inn!), you get the haunting sense that something much greater was once assembled there.

As with any general interest museum that apparently curated by a committee of volunteer donors, it seems as if it has lost some of its focus in a quest to broaden its appeal. It also appears chronically underfunded (although I haven't visited it in five or six years, so that may have improved).

[Scott Liggett]

Didn't part of Harrah's collection end up at the Imperial Palace in Vegas?