AUTO MUSEUMS I'VE MISSED

By Bob Hagin

     Some years ago, I took a "grand tour" to see as many auto museums 
as I could in two weeks. Unfortunately, I didn't get to see many of 
them. With in a year or two, I plan to do it again. I've surfed the web 
and came up with a few to add to my itinerary:

     NATIONAL CORVETTE MUSEUM - Corvette enthusiasts refer to the line 
as the first and only real American sports car and there's no denying 
it's been around a long time. So it's little wonder that it resulted in 
the National Corvette Museum located in Bowling Green, Kentucky. It's 
very well put together and rather than being a static display of these 
sportsters, it has a hall of fame (originators, race drivers, 
designers, etc.), a merchandise store, membership programs, links to 
local Corvette clubs, Corvette-oriented auto accessories and, of 
course, its own line of Corvette-logoed clothing. It also has a program 
whereby buyers can take delivery of their new Corvette at the museum 
with all the associated pomp and pageantry. This being the 50th 
anniversary of the development of the Corvette, there will be a huge 
party at the museum to celebrate the event. There's more to the place 
than we have room for and if you need more information, click on at www.corvettemuseum.com. 
Ed. Note see live coverage by TACH from Museum

     TOWE FORD MUSEUM - Since it's the one that's closest to my home 
(just 60 miles north-east of me), I should really check out the Towe 
Ford Museum first. The museum is located in Sacramento, the capital of 
California, and was promoted as having the world's most complete 
collection of Fords. Edward Towe himself lives in Montana and his 
private collection "seeded" the museum that bears his name but he has 
since withdrawn from participation. Besides housing the plethora of 
various cars, the museum provides a pleasant atmosphere for dinner 
meetings and dances for local organizations which are usually car 
clubs, I'm told. It also shows a series of vintage movies that don't 
make it to television. Its mission "...is to be the center of 
automotive activity in the community by preserving, promoting and 
teaching automotive culture its influence on our lives." according to 
its brochure. Internet access to the Towe Ford Museum is 
www.toweautomuseum.org or you can call 1-916-442-6802 for information. 
Ed. Note:TACH Hosts the Towe Web Site

     NATIONAL AUTOMOBILE MUSEUM - It used to be the Harrah museum, a 
Reno institution that showcased literally thousands of fully restored 
autos, airplanes and rail cars of every size, shape and species. Harrah 
died in '78 without leaving a will, so before the tax guys were able to 
sell it off piecemeal, a group of high-powered enthusiasts got together 
and strong-armed a non-profit museum into place. It displays about 220 
vehicles, many of them on loan from collectors. It too has a 
merchandise store that sells books, tee-shirts and all kinds of other 
stuff to help keep the place afloat. Inexpensive memberships get the 
card holder into the place free for a year and businesses can become 
members which allows them special privileges too. It has an ongoing 
theater that chronicles the automobile, and a research library that is 
university quality. The website, www.automuseum.org shows a picture of 
the "new" building and although it's awesome and sleek, I miss the 
funky warehouses which were its home when I saw it several decades ago.

     STAR CARS MUSEUM - If I ever get even remotely close to 
Gatlinburg, Tennessee, I'm going to stop in at the Star Cars Museum. 
The website states that it holds over 30 vehicles that have "starred" 
in Hollywood movies. They're as diverse as the '59 Cadillac ambulance 
that was in "Ghostbusters" to the Batmobile studio car from "Batman 
Returns" to Herbie the Volkswagen from "Love Bug." Being a fan of the 
old Andy Griffith show, I was delighted to see Andy's old Ford sedan 
that was his squad car along with Barney's motorcycle. The museum is 
part of the Gatlinburg Attractions Association and you can view it on 
www.starcars.com. The first thing I'll ask when I get there is how old 
movie cars got into a museum in the Smoky Mountains of Tennessee.

     NATIONAL PACKARD MUSEUM - At one time I owned a couple of big 
Packards from the '30s and foolishly almost gave them away. The Packard 
museum is in Warren, Ohio, which is billed as the birthplace of the 
marque. If you know Packards and pull up www.packardmuseum.org you'll 
recognize the facade in front of the place as a huge replica of the 
"tombstone" radiator grille of a Packard, circa the late-'20s. The 
museum has the usual merchandise store and sponsoring memberships as 
well as links to the Packard owner's clubs and their regions. For the 
edification of you "kids," the pre-World War II senior-series Packards 
were among the most prestigious in America, if not the world. Its motto 
was to the point. "Ask the man who owns one."

     ROLLS-ROYCE FOUNDATION - Since we included the Packard museum, 
we're duty-bound to include Rolls-Royce. This foundation is located in 
Lewisberry, Pennsylvania, and it's only open to us commoners by 
appointment. It has membership (only $25) and merchandise, of course, 
but I didn't see any Rolls-Royce tee-shirts or baseball caps. The 
display floor as seen on www.rollsroycefoundation.com shows a plethora 
of Rolls-Royce cars including a couple "Springfield" models that were 
manufactured here in the company's American plant in the '20s. Also 
featured are Bentley cars, a marque that was often a Rolls with a 
slightly different grille. I wonder how the museum curators feel about 
both Rolls-Royce and Bentley being now owned by German auto makers.

     Needless to say, there are auto museums, big and small, in almost 
every country, my favorite being the funky one in Killarney, Ireland. 
Motorcar enthusiasm is a world-wide affliction and if travelers speak 
"auto," they can find kindred spirits in all corners of the globe.