Check out these great Midwest car collections! (Part 2)

I love visiting automotive museums, and it seems like I'm not the only one who loves checking out cool car collections here in the Midwest.

I recently thought it might be fun to post a collection of car-related story links from my own Midwest Guest archives, and decided to ask some fellow Midwest travel bloggers if I could share some of their car collection story links in my list as well.

There was, as I suspected, a number of great posts about Midwest car collections, and I ended up with a list of links large enough to do two posts!

Here is the second part of my list of Midwest car collection story links:

Visiting Studebaker National Museum in South Bend, Indiana-A trip to Fort Wayne was enough excuse for me to drive on across Indiana to check out the National Studebaker Museum in South Bend. I especially loved the glamour and style of the 1950s-era cars here featuring their bullet-nose profiles and sherbet-colored paint jobs. Other highlights for me included seeing the brand's earliest horse-drawn vehicles and the famous "Muppet car" (a specially-adapted bullet-nosed Studebaker used in the 1979 Muppet movie). Check out my story at Midwest Guest.

 

 

Studebaker Museum, South Bend: From Carriages to Automobiles-Connie put a story up about her experience at the Studebaker museum after I already finished assembling links for this series, but I figured I could squeeze a link to her story here. Check her take on the museum at the Midwest Wanderer blog.

Auburn Cord Duesenberg Museum draws car buffs and Art Deco lovers to northern Indiana-We originally discovered this museum after seeing a billboard along the highway during a long-ago ride back home after attending an Indy 500 race. I particularly love the museum's Art Deco-style architecture and its collection of 1930s movie-star-worthy cars. We've returned to this museum several times since discovering it more than 25 years ago. Check it out at Midwest Guest.

 

 

Pontiac Oakland Museum, Pontiac Illinois: Auto Nostalgia along Route 66-What do you do when your classic car collection is too large to store at your home? Open a museum, of course! Connie tells the story of a couple who opened a museum featuring vintage Oakland and Pontiac automobiles, along with other automotive memorabilia in (most appropriately) Pontiac, Illinois. Read about this museum, which is just southwest of Chicago, at the Midwest Wanderer blog.

Photo: Connie Siokos Reed, used with permission

Peoria, IL: Wheels O' Time Museum-Adam takes readers on a tour of this fun museum near Peoria, Illinois that includes some cool classic cars as well as trains, farm equipment to toys of bygone years. The vehicle collection, housed in several different buildings, includes kid-pleasers like big, red fire trucks and curiosities for the adults like Hugh Hefner's limo. Check it out at the Visit Flyover Country blog.

Photo: Adam Sommer, used with permission

Effingham, IL: My Garage Museum-Adam also visited the My Garage Museum in central Illinois, where he and his family found a collection of VWs that included several versions of the beloved Herbie the Love Bug used in the Disney films featuring the cute car as well as some cool Corvettes and race cars. Check this story out at the Visit Flyover Country blog.

Photo: Adam Sommer, used with permission

National Corvette Museum in Bowling Green, Kentucky-Speaking of Corvettes, Nedra takes readers to the National Corvette Museum. I first read about this museum when I saw news reports of a 60-foot sink hole that opened up below part of the museum and damaged some of the vintage vehicles housed here. Check this story out at the Adventure Mom blog. It was sad to see images of the damaged vehicles at Nedra's post, but you can check out the latest news about the museum's work on filling in the sinkhole and creating new display space on the museum's Facebook page.

Photo: Nedra McDaniel, used with permission

Indianapolis Motor Speedway Hall of Fame Museum-Katy checks in from the Indianapolis Motor Speedway Hall of Fame Museum where she shared her young daughter's fascination with wheeled vehicles and indulged herself with fantasies of wearing some of the beautiful Tiffany trophies on display as oversized jewelry! Check it out at the Indy with Kids blog.

Photo: Katy Mann, used with permission

Gilmore Car Museum expands and reopens for the season-I wrote this story several years ago after touring the museum and its beautiful campus in western Michigan. I understand the museum's expansion and improvements continue, and it's definitely on my list of places I'd like to return to check out again soon. I liked learning about the automotive companies that once called Kalamazoo home, seeing the story of Alice Ramsey (the first woman to drive an automobile across the United States) and stopping by the vintage diner on the museum campus for a snack. Check out the story at Midwest Guest.

 

 

Here are a few other Midwest Guest posts featuring big Detroit-area automotive events we've visited over the years.

The annual North American International Auto Show always offers opportunities to see some of the latest automotive developments and car models. Check out my NAIAS stories from 2011 (Photo Friday: 2011 North American International Auto Show in Detroit Michigan) and 2009(Cars star at North American International Auto Show).

 

 

I've always thought that one of the most enjoyable ways to view classic cars is to see them at an outdoor show during the summer, and one of the best shows happens about a mile away from my home. Check out Photo Friday: Enjoying classic cars "Down on Main Street" in Clawson, Michigan for a story about this yearly event.

 

 

Check out one of the first stories I did at Midwest Guest six years ago about an event that continues to draw over a million folks to what organizers describe as "the world's largest one-day celebration of classic car culture", the Woodward Dream Cruise. Most of us who live here will tell you that the event unofficially spreads over the entire summer (if you want to count all of the unofficial pre- and post-Dream Cruise classic car cruisers and spectators along Woodward during the warmer months). Let's face it, this town is truly Car Crazy!   

 

 

Be sure to check out part one of this two-part series of Midwest car collection posts.

So many ideas for great future road trips, don't you think?

© Dominique King 2014 All rights reserved (unless otherwise noted)

Comments

[Julie Henning]

I can't believe there are THIS many automobile museums in the Midwest! Another one to add is the Dahl Auto Museum in La Crosse, Wisconsin.

[Dominique King]

...and now you know why I thought this would make a good subject for a round-up post! We've visited a lot of these museums, but I knew there were so many more we haven't had a chance to get to yet. The Dahl museum sounds like one to add to my Midwest bucket list :)

[Tonya {The Traveling Praters}]

My husbands' cousin was married in the Auburn museum. It was such a neat wedding and my husband and I enjoyed seeing all the cars. I'd love to take my kids there sometime- it's been about 20 years since our last visit.

[Dominique King]

What a great place for a wedding, Tonya! I loved the Art Deco-style architecture and decor. Last time we visited, they had a great display of cars connected to Frank Lloyd Wright...who knew Wright was such a gearhead? :)