The Weekly 3

This week I have three free automotive museums to share with you. The free part wasn’t planned, but when I was going through museums I hadn’t mentioned since 2024, I noticed how different each one was.

One museum was founded after a successful racing career. One was created after making a fortune from a well-known truck stop, and one came to fruition after a group of guys came together and created the only car museum in their state.

What is interesting about learning the origin story of many of the museums listed in the Automotive Museum Guide is that it makes me very humbled to know Miles Through Time Automotive Museum will be celebrating 10 years next year.

Knowing what I know now, and how so many other museums were created, I may have been a bit optimistic, overzealous, and a little crazy. I didn’t know what I didn’t know when I created Miles Through Time.

I wasn’t a wealthy man. I didn’t have a successful career, and I didn’t have a community to help me. Miles Through Time came very close to being open for three years and then gone for good. 

I had been by myself for 3 years, aside from one guy I met named Truitt Phillips who helped with a few projects from time to time. I could have very easily walked away at the end of 2019. All I had was my grandpa’s ’59 Cadillac. What little money was made quickly disappeared to pay the utilities and other operating expenses.

Instead, I chose to pivot. The museum was moved and rebuilt from scratch. Miles Through Time Automotive Museum became a 501c3 nonprofit, and I made Truitt an official part of the museum.

Today, the only car I own in the museum is still just my Pop’s ’59 Cadillac, but over 60 vehicles have been donated to the museum in just 6 years. Most of them are sentimental, and came from other museums. In total, the museum averages around 130 full-size vehicles on display at any given time.

Trying to imagine how to get Miles Through Time Automotive Museum to where it is today back in 2017 would have been impossible. Imagining the future of Miles Through Time Automotive Museum is now plausible. I just can’t do it by myself.

The group that got together and created the Vintage Automobile Museum of New Jersey was pretty smart. I’m an example of what one passionate person with little resources can do. 

The Vintage Automobile Museum of New Jersey has numerous resources, from cars and memorabilia to people. They just needed a building, and now they can share their passion with visitors from all over the world, and they change the museum every two months.

Wood Brother’s Racing Museum is a great example of a logical reason to create a museum. Wood’s Brother Racing holds the Guinness World Record for the longest active NASCAR racing team. 

You can imagine how much racing and automotive memorabilia they could accumulate over 70 plus years. The best thing Wood Brother’s could do was put everything in a museum and allow visitors to experience their history.

The Iowa 80 Trucking Museum was created by husband and wife Bill and Carolyn Moon. Bill had a very successful career in the trucking industry and a passion to match.

Unfortunately, Bill never got to see his museum open since he passed away in 1992, but Carolyn was able to officially open the museum in 2008. Carolyn stayed at the helm until she passed away in 2017, but the family continues their legacy.

There are so many interesting aspects of automotive museums you can discover when you visit. From the items and artifacts on display to the build or grounds and the origin story behind why it even exists.

Share the Automotive Museum Guide with as many people as you can so they can also discover all the amazing automotive museums they can actually visit, all over the world.

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If you want to see more, visit the Weekly 3.

Plan your next trip, discover your new favorite, or find the nearest museum

 Sean Mathis
Creator of Automotive Museum Guide
Founder of Miles Through Time Automotive Museum

P.S. Make sure you follow AMG on Facebook and join the FB Group to see what’s going on at all the museums.