Last week I shared my vision for the future of Miles Through Time Automotive Museum, which then broke automotivemuseumguide.com. A lot of people reached out to me saying they were not able to access the website.

I spent almost all of Monday fixing the issue and today, no one should experience any problems accessing automotivemuseumguide.com. That’s the goal for today at least. 😉

Last week I also shared automotive museums that were created right around the time I created Miles Through Time. Over the years of creating and running my own museum and trying to keep the Automotive Museum Guide up-to-date, I have noticed the revolving door of automotive museums.

COVID definitely didn’t help with museum closures, but even without that added burden, automotive museums still close pretty regularly. The unique variety of ways car museums can be created is the leading factor why so many car museums close. 

It is sad when museums close, but I call it the circle of life for car museums. There are many museums all over the world you can visit and should as soon as you have the opportunity, because for some of them, you may not have another chance.

The easiest part of an automotive museum is the creation. I am proof of that, since I was able to create Miles Through Time Automotive Museum with one car I inherited and no collections or funding of any kind.

That last paragraph can be misleading. It is absolutely accurate, but to say I created a car museum worthy of visitation from day one would be a stretch. I was able to very quickly acquire borrowed vehicles, but it took me a long time to go beyond just some old cars parked in a building.

Parking old cars in a building and calling it a museum is questionable. There is a lot more to an automotive museum than just parked cars. There is a lot of effort that goes into preserving and displaying the vehicles. 

Being accessible to the public with regular visiting hours is mandatory and ensuring visitors leave inspired by learning something new is always the goal.

If the automotive museum does not do these things, then it may just be a really nice collection of cars and memorabilia.  There are way more amazing private collections than there are museums, and that is okay.

This week I want to share with you three automotive museums that are trying to become real automotive museums and each one has a different angle of what a car museum is.

First up is the Idle Ridge Car Museum. The late James Feneis had a very impressive private collection, worthy of a car museum. James put in motion to create the Feneis Charitable Foundation after his passing, which would turn his collection into a museum, open to the public. The museum is slated to open this summer.

I’ve been keeping an eye on the New York Auto Museum as soon as I heard about it. This museum is supposed to be a 200,000-square-foot facility in Manahattan. I don’t know how progress is going on this museum, but it sounds amazing, and I wish them the best of luck. We will have to keep an eye on this museum to see how everything develops.

The last future museum I want to share is the Legends Racing Museum. The museum is just one aspect of this automotive-themed complex. I really like the vision of this place, which is similar to the vision I have for Miles Through Time, but even bigger.

Motor City USA will be home to the Legends Racing Museum, a theater, pavilion, multiple restaurants, go-kart racing, hotels and more. I really want to see this place come to fruition as well, so I can visit.

It is fascinating all the different angles that can be taken when it comes to creating an automotive museum. There is no right or wrong way and I enjoy visiting all the different types.  

Like any business, the challenge is being able to stay open. Anyone can help by visiting museums, donating, volunteering or just helping spread the word. 

I tell people it is easy for the older generation to come into the museum and enjoy reminiscing. It is much more challenging to capture the interest of someone who doesn’t have any direct connections to anything on display.

Museums serve an important role in bridging the gap between those who remember and those who need to learn. This is still one of the biggest reasons why I’ve been trying to get a supercar for Miles Through Time Automotive Museum.

If I can capture the interest of the younger generation with something they wish they could have, the museum can broaden their interests and show them more varieties of vehicles. You don’t know what you don’t know. 

Have a great week!

SCROLL DOWN TO CHECK OUT THIS WEEK’S 3 AUTOMOTIVE MUSEUMS.

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

 Follow me @   

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

This week I am going to share with you three automotive museums that opened near the same time Miles Through Time Automotive Museum started in 2017. It is fascinating to see how each museum started and how they are doing today.

I had no clue what I was doing in 2017, hence the reason automotivemuseumguide.com exists.

I did all I could to absorb as much automotive museum knowledge as I could. It was difficult though, because the type of information I found most often were museums like Petersen which had just completed a $125 million dollar renovation in 2015.

As a guy with one inherited car trying to boostrap a museum, learning about a museum that just spent $125 million dollars was more discouraging than anything. 

To be fair, the more I researched car museums, I quickly realized I was way over my head and could have been deemed clinically crazy.

Nevertheless, I was drunk on excitement and went all in. It would be amazing right now if my next sentence could be and the rest is history, but, alas, I’m not done yet.

There are a lot of reasons Miles Through Time Automotive Museum has had so much success over the years. When it comes to me specifically, there are a few key attributes that I believe have helped the progress of the museum.

The first is, I do not have an ego. From day one, I have really tried to remain humble and grateful. This came naturally to me, since I literally had nothing at the beginning except my Pop’s car.

Even eight years later, I personally don’t have much more than I had when I started, but my appreciation and gratefulness for all those who have helped and gotten involved has grown.

The other thing is being flexible. The vision I had in my head in 2016 for a car museum was not exactly how it started. The vision has changed over the years and even the reality of the museum has changed many times.

Miles Through Time’s development has been very much like a pinball machine. Half the reason why is that I’ve just been trying to figure it out as I go. The other half is because circumstances can change for whatever reason which makes it, so I have to pivot.

My next pivot will be to take on investors/partners to move the museum and Vintage Garage Antiques which I created to support the museum, to a 10-acre plot of land right off the main highway.

The concept will be to use the museum and antique shop as an anchor for the new Miles through Time campus, which will include an automotive-themed restaurant. I also invision some sort of lodging, either tiny homes or a themed motel.

There will also be RV hookups, EV chargers, an outdoor pavilion, a nature trail and possibly additional storage facilities for those who would like to keep their vehicles somewhere close to being able to drive through the Blue Ridge Mountains and head towards the Trail of the Dragon.

Here’s a rendering of what my vision is.

Every automotive museum is different and the one I created is pivoting towards being a place where history is not only preserved and shared, but also a place where you can shop, eat, stay, store, enjoy events and hang out all day long. It’s just a matter of time before I can get funding to break ground.

The Newport Car Museum was also created in 2017. However, this museum was the more typical way a car museum is started, which was with a 90-vehicle private collection. 

The Route 66 Car Museum was created one year before Miles Through Time Automotive Museum in 2016. Guy Mace started collecting cars in 1990 and now he has more than 75.

No automotive museums were created in 2018, but in 2019 the Midwest Dream Car Collection opened. This museum will always be special for me because I had been figuring out my own museum for about 3 years and I learned about the museum from their conception.

I’ve been able to watch this museum grow from the very beginning. I’ve been able to meet the people that run the museum, and I’ve even been able to visit it in-person. They have some beautiful cars, including a Tucker, which I was allowed to sit in so many others I’d love to own and drive or at least display in my museum. 

For a while it felt like I had to keep announcing museum closures. Now, I am seeing growth. Museums are expanding and getting new buildings. I hope Miles Through Time Automotive Museum will be able to officially announce our new location soon.

Until then, I really enjoy seeing not only these museums, but my friends and people in general succeed. So many things in this world are contagious, including success and happiness. Go out there and spread it. 😉

Have a great week!

SCROLL DOWN TO CHECK OUT THIS WEEK’S 3 AUTOMOTIVE MUSEUMS.

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

 Follow me @   

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