The Weekly 3

Going off of last week’s “automotive museums,” I’m going to share a few more with you this week that are similar in the sense that they teeter between just a private collection and a museum.

Automotive museums or car museums are a bit of an anomaly in the museum world. In fact, car museums aren’t even a category option when completing official museum documents. I usually select art and history museums in lieu of automotive.

I don’t actually know why automotive museums are a bit like the redheaded stepchild of museums, but if I had to guess, I’d say it has something to do with how many people claim to own a car museum.

I discovered all of this when I first started Miles Through Time Automotive Museum. There are all kinds of museum categories, some you could even consider obscure, but nothing for cars. 

I did, however, discover the National Association of Automobile Museums or NAAM and joined right away. I also later discovered the World Forum for Motor Museum. Surprisingly enough, I’m now a board member of both.

Although I recommend every automotive museum to be a part of NAAM and WFFMM, membership is not required to be an automotive museum. 

There is a big gray when it comes to automotive museums. This is accentuated partly by how freely the term car museum is used to describe someone’s ownership of 10 cars, and those who truly have massive collections, worthy of being a car museum, but they are private collections.

The definition of museum is a building in which objects of historical, scientific, artistic, or cultural interest are stored and exhibited. The key word is exhibited, which means publicly displayed.

The Automotive Museum Guide would be worthless if it was full of places you couldn’t actually visit. In order to be listed as an automotive museum, the museum, whether it’s a private collection or not, must be available for the public to visit.

I know firsthand how difficult and expensive it is to keep a museum open to the public. For some museums, it is not possible to be open with consistent hours, and the only option is to be open by appointment only.

Being able to view an automotive museum with a premeditated visit is better than not being able to ever visit because it is someone’s private collection. This week’s museums require an appointment before you just show up.

The Collector’s Museum has a lot of collectible items on display, way beyond just vehicles. However, to visit, you’ll have to make an appointment with a group or car club since the owner is the only one who opens the museum for visitors when he’s in town.

Millstream Classic Car Museum is another one you’ll need to reach out to beforehand. When you visit you’ll be able to see over 100 cars, half of them are unrestored.

The last museum is actually a recent addition to the Automotive Museum Guide. Ames Automotive Foundation has over 90 cars on display. All you need to do to see them is make an appointment.

Regular, consistent hours, so you can visit on a whim most days of the week is ideal, but not always possible. Even with regular hours, some museums have very limited open times.

Your best option is to plan in advance if you can. Always attempt to reach out to the museum you intend to visit beforehand, and be patient. I’ve missed being able to visit a lot of museums, simply because their open hours didn’t match up with my schedule of passing through the area. It’s a bummer, but it means I can still look forward to visiting in the future.

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.