Visit 6 Southern Automotive Museums In Under 500 Miles

There are no shortages when it comes to looking for road trips between automotive museums.  Using the map feature on automotivemuseumguide.com makes this extra easy. However, sometimes you just need a little extra motivation, so here’s a trip you can plan in the south that’ll take you to 6 automotive museums in a round trip in under 500 miles.

Where you start is up to you, but for the purpose of this article, we are going to start in Chattanooga, TN with the Coker Museum at Honest Charley. You may be familiar with Coker tires, but if you’ve never been to this downtown museum you’re missing out.  The building itself is even a destination.

Next up we head over to the Hollywood Star Car Museum in Gatlinburg, TN. (153 miles)  This museum is nothing like the previous museum, but if you enjoy seeing cars from the movies, you’ll love it here.  Gatlinburg is also a bit of a tourist destination so you may also want to walk around the town to see what else the town has to offer.

The next museum is only 50 miles away and again is completely different from the first two museums. Dale’s Wheels Through Time is a motorcycle museum.  There are a couple of cars in the museum, but it is definitely an American motorcycle museum and it is packed with them. This museum was originally started by Dale Walksler who you’d often times see starting and riding motorcycles in and around the museum.  Dale has since passed, but his son Matt has followed in his dad’s footsteps and keeps he keeps his father’s spirit alive in the museum.

A nice 92-mile drive south through the Smokey Mountains will take you to Miles Through Time Automotive Museum, not to be confused with Dale’s Wheels Through Time or Wheels O’ Time. This museum is located only 20 minutes south of Helen, GA, which is the 3rd most visited city in Georgia. You’ll see over 90 full-size vehicles and over 5,000 model cars, plus there is an entire replica town, including the original Phillips 66 filling station. Miles Through Time is located inside an antique store called Vintage Garage Antiques which is also located inside an old textile mill.

After you get your fill at MTT you’ve got a 117-mile drive west to the Savoy Automobile Museum in Cartersville, GA. Savoy stands alone from all the other museums on this trip as being the most fancy.  The building and grounds are new and beautiful in this contemporary automotive art museum. There are multiple galleries that change monthly so there is always something new to see. There are many other museums to visit in Cartersville, including the Tellus Science Museum which also has a small collection of vehicles on display.

From Savoy, it’s a 74-mile trip back up to Chattanooga where you can visit the International Towing and Recover Museum. Not into tow trucks? Don’t let the name fool you, this is a super cool museum and after visiting you are going to be into tow trucks.

Total miles: 488

Total museums: 6+

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