Last week was great. I look forward to the NAAM conference every year. If you are associated with a museum in some way, I highly recommend attending next year’s conference, which will be hosted at the Gilmore Car Museum.

Aside from helping me learn things about how to operate a museum, the opportunity to visit other local museums and networking has absolutely contributed to the growth of Miles Through Time Automotive Museum. 

Plus, it is a great excuse for me to get out from behind the computer screen or the museum. My travel ability anymore is pretty much the NAAM conference or wherever a car is donated from. I really prefer to pick up donated vehicles myself so I can meet the donor, learn their story, and thank them in person. I’ve gone as far as Paso Robles, CA and as close as 10 minutes from the museum.

I do really enjoy visiting other museums, despite having limited time when I do visit. I often feel like the people I sometimes see rush through the museum, and wonder why they even bothered. Perhaps it’s the same reason I have. It’s better to visit quickly, than not at all.

I also really like being able to visit private collections. Being a part of NAAM has given me more access to private collections than anything else. There are so many more private collections than there are museums.

The cool thing about private collections is that they can be hidden anywhere, and sometimes they can be way more impressive than some actual museums. It’s amazing what people collect. 

Check out this private Beatle’s Car Collection in Louisiana that deserves to be on display at a museum. It may end up in another private collection soon, maybe it’ll be in one where you can still visit.

I do not include private collections in the automotive museum guide, because the point of the guide is to show you places you can actually visit. There are a few exceptions. Sometimes, a private collection is opened to the public.

Last week I visited Collection 21 on my way back from Dayton, OH. This is a private collection of over 200 vehicles, but because it is open on Fridays and Saturdays to raise funds for the Housing Authority, it made its way onto the Automotive Museum Guide.

There is not much information about Collection 21 online, except for a few articles you may find. Now that I have visited, I can tell you for sure, you should stop by on a Friday or Saturday. There is some signage so you know what you’re looking at, and there were a lot of volunteers to answer questions.

Sometimes a private collection is so impressive that even though they only open a few times a year for private events, the collection is worthy of being mentioned. Brothers Car Collection is insane. They have over 600 cars, more than half of them are on display in a huge warehouse. It’s actually the size of building I need for Miles Through Time.

I get emailed all the time about how to get into the Brothers Car Collection. It is not easy, they don’t have much in the way of an online presence. In fact, their website doesn’t even work anymore.

I did update the link to their Instagram page, which does appear to be current. If you want to visit the Brothers Car Collection, you do have an opportunity on May 17th for a Law Enforcement event.

Another very similar collection on the opposite side of the USA is the American Muscle Car Museum. This museum is Mark Pieloch’s private collection, but he opens up the massive facility for nonprofit events. You may not be able to just go visit, but they host enough events, that if you plan a little, it won’t be too hard to find your way in.

Sometimes a private collection is not a museum simply because they don’t have the ability to staff the collection for regular hours. Crazy ’80s Car Museum is a private collection where all you have to do is call to visit. 

This is a cool museum filled with regular cars from the ’80s. It won’t be for everyone, but for some, it’ll be one of the raddest places you’ve ever been. I know how difficult it can be to be open to the public, so the fact that this owner is willing to share when he can is better than nothing.

Any excuse to see cool automotive stuff is a good excuse. Visit as many museums as you can, and if opportunities arise where you can see someone’s private collection, jump on it.

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.

This week I’m in Dayton, Ohio, for the National Association of Automobile Museums’ (NAAM) annual conference. I’ve been fortunate enough to be able to attend every year for the last 6 years, despite being a member since 2017.

When I started Miles Through Time Automotive Museum in 2017, NAAM was the only organization I could find that had anything to do with car museums. Eventually, I also discovered the World Forum For Motor Museums WFFMM as well.

For three years, I was a member of NAAM, but I couldn’t really do much with the membership. I operated the museum alone, and the expense and time it took to go to the conference just wasn’t an option for me at the time.

I joined NAAM because I wanted Miles Through Time to be a real museum, and I thought being a part of a “museum” organization would somehow validate my museum’s status.

When I reminisce, nine years later, it is easy to recognize my membership meant nothing, until I actually got involved. Once I was able to start going to the annual conference and meet people from various museums all over the country, things began to change.

Today, Miles Through Time has had vehicles donated by 5 different automotive museums throughout the country. Some of the museums have donated multiple vehicles and only one museum donated because they were closing. 

Getting involved and going all in has been what has made all of this possible. Nine years ago, it would have been hard for me to comprehend how we’d get to where we are today. Now, I have a clear vision of where we need to go to ensure the museum outlasts me. You can see the vision HERE.

This week I’ll be spending most of my time at America’s Packard Museum. I had an opportunity to visit this museum a few years ago and I was impressed. The building is super cool, which is always a bonus for me, and there were more than Packards on display. There was a DeLorean which was cool, especially when you discover why.

The National Museum of the Air Force is another I got to go to a few years ago and will go back to this week. If you’ve never been, I highly recommend it. It is HUGE, plus it’s free to visit. There are multiple military vehicles on display. There were even some themed, customized cars when I was there last. Plus, the aircraft are cool.

Collection 21 is a museum I have not been able to visit yet. I’ll be driving right by it, but the private collection of over 200 vehicles is only open on Fridays and Saturdays.  

Visit as many museums as possible and try to get involved where you can. You will help make a difference, I promise. The volunteers at Miles Through Time have made a major impact on the museum and our visitors.

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.

I try to visit as many automotive museums as I can. There was a time when I came really close to traveling the country in an RV just to visit and film automotive museums.

The RV I chose to do this in was a bit optimistic. It was way more cool than practical. Have you heard of a Mauck?

Ultimately, it was going to work for the purpose I needed, so I had to sell it. That combined with all of my other responsibilities, I’m just not able to travel as much as I’d like.

Today, it’s even worse. My only opportunities to visit automotive museums are during my trips to the NAAM conference. Which is coming up in a few weeks and I will be visiting a few museums.

Or, during my trips to pick up donated vehicles for Miles Through Time Automotive Museum, which, amazingly enough, has sent me all over the country. Unfortunately, I’m usually pressed for time, but I try my best to visit what I can.

I had an opportunity to visit the Midwest Dream Car Collection during one of my cross-country trips, and it did not disappoint. The museum was founded by Ward and Brenda Morgan, whom I have not had the opportunity to meet, but their Curator Doug Meloan is a stud.

I’ve known Doug for years through NAAM and Midwest Dream Car Collection is younger than the Automotive Museum Guide, so I’ve been able to watch it grow. If you want to see a wide array of absolutely beautiful cars, visit this museum. 

I look for any excuse to send me back. I even got to drive Doug’s convertible Cadillac. If you’ve never driven a couch in a boat with the top down, you’re missing out.

The Automotive Addiction is another museum I got to visit during one of my trips. This museum is the absolute closest actual creation to what I intended Miles Through Time Automotive Museum to originally be.

I got to have dinner with the founder, Iyar Koren, who is a great guy. I let him know he took my idea, but executed it way better. The museum is pretty much all privately stored cars in a mall. Owners have access to their cars, and visitors can visit through the mall.

The only difference between what I did and Iyar, is he opened the museum in a heavily populated and high-traffic area with a substantial amount of financial backing, and I didn’t. 😉 I loved visiting and seeing how well the concept was working.

Bill’s Backyard Classics is one I have not been able to visit yet. The museum is the private collection of Bill and Linda Pratt. There are over 90 vehicles in the collection ranging from 1920 to 2012. If you like cars, this museum is worth a visit.

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.

There is always some sort of milestone that can be achieved. Sometimes, you may not even realize it’s a milestone until it happens. On Saturday, I hit a milestone with Miles Through Time Automotive Museum.

I was able to bring a donated car from the museum to an event. You may assume I could do this all the time, but the reality is, it’s a ton of work.

The event I went to was the AACA Winter National. This event was special because I was specifically invited along with Savoy Automobile Museum, Georgia Racing Hall of Fame and The Coker Museum at Honest Charley.

Being one of the 4 automotive museums represented in the region was an honor, especially since the other three museums are great. It is difficult for me to be able to do things like this though.

Despite the show only being an hour away from where I live, the location is over two hours away from where Miles Through Time is, and I’m an hour away from Miles Through Time. Still, roughly 5 hours of driving isn’t too terrible.

Getting vehicles in and out of the museum can be a bit challenging. I chose to take our ’74 BMW 2002 simply because it was nimble to drive around and is a very nice example with a story that fits the museum perfectly.

Of course, when I started the car a few weeks ago to ensure it was good to go, I discovered the fuel pump leaked, which was about $220 to replace, but I was able to do it myself.

This time of the year in Georgia, pollen coats everything. In no time, the Malaga (burgundy) colored BMW was yellow. Cleaning was futile while it remained outside.

In the end, for a simple 7-hour show, I spent over 4 days prepping, fixing, transporting, cleaning and returning the car to the museum on Sunday. I am very glad I finally got to do the show. 

The goal is to be able to do more and hopefully make it to some concourse shows with our 1935 Mathis EMY4S. Transporting the Mathis will be delayed until the museum acquires an enclosed trailer in the future, but that’ll be another milestone.

John and Evelyn Motte hit a huge milestone when they privately founded the Motte Museum through their estate. What started as a produce market in the 8s and 90s is now a museum that shares the history of the pioneer families who first settled in the valley, their antique car collection, and documents the area’s agricultural roots.

Richard Paine collected extraordinary brass vehicles and eventually founded the Seal Cove Auto Museum. He donated some of his vehicles to the museum, but most he owned through his trust. 

Upon his death, the museum’s board was able to work with the trust and ensure an endowment would keep the museum accessible to the public and Paine’s legacy would live on.

The Edge Motor Museum is a unique museum that actually reminds me a little bit of the museum I founded. The majority of the collection is borrowed and Richard Vinning does a fantastic job at running and marketing the museum he founded. 

I had the privilege of meeting him in person during one of my road trips back home, and he’s a super nice guy. Passionate automotive enthusiasts are the best.

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.

For the first three years of Miles Through Time Automotive Museum, I did everything myself. If the museum was open, it’s because I was there. 

My open hours were limited for two main reasons. The first was that I just didn’t have the traffic to justify being open any more than what I already was, which was Wednesday through Saturday, 10 am to 4 pm. 

I noticed very quickly that my sweet spot for visitors was only between Memorial Day and Labor Day. So after year one, the museum was seasonal between May and October.

It was still extremely difficult to keep the museum open, physically, mentally, and financially. Reason number two, for limited hours, was my ability to keep the doors open to the museum. 

For years, outside any kind of event or group, my biggest visitation number was about 10, which was always on a Saturday. Four may come in on Wednesday, nobody on Thursday, and maybe four again on Friday.  

With less than 20 visitors a week at $5 per visitor, the math is easy enough; anyone can see there would be a sustainability problem. I did push through, though, and to put things into perspective, last Saturday the museum had more visitors than I used to get in a month.

Now, I have the ability to keep the museum open 7 days a week all year long, but I’ll be honest with you, even today, with everything I do to get people to visit, we still have slow days, where the visitation numbers don’t justify being open.

Luckily, we’re open 7 days a week, primarily because of Vintage Garage Antiques. The ability to keep the museum open with the same hours as the antique store is a bonus. 

There are so many different ways to create an automotive museum; we have no way of really knowing their struggles. Unless, of course, you volunteer to help.

There are a lot of automotive museums with seasonal hours. This could be staffing constraints, weather, seasonal tourist locations, etc. In the end, it is smart. It’s better to be open for shorter periods of time and be able to keep the doors open than try to stay open so much that it hurts the museum.

The Corvair Museum of America isn’t open seasonally, but they have adjusted their open hours to accommodate their current ability while they still work towards growth. 

The Saab Heritage Car Museum USA will open for the season in April. I’m a fan of old Saabs; they look cool, and this museum has over 100 of them. Including some very rare Saabs from the GM Heritage Collection.

This last museum is open seasonally as well, May through October, and it is mainly due to weather. The Motion Unlimited Museum is a museum, but they also have a ton of other collectible items and vehicles, both inside and outside, which can be purchased. They’ve got a 1940 White Horse Milk van that looks awesome.

I’ve driven across the country enough times with the intention of visiting as many automotive museums as I could, with the limited time I had, to know it is impossible to visit them all in one trip.

I’m still very disappointed I didn’t get to visit the Woodland Auto Museum on my trip back to Georgia, driving the donated e21 BMW. I literally drove right by the museum. I saw their sign and the building, but it was about 3 am, and I had just started my drive back.

My advice is always to double-check museum hours directly with the museum. Depending on the museum, it may be worth reaching out if your visit falls outside their regular hours. You never know if they can accommodate your visit, but if they can’t, hopefully you get another opportunity in the future.

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.

Free automotive museums are great. There are not that many options, but there are a few, usually with limited hours, and in most cases, donations are encouraged or at least greatly appreciated. 

Like everything else in the world, there are always exceptions. For the vast majority of the world’s automotive museums, admission is a necessity. At Miles Through Time Automotive Museum, we inevitably have someone come in and give us a hard time about being charged to look at some “old cars.”   

I would say 95% of the time, this is exactly how it is phrased. “I don’t need to pay to look at a bunch of old cars, most of which I used to own.” 

It used to bother me when people didn’t understand what I was trying to do with the museum. A room with a few old cars is about as far from the reality of the museum as you can get and still refer to the cars.

Anymore, I’d rather the people who complain before they even enter the museum, not even go in. Within the last two weeks, we had a guy complain about the price, but ultimately he still went into the museum.

Two hours later, he came out and said, where is the rest of it? Apparently, 130 full-size vehicles, 5,000+ model cars and hundreds of other historical artifacts in four separate galleries was still not enough. 

It’s okay though, because the positive interactions and feedback completely drowned out the random negative ones from people who I believe their default on life is just set to ornery. 

The more people that visit the museum and enjoy it, means there is more potential for ornery people to also visit, and that’s okay. I’d love it if I was in a financial position to fund a 100,000 square foot building full of automotive and historical artifacts and allow visitors from all over the world to view everything completely for free.

The reality is, I can’t and neither can most other automotive museums. In fact, revenue generated from admission is almost never enough to cover the operating expenses of a museum. 

Most museums have to have another source of revenue. From a benefactor would be nice. Sales, storage, events, donations are all the common alternative sources. I created Vintage Garage Antiques, which acts as a giant gift shop for the museum, but without it there would be no Miles Through Time Automotive Museum.

My goal, and I believe most other nonprofit automotive museums’ goals, are to keep admission as low as possible, but at the same time, keep the museum open. There is no point in keeping admission so low that the museum cannot operate. 

All the museums this week had to have their admissions updated. Between hours, admission and just ensuring automotive museums are still open, that is why I send this email every week.

The RV Hall of Fame Museum was the first museum that was actually brought to my attention by a user. I had not updated the museum for almost three years and in that time the museum had to increase their admission. 

I have not been to this museum in person, but it looks amazing. I don’t think you need to be a fan of camping or RVing to be impressed and learn something.

The Cole Land Transportation Museum was another museum where three years had passed by, and in that time admission was increased $2. This museum was founded by Galen Cole, who passed away in 2020, and six years later the museum is still operating and being enjoyed by visitors from all over.

The Shelby American Collection also increased their admission over the last two years since I visited. At the time, admission was only $5, which was about as low as admission ever gets before just being free. 

Today, admission is $10, still low on the overall spectrum of museum admission rates, but this museum also doubled in size to help justify the increase. If you’re a Shelby fan, this place will be your heaven.

If you ever see anything that needs to be updated in the guide, let me know. Some of the museums are good about sending me updates, but others I’ve never had any contact with, and may not know of updates until I audit them with this email.

Keeping everything as up to date as possible is important, but ultimately, the Automotive Museum Guide is just the gateway to finding the museums to visit. It is always recommended to learn more and verify hours, admission, location and if they are still open by verifying with the museums directly.

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.