The Weekly 3

By the end of 2016, I was 32 years old and maybe had been to two car museums in my entire life. I can’t really remember the first one, but the one I remember for sure was Memory Lane Museum in Mooresville, NC.

I had no idea the museum was even there until I bought a trailer at the business next door to move to Georgia. Less than one year after that, I started Miles Through Time Automotive Museum.

I had no clue what I was getting myself into 9 years ago. I did as much research as I could, which then led to a massive side project you know as automotivemuseumguide.com.

Initially, I created the guide with just my first round of research. I didn’t want to waste what I found and thought it would be helpful for visitors to find automotive museums, and helpful for the museums to get found.

Eventually, I scoured the entire internet, adding hundreds of automotive museums to the guide just in North America. Then I turned my attention to the rest of the world and added as many automotive museums globally as I could find.

Creating automotivemuseumguide.com and doing the best I can to maintain it by doing this. Plus, building Miles Through Time Automotive Museum into what it is today, has engulfed my entire life.

I’ve seen a LOT of car museums closed. I’ve seen a bunch of car museums get created. By far my favorite is to watch car museums grow.

Miles Through Time Automotive Museum opened its doors in 2017 and hasn’t stopped growing. From one car to about 30, back down to about 7 then up to 50, then 75 and now averaging 130 full-size vehicles on display at any given time.

Growth comes with many challenges. Even as we keep getting things donated to the museum, it creates issues that need to be solved. If a collection is donated and needs a display cabinet, that costs the museum $550, and we have to find a place for it.

If an additional vehicle is added to the museum, we again have to make it fit, purchase signage, and if it’s donated I will probably go get it, like I did last week.

These are wonderful challenges to have, but no doubt they are challenges. Aside from wanting to ensure the museum has a place to call home forever, and being able to do all the things we need to do as a museum, one of the biggest reasons we are going to have to move the museum is space.

It’s amazing how many square feet can be filled so quickly with automotive history. Miles Through Time has been growing for years, both in size collection and space, but now we’re maxed out.

The only option now is to build our own facility, which will be no small feet, especially since the building needs to be about 100,000 square feet. Before we can even get to the true cost of building, step one is to acquire property, which is no small feat.

The good news is property where the museum will prosper is available. The bad news is property is very expensive. I found this 30 acre site right on the highway, but it’s not a small chunk of money and will require the help of someone with way more financial abilities than I have.

All I need is one person with the right mindset and financial ability to help Miles Through Time Automotive Museum blossom into the future campus. It’s hard to envision how we will get there, but it would have been hard to envision getting to where we are now, eight years ago.

Growth is the absolute best, and speaking of campus, Gilmore Car Museum, is a campus of museums. Gilmore is adding a $3.6 million Performance Car Gallery that looks amazing and will be almost 14,000 square feet. Gilmore is already the biggest car museum, and it doesn’t look like anyone else is going to catch up any time soon.

The National Corvette Museum is adding 30,000 square feet to the museum and a 66,000 square foot collection facility, which will cost over $14 million.

I remember visiting the Keystone Truck and Tractor Museum years ago and at the time they were adding what they call the “Big Room,” which was the addition of 55,000 square feet to bring their total to 125,000 square feet. I haven’t had a chance to go back since, but I would imagine the “big room” is already full.

The last museum I want to share is the Heart of Route 66 Auto Museum. This museum opened the year before Miles Through Time, and although I’ve never had a chance to visit, I’ve always had a connection to this museum, just because of how new they were when I started.

The Heart of Route 66 Auto Museum has been constantly improving, and they recently broke ground on a 5,000 square foot expansion that should be open by the end of the year. I’m sure they would like to increase even more, but sometimes you just need to expand in 5,000 square foot increments.

It’s a wonderful sign when automotive museums are showing growth. It’s important to have great organizations set up to preserve and share automotive history.

It does not matter what automotive museum you choose to support. You can have a favorite, or you can just visit as many as you can, and that helps support them.

I hope someday soon I can share with you the real future site of the Miles Through Time Automotive Museum Campus. Until then, make sure you visit these museums once they reopen with their new spaces.

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.