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.