The Weekly 3

The price of admission is always a subject of debate. It is also one of the most common updates to museums listed in the Automotive Museum Guide.

When I started Miles Through Time Automotive Museum in 2017 with one car, I set the admission rate to $5. Granted, the museum didn’t remain a one-car museum for long, but an argument could be made that admission was not worth $5, at least for a while. 

Five dollar admission was never going to pay the utility bill. In fact, it barely covered the cost of the internet, and yet admission stayed at $5 for three years. The museum kept improving, and the collection changed and grew, despite still topping out at less than 30 vehicles on display.

Since 2017, the museum has moved once (become larger), and expanded twice. MTT averages about 140 full-size vehicles on display at any given time and more than 5,000 scale models. Plus, all the other historical and interesting artifacts.

With this amount of growth in almost ten years, the expense to operate has increased exponentially. I’ve wanted to keep the price of admission as low as possible, but also stay in line with an amount that will help keep the doors open. 

Today, the price of admission is $16 for adults. I’ve seen first-hand people get huffy and refuse to pay. I’ve seen people pay and still remain upset at the price of admission. I’ve also seen people pay without blinking and eye. I’ve seen people hesitant about the price and then change their minds after visiting, and I’ve even had people tell me we could charge more.

I’ve learned over the years that I can’t make everyone happy. All I can do is try to create the best experience possible with the resources I have. I can also tell you with certainty that no museum generates enough operating income from admission alone.

There is a limit to what people will pay and what they expect. If visitor attendance remained the same, but admission was $100, I could actually hire museum staff, but, that is too much. Attendance would drop significantly, and those who did pay would probably leave disappointed, which would lead to the closure of the museum.

There are a handful of automotive museums in the USA you can visit for free. These museums are great for visitors to be able to get out and do something, see some cool stuff and not have it cost them anything.

I love free, but the only issue I have with free museums, isn’t necessarily with the museum, but what it does to the visitor’s perspective. Obviously not all, but some people struggle to understand why they could visit one museum for free and another one may be $20.

I’ve witnessed this logic firsthand, and I’ve also seen it with museums that allow their visitors to touch and get in their vehicles. Once a visitor has experienced it one way, it is sometimes hard to justify something different.

The problem is the average visitor has no clue there are different types of museums or what it takes to even keep the doors open for visitors. Again, I’ve witnessed the assumption firsthand, that visitors assume the museum is just some rich guy’s collection of cars. 

They also assume stuff can be purchased, which typically preloads the unwillingness to pay to visit. These are also usually the same people that tell me they’ve owned everything we have on display over the years, which I always find hilarious, considering we have some one of ones. 

Plus, Jeff Lane from Lane Motor Museum has donated so many of his extra weird cars. I can guarantee most people have no idea what they are.

The price of admission is not set in stone, and it is one of the most common updates I have to make to museums all over the world. If the museum does not have a strong alternative source of revenue, i.e. vehicle sales, storage, memberships, donations, events, endowments or just a wealthy benefactor. It is very important to manage admission as best as possible to prevent the museum’s closure, which happens way too often.

Free is great, but there are also museums you can visit that have special VIP tours that can cost upwards of $80. Nostalgia Street Rods is a museum you can visit with a regular admission of $21.95, but you can splurge on the VIP 1 on 1 tour for $81.19.

Wheels of Yesteryear is another automotive museum that has broken the $20 admission threshold. You’ll see over 100 hot rods and muscle cars on display that took over 45 years of collecting to grow to such a massive number.

If $20+ admission is too much to justify, you can visit the National Automotive & Truck Museum of the United States. At only $12 admission, you’ll see over 250 vehicles. I’ve been to this museum, and they’ve got some cool cars to see, plus you can visit the Auburn Cord Duesenburg Automobile Museum right next door.

Every single museum in the world is different. How the museum was created, how it operates, what is on display, and where it’s located is different from every other museum. This is why automotive museums cannot be compared to each other. 

You can rank them based on your preferences, and I recommend you do that. The only way to truly rank them is to visit them. 😉

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

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