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

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