Valentine’s Day weekend events at automotive museums

On Saturday, the Gilmore Car Museum, located in Hickory Corners, Michigan, invites enthusiast’s to “Beer our Valentine” at the Pint with the Past fundraising event from 7 to 10 p.m. Tickets can be purchased online for $35 per person or $40 at the door.

The Petersen Automotive Museum is holding a photography day on Saturday in addition to a book signing with automotive artist Harold Cleworth. The museum hosts a movie-night showing of The Last Great Road Race on February 17 followed by Enzo Ferrari’s birthday cruise-in.

Next weekend at the museum is the BRE 50^th Anniversary reunion where racer and car designer Peter Brock will be on site giving a history presentation, including a question and answer session with the team, and a BRE Team autograph session.

The Simeone Automotive Museum in Philadelphia holds its Daytona Demo Day at noon Saturday. The vehicles being demonstrated include a 1922 Paige 6-66 Daytona Speedster, 1953 Hudson Hornet, 1964 Shelby Daytona Coupe, 1970 Plymouth Superbird and a 1987/88 Bill Elliott NASCAR Ford Thunderbird.

The first class in a six-part series on the foundations of automotive photography takes place at the Simeone museum March 5. The first class focuses on exposure; April 16 will look at composition; June 4 will be about lenses and filters; July 30 will be principles of white balance, color, temperature and backlighting; the September 17 class will focus on flash fundamentals; and the October 29 class will deal with capturing speed.

On Saturday, the Blackhawk Museum in Danville, California, kicks off its speaker series with racer George Follmer talking about the 50th anniversary of the Can-Am series. The next discussion in the speaker series is scheduled for April 2 with Wayne Carini from “Chasing Classic Cars,” followed by Allen Grant discussing the 1965 Shelby Team Driver.

The Blackhawk holds a Star Wars kids camp  February 15, and the museum showcases 14 hot rods and street rods from 1932-1973 as part of its American Muscle exhibit, which runs through March 25.

On Sunday, February 21, members of the Ferrari Club of America and the Alfa Romeo Association of Northern California will gather to celebrate Enzo Ferrari’s Birthday from 8 to 11 a.m. at the museum.

From May 15 through 21, well-known automotive photographer Brenda Priddy  will lead a group of enthusiasts on a tour of Cuba to experience the cars, culture, sights and history. The tour begins in Miami, where participants will board a direct flight to Havana. Upon arrival, participants are set to visit the home of Ernest Hemingway and other museums, with a focus on the car culture of Cuba. To participate, email Brenda Priddy at [email protected].

Celebrate Valentine’s day at the Auburn Cord Duesenberg Automobile Museum, located in Auburn Indiana, with jazz, wine and cheese from 1 to 4 p.m. on Sunday. “This is a great way to share your love for automobiles, art, history, or our community with your loved ones,” said Kendra Klink, Chief Operating Officer of the ACD museum.  Tickets are available now and can be purchased at the door.  Prices are $35 per person and $30 per museum member.

The museum has begun a crowdfunding campaign on GoFundMe.com to raise money for its collections fund, which will be used for an engine rebuild of the museum’s 1931 Auburn 8-98 used for education.

On Monday, guests of the AACA museum in Hershey, Pennsylvania, will be able to build their own “Kissmobile” at the museum. The museum also has an exhibit through April 30 titled “Pioneers in African-American Auto History.” The exhibit presents a history of the African-American community’s impact on the automotive industry.

The Owls Head Transportation Museum in Owls Head, Maine, is offering free winter school-vacation-week activities for February 15-19. The series is designed for kids ages 6-14. The schedule of activities can be found online.

The museum also continues its Winter Education Series on February 27 with former Group 44 driver John “Mac” McComb presenting “the Greatest Race Car Driver You’ve Never Heard Of;” March 26 with David Percival, sidecar motorcycle racer and owner of DP Motorsport, presenting “Sidecar Racing;” and April 30 with writer and museum professional Mark Wilkins presenting “The Lafayette Escadrille.”

“Museum in Motion” tours by the National Corvette Museum in Bowling Green, Kentucky, have begun. The next tours include a visit to Tucson, Arizona, on March 7-12; the Tail of the Dragon tour May 1-4; and the Marble and Glass tour through New England from May 19-22.

The museum also has opened registration for the Michelin NCM Bash, which will be held April 28-30. Attendees will be able to get up close to the next-model-year Corvette as well as hear from the engineers and designers of the car.

The museum holds its seventh annual “One lap of Kentucky” fundraising event in October over the course of three weeks: October 11-15, 18-22 and 25-29. The event previously has been a one-day Corvette excursion led by the state troopers, but the event this year is open to enthusiasts of all different years, makes, and models, and it is a multi-day drive visiting Kentucky’s significant landmarks.

The NCM Motorsports Park has a Michelin TrackX day planned for February 27. The day is autocross style, although there are no classes and the runs are not timed. Later, NASA Great Lakes region will hold an open test day at the track March 18, followed by a full NASA weekend March 19-20.

The California Automobile Museum in Sacramento is holding Beer Prom, a “radical night of craft beer tasting” from 5:30-9:30 p.m. on March 4. The museum encourages attendees to dress in ’80s-themed attire.

The museum also has three car-themed tours scheduled. The first is March 12-20 and takes enthusiasts to Florida for visits to the Amelia Island Concours, Daytona Speedway, the Dezer Collection and Walt Disney World.  The next trip is May 14-21 and goes to Cuba. The third trip goes to France from June 15-24 for the 24 hours of Le Mans, including a celebration of the 50th anniversary of Ford’s victory and the 25th anniversary of Mazda’s victory in the race.