Gilmore museum bids farewell to its sports cars exhibit

The Gilmore Car Museum says “Farewell to Sports Cars” this Sunday from noon to 2 p.m. as the museum’s exhibit, the Golden Age of Sports Cars, ends. The exhibit featured two-dozen rare and sought-after cars like Janis Joplin’s 1964 Porsche 356, Nicholas Cage’s 1967 Ferrari 275/GTB 4, a 1955 Mercedes-Benz “gullwing” 300SL and a 1967 Shelby Cobra 427.

On Sunday, the car owners will be on hand to mingle with visitors and at 2 p.m. the cars will be driven out of the museum.

The exhibit will be replaced with “Designed for Delivery: The Early American Truck,” opening May 20 and is set to highlight 20 of the most iconic pickup trucks produced from the turn of the 20th century through the 1960s.

Car shows –

Sunday, Muscle Car City holds its monthly flea market in Punta Gorda, Florida, from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m.

Also on Sunday, the Petersen Automotive Museum in Los Angeles hosts a Japanese Cruise-In & Tech Day Car Meet with Super Street magazine from 8 a.m. to noon. All Japanese makes and models are welcome.

Additionally, this Sunday, a convoy of more than 40 iconic Ford Mustangs are set to appear during the Simply Ford car show held at the British Motor Museum. The Ford show also celebrates the 50th anniversary of the Ford Escort Mk1. Then, on May 14, the museum holds its Gaydon Spring Classic, open to cars 20 years and older, followed by a show for historic emergency vehicles, The 999 Show, held May 29.

The Blackhawk Museum in the San Francisco Bay area hosts the fourth annual Carroll Shelby Memorial Classic Car Show on May 13.

The Gilmore Car Museum starts its weekly Wednesday night cruise-in series on May 3 and holds the second annual Donald Gilmore Pre-1942 Showcase Driving Tour and Car Show on May 19-20.

The Auburn Cord Duesenberg Museum’s next Cars and Coffee gathering on the Plaza is set for May 20, with similar events scheduled June 17, July 15, August 19 and September 16. Each event is free, takes place from 9 a.m. to 11 a.m. and is open to all vehicles: classic, exotic, muscle and favorite cars.

The Toyota Automobile Museum in Japan will hold its 28th Classic Car Festival, on Sunday, May 28 at the Aichi Expo Memorial Park in Nagakute City, Aichi Prefecture. The festival includes a parade of privately owned Japanese, U.S., and European classic cars – 1987 or earlier – held on public roads in the area.

The California Automobile Museum in Sacramento holds its 8th annual Vets and Vettes American Muscle car show May 29 from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m.

The Corvette Homecoming and Chevy International car show hosted by the National Corvette Museum is June 1-3 in Bowling Green, Kentucky. Ken Lingenfelter will be grand marshal. Anniversaries will be celebrated for cars produced in 1957, 1967, 1977, 1987 and 1997.

June 24 from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. in the National Automobile Museum in Reno, Nevada holds the Women with Wheels Car Show. The event is exclusively for women entrants.

It’s not just cars –

The Auburn Cord Duesenberg Automobile Museum stages Trivia Night on May 5 at 7 p.m., offering a $200 prize to the winning team of eight or fewer members. Participation is $15 and attendees are encouraged to arrive early to see the museum’s galleries and exhibits.

America on Wheels in Allentown, Pennsylvania, holds its 3rd annual Heavy Equipment Petting Zoo on May 6 from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m., with children free to touch and experience all sorts of large construction-style vehicles

The Petersen offers its first “after-hours” vault tour on May 12 from 6 p.m. to 10 p.m. Guest DJ Sam Kofa will be in attendance and complimentary cocktails presented by Dulce Vida Spirits. Tours run at 6:30 and 7:30 with a focus on Italian design & innovation.

On May 14, Mother’s Day, the AACA museum in Pennsylvania will offer free admission along with a complimentary rose for the first 100 moms to visit.

The Simeone Foundation Museum in Philadelphia holds a fundraiser gala event and auction on May 20 from 6:30 to 11 p.m. featuring a reception and dinner. The gala will benefit the SAFETY program, a non-profit organization committed to addressing the number one cause of death for America’s teens, automobile crashes.

America’s Automotive Trust, dedicated to securing the future of the collector car hobby, holds “Fast & Furious, the 2017 Wheels & Heels Annual Gala” on June 3 followed by “Cars & Cigars” on July 28, and the “Summer Ender Fender Bender” on Sept. 9, all at LeMay – America’s Car Museum in Tacoma, Washington.

The 28th Annual National Sprint Car Hall of Fame induction festivities will be held June 2-3. Drivers – Dave Darland, Tony Elliott and Terry McCarl; Owners-Mechanics-Builders-Manufacturers-Car Sponsors – Guy Forbrook and John Singer; Promoters-Officials-Media Members-Event/Series Sponsors – Doug Auld and Pat Sullivan; and Pre-1945 Era – Earl Cooper are being indicted.

Educational Opportunities –

This weekend the National Corvette Museum Bash takes place in Bowling Green, Kentucky. The event traditionally marks the rollout of the next model year Corvette. Seminar topics will include “What’s new in the 2018 model year?”  GM engineers and designers from Warren Tech Center and the Bowling Green Assembly Plant will be onsite to answer questions.

The National Automobile Museum holds a discussion on Saturday that will feature national speakers, historians, authors and local scholars addressing a wide variety of topics such as the Iran hostage crisis, foreign policy, the impact of the ’70s on our modern-day world, the auto industry and even a humorous look at the decade’s culture, including fashion.

Owls Head Transportation Museum in Maine presents its final Winter Education Series program of the season on Saturday with a presentation on Katharine Wright, the independent and worldly sister of the famous Wright Brothers.

The next installment of the Auburn Cord Duesenberg Automobile Museum’s series, If These Cars Could Talk will be held on May 6 at 2 p.m. The car featured is a 1937 Cord 812 Supercharged Phaeton. Shortly after the Museum offers its fifth segment in its Curatorial Spotlight series with “Brothers and Bicycles.” The presentation will be delivered in recognition of National Bicycle Month and will take place on May 16 at 6 p.m.

Travel opportunities –

The National Corvette Museum in Kentucky heads to Seattle for an adventure-filled weekend July 26-30 as part of the Museum in Motion program.

The National Sprint Car Hall of Fame & Museum in Knoxville, Iowa, is raffling an “Australian Sprint Car Vacation.” The winner receives two roundtrip airfares from the United States to Australia, seven nights in a hotel, and two tickets to all three nights of the Grand Annual Sprintcar Classic at Warrnambool. The winner will be selected on August 12 and need not be present to win.

The AACA Museum offers travel opportunities to Cuba from June 2-10; to England, September 1-10; and to Italy, November 3-12.

Cars in motion –

The Lane Motor Museum in Nashville holds a driving experience that allows guests to get behind the wheel of one of the museum’s cars. The experience is available on June 23 and July 7, with each day having two groups of 10 people. Each driver will receive a lesson in how to operate their chosen vehicle and then will approximately 25 miles round trip to Percy Priest Lake and back.

The Simeone Museum holds a Demo Day on May 13 with featured cars like the Alfa Romeo 8C 2300 MM Spider, Alfa Romeo 8C 2300 Monza, and Alfa Romeo 8C 2900B MM Spider.

The Kansas City Automotive Museum holds its 2nd annual Scavenger Cruise on May 13.

The LeMay Marymount in Tacoma, Washington, offers driver education in Ford Model Ts.  From May through September, students can tour the historic 88-acre campus while learning how to drive a Model T.

New exhibits –

The Simeone Foundation Automotive Museum hosts “Mopar or No Car,” an exhibit that runs from June 17-July 9 and is dedicated to the highest-performance race cars from Dodge, Chrysler, Plymouth and SRT.

Through May 29, the California Automobile Museum in Sacramento has a special exhibit showcasing firetrucks.

May 19, the British Motor Museum shows “British Motoring Treasures: the British Motor Car in Fifty Objects.” The exhibition, which will run until March 2018, will showcase the depth and variety of the nationally designated collections held at the museum while telling the story of Britain’s motor industry using fifty key objects.