LeMay – America’s Car Museum not only hosts a Super Street Show of modified Japanese and European cars from 10 a.m. until 2 p.m. on August 11, but from 10 a.m. until 5 p.m. that day and on August 12, museum visitors can watch Akira Nakai, artist and founder of Rauh-Welt Begriff RWB, complete his RWB Seattle No. 5 car project in the museum’s Showcase Gallery.
Nakai, who will be visiting Tacoma, Washington, from his workshop in Japan, specializes in modifying Porsche 911s using Japanese and European tuning elements.
For details, visit the museum website.
Rhode Island museum features GM concept cars
“Styling the Future: A History of GM Design & Concept Cars,” an exhibit featuring a dozen General Motors concept vehicles, runs from August 3 until November 11 at the Audrain Automobile Museum in Newport, Rhode Island.
Co-curated by author and historian Donald Osborne, “this exhibition highlights the many engineering, design, and human advancements that were completed behind the scenes in order to create these unique automobiles,” the museum said in its announcement, adding that this will be the first time such cars are being shown together and on the East Coast.
The cars are being loaned to the museum by the General Motors Heritage Center and the Lingenfelter Collection.
AACA Museum offers C8 Corvette raffle
The AACA Museum in Hershey, Pennsylvania, is offering a 2020 C8 Chevrolet Corvette as the top prize in a raffle, offering 2,000 tickets at $50 each. The car will be delivered through the Klick Lewis dealership and the winner can select the car’s exterior and interior colors. Proceeds from the raffle benefit the museum.
For details, visit the museum’s website.
25 years, 25 Corvettes on display
Through September, the National Corvette Museum in Bowling Green, Kentucky, is celebrating its 25th anniversary with a special exhibition of 25 epochal Corvettes and special artifacts, including the original neon sign that publicized the museum when it was still in its planning stage and the original 3D architect’s proposal for the museum building.
Among the cars displayed are the Manta Ray concept, the only ZR-12 and the first car donated to the museum, Ray Quinlan’s 1953 roadster.
Art show celebrates speed
The Dulwich Picture Gallery in South London, England has opened an art exhibition focused on speed as captured by the Grosvenor School of Modern Art in the late 1920s.
Fittingly, that school was founded by an artist named Claude Flight, who noted in 1925 that, “Time seems to pass so quickly nowadays. Everybody is in a hurry… this speeding up of life in general is one of the interesting and psychologically important features of today.”
Flight made it an artistic mission to capture and celebrate that speed. The work of Flight and his students is captured in the exhibit and in an article illustrated with examples of their work in the Summer 2019 edition of Goodwood Magazine.
The exhibit, “Cutting Edge: Modernist British Printmaking,” runs through September 8.
Student cars on display at Ferrari museum
The Ferrari Museum in Maranello, Italy has opened a special exhibition of experimental vehicles made by local students for the international “Solar Challenge” series of competitions. The competitions lead up to the Bridgstone World Solar challenge 2019 taking place in Australia in October. The exhibition runs through August 15.
Special events this weekend
LeMay – America’s Car Museum in Tacoma, Washington, hosts “Cars & Cigars Miami Nights” on August 2.
Autobooks-Aerobooks in Burbank, California, hosts George Levy, author with Pete Biro of F1 Mavericks: The Men and Machines that Revolutionized Formula 1 Racing from 10 a.m. until 2 p.m. on August 2.
On August 3, the British Motor Museum will be the site of the Classic Mini Mosaic world-record attempt that is expected to draw more than 600 classic Minis. The following day, the museum will be the site of the National Metro & Mini Show.
Electric supercars will be featured August 3-4 when the National Motor Museum at Beaulieu hosts its Supercar Weekend. EV Evolution will be a new feature at the show, which also expects several hundred petroleum-powered exotic machines.
The Seal Cove Auto Museum in Maine will feature its unrestored 1906 Cadillac at a special “survivor” cars show beginning at 9 a.m. with a visit by barn-find expect and author Tom Cotter from 11 a.m. until mid-afternoon on August 3.
The Gilmore Car Museum in Hickory Corners, Michigan, stages its annual Red Barns Spectacular car show on August 3. More than 1,200 vehicles are expected, including special displays by the Tin Can Tourists and of antique boats and bicycles, as well as 380 swap-meet vendors.
For the final day of its microcars exhibit, the California Automobile Museum in Sacramento will offer free admission from 10 a.m. until noon on August 4.
Mark your calendar
The BMW Museum in Germany offers special tours of BMW Group Classic daily except Mondays from August 6-30. Normally closed except on Saturdays, the Classic section will be open for guided tours at 2 p.m. (in German) and at 4 p.m. (in English).
August 9-11 is VW T Chill Weekend at the National Motor Museum in Beaulieu, England, where VW Transporter owners will be camping out in their vehicles. The weekend includes a cruise to Buckler’s Head and other family-oriented activities.
David Hobbs and Will Buxton will take part in the Demo Day scheduled for August 10 at the Simeone Foundation Automotive Museum in Philadelphia. Hobbs will sign his book, Hobbo: Motor Racer, Motor Mouth and Buxton will autograph his My Greatest Defeat, a collection of insights from 20 racing drivers.
Autobooks-Aerobooks in Burbank, California, hosts author B.S. Levy and The Last Open Road audio-book version (re-imagined as a 1950s radio play) from 10 a.m. until 2 p.m. on August 10.
As part of its Rally Car exhibit, the North East Motor Sports Museum in Loudon, New Hampshire, will host Tim O’Neil, rally champion and founder of the Team O’Neil Rally School, who will discuss the history of rallying, talk about how to become involved and will do a walk-around featuring a rally car from 1 p.m. to 3:30 p.m. on August 11.
The California Automobile Museum in Sacramento stages its annual Monterey Car Week Cruise-in to visit the Classic Motorsports car show in Pacific Grove on August 13.
August 14 is the deadline to submit a pledge toward the effort by the Studebaker National Museum in South Bend, Indiana, to bid on the 1931 Hunt-Jenkins Special Indy racer that will be offered for sale at Gooding & Company’s Pebble Beach auction. Pledges can be submitted by email to [email protected].
The AACA Museum in Hershey, Pennsylvania, stages its Cars 4 Critters show on August 17 from 8:30 a.m. until 10:30 a.m. featuring sports and exotic cars and raising money for Speranza Animal Rescue.
The National Motor Museum at Beaulieu, England, hosts its inaugural “Simply Mercedes” on August 18.
The British Motor Museum stages its sixth “Buses Festival” on August 18, with visitors exploring around 100 restored, vintage and modern buses, even riding on routes around the Gaydon area.
The National Corvette Museum Motorsports Park in Bowling Green, Kentucky, celebrates its fifth anniversary August 19-20 with special high-performance drivers education programs.
The Indianapolis Motor Speedway Museum organizes a road trip on August 20 when the museum’s Shop Tour Series visits Don Schumacher Racing, the winningest team in National Hot Rod Association drag racing history, in Brownsburg, Indiana.
The California Automobile Museum in Sacramento stages a launch part for its “British Invasion” exhibition from 6 p.m. to 9 p.m. on August 22.
The Automotive Hall of Fame in Dearborn, Michigan, is the site of a cars and coffee gathering on August 24.
The National Corvette Museum in Bowling Green, Kentucky, inducts racer Briggs Cunningham, Corvette designer Tom Peters, and Dollie Cole, Corvette enthusiast and widow of former GM president Ed Cole, into its hall of fame on August 30.
The Indianapolis Motor Speedway Museum hosts the second act of its “From Dirt Tracks to the Brickyard” interactive panel discussion on September 3. From 4 p.m. to 6 p.m., Mel and Don Kenyon, Chad Boat, Michael Pickens, Chris Windom and historian Pat Sullivan will discuss U.S. Auto Club racing history and current storylines.
“Golden Oldies” will be featured September 7-8 at the International Autojumble at the National Motor Museum of England at Beaulieu. The category is open to pre-1970 classic and vintage vehicles. This is the first time such cars will be featured at the jumble.
The British Motor Museum at Gaydon hosts the ninth annual Retro Truck Show on September 7-8 and expects around 400 classic and modern trucks produced between 1970 and 2000 to be displayed.
The Crawford Auto-Aviation Museum hosts a special Crawford, Coffee & Cars event from 8 a.m. until 11 a.m. on September 11 at the Western Reserve Historical Society Preservation & Restoration Facility in Macedonia, Ohio.
The Mustang Owner’s Museum in Concord, North Carolina, hosts a 1969 Mustang Reunion on September 20-21 featuring a special display of ’69 Mustangs, a cruise to Petty’s Garage and a ’69 Mustng car show.
The AACA Museum in Hershey, Pennsylvania, will present its Automotive Heritage Award to Carlisle Events founders Bill Miller Jr. and the late Elliot “Chip” Miller at the Night at the Museum gala October 9.
“Legends of Speed,” a showcase of nearly two dozen historic racing cars, opens November 2 at the Phoenix Art Museum.
Does your local car museum have special events or exhibitions planned? Let us know. Email [email protected].
