Car collectors look to McPherson College in Kansas as a source for experts to care for their vehicles, as a source for hands-on training through a summer adult workshop program, and lately also as a source for education through an ongoing online free class in automotive history.
But those collectors give as well as take, and Dano Davis, former owner of Brumos Porsche and founder of the Brumos Collection museum, has announced a $1 million matching-gift fund-raising challenge for the college.
Meanwhile, the Carroll Shelby Foundation has announced a gift of $150,000 to the Children’s Organ Transplant Association’s Hope Fund to provide support for families facing “the financial and emotional challenges of raising a child who needs a life-saving transplant.”
Also, the Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance may have been canceled by the coronavirus pandemic for 2020, but with the help of Lexus, it will continue to help fund the Boys & Girls Clubs of Monterey County.
Lexus is donating a 2021 LS 500 convertible that will be awarded September 13, 2020, through a charity drawing. To participate, visit the drawing website.
According to the McPherson announcement, the gift will support the school’s business curriculum development, student experiences and provide scholarships for students enrolled in the country’s only bachelor’s degree program in historic automotive restoration.
In the announcement, Davis said he became acquainted with the school through students who visited the Brumos Collection on a school-sponsored spring-break trip in 2018. He said he was so impressed that the following year, he attended the annual student-staged car show on the Kansas campus.
“Visiting campus and seeing the commitment of the faculty, staff, and students was inspiring,” Davis is quoted in the announcement. “I knew I wanted to do something to help support not only the technical aspect of their automotive education but also the business side of it.”
In addition to offering its hands-on automotive restoration education, McPherson stresses business education for automotive students, who frequently graduate, work in restoration shops and then at some point launch their own restoration businesses.
“Davis’s $1 million commitment will support developing business workshops that enhance the curriculum in the restoration major and scholarships to students in the restoration management track,” the school said. “The gift allows the program to explore other creative ways for students to experience multiple facets of the collector car world by working with industry professionals to share their knowledge.”
Donations to the matching-gift fund-raising effort can be made through the college’s website.
Meanwhile, the school’s 6-week free online webinar, “Wheels of Change: How the Automobile Shaped Our Lives,” led by Ken Yohn, chair of the college’s department of history and politics, continues July 23. For more information, visit the webinar website.
