The Canadian Automotive Museum in Oshawa, Ontario, has something special planned for September 16. Its Third Thursday lecture series that day will feature “an Evening with Malcolm Bricklin,” chief executive of Visionary Vehicles.
“Malcolm Bricklin is one of the great independent auto entrepreneurs, best known for the ill-fated Canadian-made sports car that shared his name,” the museum said in its announcement.
“Over the years he has marketed and sold a staggering range of automobiles, from Yugos to Subarus to experimental electrics.
“Join CAM Curator Alex Gates, Special Project Coordinator Dumaresq de Pencier, and Mr. Bricklin himself as they discuss the Canadian-made Bricklin SV-1, alternative energy vehicles, and the future of the North American auto market.”
The event will be presented via Zoom and a $10 donation to the museum is suggested as part of the registration process.
Mustang museum gets Ford clay model
The Mustang Owner’s Museum in Concord, North Carolina, has a new exhibit — a clay model of a Mustang from the Ford design department, and more than 80 accompanying photographs.
With Ford opening a new Product Design Center in Dearborn, Michigan, and looking for possible homes for some of the artifacts from the previous studio, a clay model produced in 2013 of the sixth-generation 2015 Mustang was made available to the museum.
It also appears that the Ford design team will use the museum to share information on the creation and development of Mustangs as part of a permanent display.
Saratoga museum hosts car show
The Saratoga Automobile Museum in upstate New York will stage a Summer Auto Show from 9 a.m. until 2 p.m. August 7 at Saratoga State Park. Those registering cars for the show will receive 2 admission tickets to the museum, which will benefit from funds raised at the show.
40th Red Barns Spectacular is August 7
The Kalamazoo Antique Auto Restorers Club presents its 40th Red Barns Spectacular car show August 7 on the grounds of the Gilmore Car Museum in Hickory Corners, Michigan. The event annually draws hundreds of vehicles to be displays amid the historic red barns that dot the museum campus.
“Whether you own a barn-find survivor, resto-mod, classic, hot rod, sports car, fire truck or orphan car from a bygone era, it doesn’t matter,” said Jim Holland, KAARC chairman of the show, which is open to vehicles produced before 1997.
The show is judged, with vehicles in 16 classes. It also includes an 8-acre vendor and swap meet area.
3 museums share membership benefits
The Gilmore Car Museum in Hickory Corners, Michigan, has entered into a partnership with America’s Automotive Trust and its member museums in Pennsylvania and Washington to offer special benefits to those with museum memberships.
“The best way to perpetuate car culture is by working together to break barriers, enhance experiences and offer frictionless ways for passionate enthusiasts to enjoy cars,” America’s Automotive Trust’s chief executive Tabetha Hammer is quoted in the announcement.
“Our ‘On the Road Membership’ and the partnership between these three incredible museums is an important first step in what I believe can become a revolutionizing way we think about and enjoy auto museums in the future.”
Under the partnership, members of each participating museum — the Gilmore, the LeMay – America’s Car Museum in Tacoma, Washington, and America On Wheels in Allentown, Pennsylvania — receive free admission at the other museums and a 10 percent discount at the museum gift shops.
“We’re thrilled that our Gilmore members will be able to enjoy memorable visits to these other spectacular destinations when traveling throughout the country,” Josh Russell, executive director of the Gilmore, is quoted in the news release. “It’s a terrific benefit for our valued members, who should also plan to join us when America’s Automotive Trust’s The Drive Forward rally stops for a celebration at the Gilmore campus in Hickory Corners on Friday, September 17th.”
“The Drive Home: Great American Family Road Trip” is the resumption of a cross-country drive in vintage vehicles to the North American International Auto Show, being held this year in the fall in Detroit.
This year The Drive Home is part of the Rally Across America and its effort to raise money for local charities.
Summer in swing at El Segundo
“Summer Swing Nights: Back to the Museum” return to the Automobile Driving Museum in El Segundo, California, on August 14 with live entertainment by The Swing Tones and special guest Antonia Bennett, and by the Los Angeles Swing Dance Posse with Chester Whitmore. Free swing-dance lessons are included with admission.
MoMA advertises full page in NYT
It’s not unusual to be paging through the A section of the Sunday New York Times and finding an advertisement for WeatherTech (this past week it was a quarter-page ad about the company’s sunshade for your windshield). And since we’re heading to Pebble Beach, there also was an ad (1/8 page) from Gooding & Company about its collector car auction on the Monterey Peninsula.
But even more impressive was the full-page advertisement for the Museum of Modern Art. The ad was dominated by a photograph of a Porsche 911 displayed in the museum courtyard as part of its Automania exhibition. Automania was supposed to open in late June 2020 but as delayed by the pandemic. It finally opened July 4, 2021 and is to remain open through January 2, 2022.
And wouldn’t it be nice if other museums — or their benefactors — could benefit from the placement of prominent advertisements about their exhibitions?
Brooklands celebrates first British GP anniversary
On August 7, the Brooklands Museum in the UK will celebrate the 95th anniversary of the first British Grand Prix race with a showcase featuring cars from each decade from the 1920s to the 2910s. That first British GP race was held on the Brooklands circuit in 1926. The track was invited to host a race after Henry Segrave won the French Grand Prix in 1923, “putting Britain on the motorsport map,” the Brooklands Museum notes.
Among the cars being featured this weekend are a Delage 15-S-8 that raced in that first British Grand Prix, as well as a 1928 Aston Martin LM1, 1960 Cooper Climax, and 2013 Mercedes F1 W04.
Small-block secrets at Corvette anniversary event
Something new is being added to the roster of events taking place as part of the National Corvette Museum’s 27th anniversary celebration September 2-4. At a dinner event September 2, Bowling Green assembly plant manager Kai Spande host a panel discussion about “Small Block Power” featuring Jordan Lee, global chief engineer for the famed Chevy small-block V8, and Dick Ruzzin, former Chevrolet and GM Europe director of design.
Special events this weekend
August 6 is “Fun Day” at the Lane Motor Museum in Nashville, Tennessee, where there will be special vault tours and demonstrations of museum exhibit items.
“Mercedes 1955 — Beat the Odds” is the title of the Demo Day vehicle exercise program scheduled for August 7 at the Simeone Foundation Automotive Museum in Philadelphia, where a 1955 Mercedes-Benz 300SL Gullwing, a 1954 Ferrari 375MM Spider, a 1956 Jaguar D-type and a 1955 Maserati 300S will be exercised in the museum parking lot between 10 a.m. and 2 p.m.
The Avanti Owners Association International will be the featured marque August 7 at the monthly cars and coffee gathering at the Studebaker National Museum in South Bend, Indiana.
It’s Supercar Weekend August 7-8 at the National Motor Museum at Beaulieu, England, where more than 900 of the world’s highest-performance vehicles are set for show, for demonstration runs and for “sound-off” competition.
The New England Vipers car club shows its cars August 8 at the Newport Car Museum in Rhode Island.
Mark your calendar
“Building a Better Humvee” is the title of a presentation scheduled for 1:30 p.m. August 11 at the Studebaker National Museum in South Bend, Indiana. The event features Col. H. Donald Capps (US Army retired).
The Stingray Grill, the remodeled cafe at the National Corvette Museum in Bowling Green, Kentucky, opens August 12.
The Petersen Automotive Museum is staging another virtual car week event on its YouTube channel August 12-14. Online tours of several museums — including one in Germany — and private car collections are planned, as are interviews about the future of the car-collecting hobby
The Indianapolis Motor Speedway Museum has special hours during the Brickyard weekend August 13-15, when access and parking also will be altered, with those entering after 1 p.m. also needing a Brickyard admission ticket. There is an exception, however, for the 100 cars registered for the Special Edition IMS Museum Cars & Coffee that runs from 8 a.m. to 11 a.m. on August 14.
The Indy museum also hosts long-time broadcaster Paul Page for a book signing of Hello, I’m Paul Page: It’s Race Day in Indianapolis.
It’s a “Hoods Up” weekend August 14-15 at the Newport Car Museum in Rhode Island.
The National Motor Museum at Beaulieu, England, celebrates the life of “the voice of Formula 1,” broadcaster Murray Walker, on August 14 with an evening event that features iconic 2- and 4-wheel racing vehicles.
More than 450 vintage vehicles are expected for the “Classic and Vintage Commercial Show” scheduled for August 14-15 at the British Motor Museum in Gaydon. That, along with a vintage commercial vehicle swap meet, takes place outside. Inside the museum will be two large model vehicle shows featuring the National Association of Road Transport Modellers.
The Mustang Owner’s Museum in Concord, North Carolina, is organizing a road trip to the Woodward Dream Cruise in the northern Detroit suburbs. Cars will gather in Dayton, Ohio, on August 17, visit the Gale Halderman Museum, and then head to Dearborn, Michigan.
The Owls Head Transportation Museum in Maine hosts and also benefits from the 43rd annual New England Auto Auction August 18-21.
Opening August 19 at the Crawford Auto-Aviation Museum in Cleveland: “Year of the Motorcycle,” a traveling exhibit from the Barber Vintage Motorsports Museum in Alabama. The showcase will be the first for 2-wheelers at the Ohio museum. When the traveling exhibit departs, the Crawford will unveil its own “Open Road: The Lure of Motorcycling in Ohio” exhibition.
In perhaps the biggest Demo Day yet at the Simeone Foundation Automotive Museum in Philadelphia, on August 21 the theme will be “There Were There — The Simeone Cars that Raced Le Mans.” More than a dozen cars — actually, 14 at last count — will take part in the parking-lot exercise session. They range from a 1929 Stutz Model M Supercharged Le Mans to a 1970 Porsche 917 LH.
The Auburn Cord Duesenberg Automobile Museum in northeast Indiana stages its second “Duesies & Movies” drive-in theater event of the season August 21 showing Dick Tracy.
It’s AutoFest 2021 on August 22 at the Newport Car Museum in Rhode Island, where the Mass Cruisers Auto Club (that’s Mass as in Massachusetts) stages a showcase featuring more than 500 vehicles.
It’s “Simply Mercedes” with a showcase for Mercedes-Benz vehicles August 22 at the National Motor Museum in Beaulieu, England.
Feature marque in the parking lot car show at the Newport Car Museum on August 29 will be from the Mopars of RI club.
The National Corvette Museum opens a new exhibit, “24 at 20: Earnhardt, Corvette, and the Overall Win at Daytona,” on September 2. The exhibit opening features a seminar with racer Andy Pilgrim, former Corvette Racing manager Doug Fehan, and former Corvette Racing marketing manager Gary Claudio.
On September 11-12, in addition to its motorcycling exhibition, the Crawford Auto-Aviation Museum in Cleveland, Ohio, will host a Heritage Throwback Weekend with pre-registered visitors invited to ride the newest BMW motorcycles.
The Brooklands Museum in England plans a special celebration of the life of the late Stirling Moss on September 12 with more than 35 vehicles he raced on display.
“Stirling Moss, The Champion that Wasn’t” is the theme for the September 18 Demo Day at Simeone Foundation Automotive Museum in Philadelphia. Cars taking part in the parking lot exercise session include a 1953 Jaguar C-type and 1956 D-type, 1955 “Gullwing” Mercedes-Benz 300SL, 1956 Maserati 300S and 1958 Aston Martin DBR1.
The Auburn Cord Duesenberg Automobile Museum in northeast Indiana stages its third “Duesies & Movies” drive-in theater event of the season September 18 showing Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs.
The annual Saratoga Motorcar Auction at the Saratoga Automobile Museum in upstate New York is scheduled for September 24-25.
The AACA Museum in Hershey, Pennsylvania, resumes its annual “Night at the Museum” fundraiser on October 6 with a theme of “Cars and Country Music.” Troy Engle and Southern Skies will perform at the event that serves as the kickoff to “Fall Hershey.”
Herzog Motorsports, the Missouri-based racing team that has won in a variety of events, from off-road racing in Baja to Jimmie Johnson’s transition to stock car racing, will be honored October 15-16 in a special event at the Speedway Motorsports Museum of American Speed in Lincoln, Nebraska.
Does your local car museum have special events or exhibitions planned? Let us know. Email [email protected].
