British automaker Vauxhall is moving its heritage collection to the British Motor Museum at Gaydon, UK, where 30 of the vehicles already are on display.
“The collection, which totals 50 cars and vans, charts the incredible story of Vauxhall Motors’ rise from a niche sporting car manufacturer to one of the UK’s best-known automotive brands,” the museum said in its news release. “It demonstrates the heritage of Britain’s oldest vehicle manufacturer through each decade from the very first 5hp Light Car in 1903.”
“The British Motor Museum is an ideal choice to display the collection,” added Vauxhall managing director Paul Wilcox. “As the internationally renowned museum all about the rich heritage of Britain’s motor industry and home of the country’s automotive history, it’s a superb venue for the Vauxhall collection.”
“There are some extremely rare and valuable vehicles on display, but many that will conjure ‘my-mum-and-dad-had-one-of-those’ memories, too,” he added. “It paints a wonderful social picture of Vauxhall’s importance to the UK culture, through all the highs and lows of the twentieth and twenty-first centuries.”
Driving museum renamed for founder
The Automobile Driving Museum just south of LAX airport is a hidden gem, a facility founded by long-time friends Earl Rubenstein and Stanley Zimmerman as a place where visitors not only could see classic and collector cars, but could ride in them as they were being driven.
Zimmerman died last year and recently the museum’s board of directors voted to rename the facility as “The Zimmerman Automobile Driving Museum” in tribute to the co-founders’ vision for a museum where the cars were exercised and where visitors were invited to ride along.
Exhibits changing at Corvette Museum
The National Corvette Museum in Bowling Green, Kentucky, will close its “The Vision Realized: 60 Years of Mid-Engine Corvette Design” exhibit on September 12. Replacing that exhibit will be “Generations of Innovations,” which opens October 1 and runs through December 31.
Ditto at the Petersen
The Petersen Automotive Museum in Los Angeles has announced that its exhibit, “Hollywood Dream Machines: Vehicles of Science Fiction and Fantasy,” originally scheduled to close in March 2020, will remain in place only until August 29. Produced in conjunction with the Comic-con Museum, the exhibit features vehicles from such movies as Back to the Future, Blade Runner, Transformers, Black Panther and Iron Man.
The museum also announced that it has launched the second part of its exhibit with Luftgekühlt, now featuring the history of the Porsche 956 and 962 race cars and with several examples of each.
The museum also has expanded its “Alternating Currents” exhibit to include the Alpha Motor Corporation’s new Wolf electric truck, on display through November.
Coming soon to the AACA
The AACA Museum in Hershey, Pennsylvania, says it will open three new exhibits in November. To be featured are:
- “Survivors,” unrestored cars, trucks and motorcycles.
- Packards, presented by Keystone Packards region of the National Packard Automobile Classics.
- Vintage license plates, from the License Plate Collectors Association.
EV museum getting larger facility
The Historic Electric Vehicle Association’s EV museum will be moving into a new and much larger facility in Kingman, Arizona. The move will reposition the collection only 4 blocks from the Kingman Powerhouse to a 19,538-square-foot building. The move not only provides more room for electric vehicles to be displayed, but also has 120 parking places for visitors or for car shows and demonstrations.
The electric vehicles had been housed in the Kingman Powerhouse, which also houses the Route 66 Museum, which presumably will be able to expand its own exhibit space when the electric vehicles move to their new location.
Tractor show at Gilmore in 2022
The Gilmore Car Museum in Hickory Corners, Michigan, and the Kalamazoo Valley Antique Engine & Machinery Club have announced the return of the Tractor Show to the museum campus in July 2022.
“After the event had been held at other locations over the past several years, 2022 will mark the Tractor Show’s return ‘home’ to the Gilmore Car Museum campus, with its spectacular red barns and surrounding corn fields,” the museum said, adding that more details about the 2-day event will be announced at a later date.
Speedway Motors gets street rod award
We recently visited Speedway Motors Museum of American Speed in Lincoln, Nebraska. The museum is part of the campus of Speedway Motors, a major supplier of speed equipment, which received the National Street Rod Association manufacturer of the year honors at the recent 52nd annual Street Rod Nationals in Louisville, Kentucky.
BMW Museum features sustainability
“Re-Imagine: We make BMW sustainable” is the title of a new exhibit opening September 1 at the BMW Museum in Germany. The exhibit features 30 displays on trends, challenges and opportunities in tomorrow’s mobility in such fields as electromobility, circular economy and sustainable automotive production.
Special events this weekend
The Seal Cove Auto Museum in Maine will feature American cars at its cars and coffee event August 28 from 9 a.m. until noon. Two more cars and coffee events are scheduled this year, for September 4 and October 9.
The Auburn Cord Duesenberg Automobile Museum will open its collections, conservation center and storage facility for the ACD Festival tour on August 29. Also open will be the National Auto & Truck Museum facilities.
Not only is the Mustang Owner’s Museum in Concord, North Carolina, staging a special Ford car show August 29 from 1 p.m. to 3 p.m., but it will serve free sundaes to all present starting at 2 p.m.
The Indianapolis Motor Speedway Museum is the beneficiary of “Revolante: A Celebration of Revolutionary Automobiles,” scheduled from noon until 5 p.m. (Eastern) on August 29 at the Bridgewater Club in Carmel, Indiana. The event marks the conclusion of the 2021 Artomobilia Weekend.
Mark your calendar
“Landspeed” Louise Noeth signs her book, Bonneville’s Women of Land Speed Racing, on August 31 at the Bonneville Motorcycle Speed Trials and September 11 at the Utah Salt Flats Racing Association’s World of Speed.
The Auburn Cord Duesenberg Automobile Museum in northeast Indiana hosts a free outdoor concert September 2 featuring the Sweetwater All Stars.
The National Corvette Museum’s 27th anniversary celebration runs September 2-4. At a dinner event September 2, Bowling Green assembly plant manager Kai Spande will 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.
The Corvette Museum also 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.
From 1:30 p.m. until 3:30 p.m. on September 3, racer Lyn St. James will be at the Auburn Cord Duesenberg Automobile Museum for a meet and greet. The museum hosts the Connecting Rods Lunch and Gatsby Gala on September 4.
The Mustang Owner’s Museum in Concord, North Carolina, stages its annual Fall Ford Garage Sale on September 4 for anyone with Mustang parts or memorabilia to sell.
It’s “Jaguar at Gaydon” on September 4 when the British Motor Museum celebrates William Lyons’ 120th birthday as well as the 25th anniversary of the XK8.
LeMay – America’s Car Museum in Tacoma, Washington, stages its annual Wheels & Heels gala on September 11.
On September 12 starting at 12:30 p.m., the Mustang Owner’s Museum in Concord, North Carolina, and the Wrecking Crew Mustang Club will stage a 9/11 Remembrance Ford car show to benefit the Concord Fire Department.
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 Blackhawk Museum in Danville, California, hosts a car show September 12 from 10 a.m. until 3 p.m. featuring the NorCal Kit Car Club vehicles.
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.
The Canadian Automotive Museum in Oshawa, Ontario, has something special planned for September 16 and its Third Thursday lecture series, which features “an Evening with Malcolm Bricklin,” chief executive of Visionary Vehicles and the person who brought to North America Subaru, Yugo and the Bricklin. The event will be presented via Zoom and a $10 donation to the museum is suggested as part of the registration process.
“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 Mercedes-Benz 300SL Gullwing, 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 Blackhawk Museum in Danville, California, hosts a car show September 12 from 10 a.m. until 3 p.m. featuring the East Bay Street Dreams car club.
The annual Saratoga Motorcar Auction at the Saratoga Automobile Museum in upstate New York is scheduled for September 24-25.
CruiseFest on Fulton Avenue, an annual event that benefits the California Automobile Museum in Sacramento, is scheduled for October 2, from 3 p.m. to 7 p.m. Special features of the cruise this year are Save Mart’s 12-foot tall, 454cid Chevy V8-powered “mega-motorized shopping cart,” and the 7th of 14 officially licensed replica Batmobiles, this one owned by Bob Goldsand of Meadow View, California.
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.
The Blackhawk Museum in Danville, California, hosts its 30th anniversary All British Motor Show from 8 a.m. until 2 p.m. on October 17.
Does your local car museum have special events or exhibitions planned? Let us know. Email [email protected].
