August 22 - 23, 2018: Hickory Corners, Michigan
Today our focus was visiting the Gilmore Car Museum which is the largest car museum in North America. We headed out early from Otsego and arrived at 9:10. And...took the scenic route - ha! The drive along this area is very nice. You can tell there is a lot of money and country estates in the area. However, even with 2 GPS units and a physical map, I navigated us to a small dirt road following a combine and...1 1/2 miles later we were at the car museum. What a way to start the day!
First, if you are ever in the area, the Gilmore Car Museum is an absolute MUST! It is 90 acres with about 12 buildings with around 400 cars, bicycles, motorcycles, peddle cars, and more. Wow. We spent 5 hours at the museum and feel like we could still spend more time there. There were many cars that are 1 only, or 1 of a pre-production run, but the bottom line was they were VERY rare cars, and many cars we've never seen before. I think Craig and I both took about 200 pictures. Below are some of the special highlights.
This is the ONLY 1 EVER built!
One of Craig's favorite cars in the museum. He loves Duesenbergs and built models of these as a kid
This is the ONLY 1 EVER built - Prototype!
GREAT story and never restored!
On Tuesdays, they give demo rides in 4 different cars. We choose the 1948 Packard
Holly loves the body styles of this
And...these...
And...these...GREAT grill on the front!
Don Gilmore's (who started the museum) son, sponsored A.J. Foyt's racing team. There were a TON of his racing cars in their own section of the museum.
Average speed...
267.399 mph!
LOVE the split window and nose
Another 1 ONLY!
2 of Holly's favorite cars in the museum.
The 1954 Kaiser has doors that slide into the body like a pocket door - WAY COOL!
And of course, a Metropolitan!
Another ONLY 1 EVER built - Prototype!
Another ONLY 1 EVER built! The hood ornament on this car and the detail of the interior was...incredible. The pictures to not do this car justice.
Walt Disney gave these props to Don Gilmore to thank him for his contributions. This is the ONLY set to ever leave the studio.
WAY COOL 1946 Stout - never seen this car before!
Another one of Craig's favorite cars - The Cord
If you have made it this far, I will refrain from sharing any more pictures of cars. Like I said, we have over 200 pictures of cars so if you want to see more, let us know and we'll share individually with you. John N.....
: ) hee...hee....