Sightseeing in Michigan

While staying with the Swains in Hastings, Michigan we all decided to go out exploring. Richard suggested the Gilmore Car Museum, an automobile museum located in Hickory Corners, Michigan. The museum exhibits over 400 vintage and collector vehicles as well as motorcycles from all eras housed in several vintage buildings located on a 90-acre campus. The museum claims to be the largest automobile museum in North America. It is part of the MotorCities National Heritage Area. Yesterday, Saturday June 10 all four of us headed out for a day trip.

The museum opened in 1966 exhibiting the car collection of Donald S. Gilmore, a local businessman. Today its collection consists of over 500 vehicles, including an 1899 Locomobile Steam Car and a 1930 Rolls-Royce prop car used in the 1967 film "The Gnome-Mobile". The museum also claims to have the largest display of automotive mascots and name badges in North America. The campus includes a 1941 Blue Moon Diner and a replica 1930s Shell fuel station.

The museum brought back childhood memories of Uncle Richard Teague who worked in the car industry as a designer and my cousin Jeff, his son, who followed in his car designing footsteps. While at the museum we found one of Uncle Dick's designs in the muscle car section, a 1969 AMC AMX Super Coupe. The AMC AMX is a two-seat GT-style muscle car produced by American Motors Corporation from 1968 through 1970. As one of just two American built two-seaters, the AMX was in direct competition with the one-inch (2.5 cm) longer wheelbase Chevrolet Corvette for substantially less money.
I also found at the museum a beautifully restored 1931 Ford Model A convertible pick-up truck. A friend in high school had this same vintage car back in 1971 in his garage and intended to restore it. Like many of us in those days, he had good intentions but no extra money other than to get it only barely drivable. After all these years, it was fun to see what it could have looked like.

I talked to Tristen at Alliance RV on Friday, June 9 and got an updated status on our trailer. He told us the repairs could possibly be completed by Wednesday, June 14; so we are planning on heading back to Elkhart, Indiana either Monday or Tuesday to be close to the factory for picking it up upon completion and hitting the road again.
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