Now why hasn't Detroit already done this/ Model A Museum?

**illwill** · May-19-13, 10:22 AM

http://www.detroitnews.com/article/2...xt|FRONTPAGE|p

I'm sure people will travel to Hickory Corners from all over the world to see this museum. I know I would, and I've never even heard of the place. Detroit has one of the best cultural collections in the world but I wish the big 3 would create a real car museum that is not like any other. One that starts from the very first auto diagram up to today's latest corvette. This could create many jobs and lots of spin-off work. People will travel and pay top dollar to see something like this.

**Hypestyles** · May-19-13, 11:15 AM

offhand, I just don't see the big 3 auto execs pooling money for a "shared" museum compared to simply trying to assert their own brand-exclusive museum. it would be nice to see "something", though..

**marshamusic** · May-19-13, 11:59 AM

We do have Model Ts at the exhibition space - the Ford Plant on Piquette; it's a wonderful place: http://www.tplex.org

**Packman41** · May-19-13, 02:23 PM

Yes, you have to wonder why they located there.

I also wonder why the Pontiac / Oakland Car Museum is located in Pontiac, ILLINOIS
http://www.pontiacoaklandmuseum.org/

That Pontiac is located off I-55 about 85 miles SW of Chicago or about 50 miles ENE of Peoria, IL. The town has a population of 11,900 and the county seat of Livingston County, population of 38,950.

Hell, we should be able to do better than that.

By the way, even Chrysler had to close down their [[independent) museum after being open for more than a decade.

IMHO, the only way for this to work is to have a the big 3 establish a combined museum that would also include the dead independent car manufacturers that were located here, i.e. Hudson, Packard, Hupmobile, American Motors, Kaiser and Graham-Paige.

History? We have plenty of it, but none that you can see in a museum.

**Bham1982** · May-19-13, 02:36 PM

The Henry Ford Museum is our car museum. I don't see why we need multiple car museums. If you want more, there's the Detroit Historical Museum, GM HQ and other public exhibits.

**313WX** · May-19-13, 02:48 PM

For some reason, automobile-themed attractions just don't work. Just see what happened with Six Flags Autoworld in Flint...

At least with The Henry Ford, the focus is mostly around Henry Ford himself and the era he grew up in, not necessarily Ford Motor Company and the automobiles themselves.

**ElbertHanks** · May-19-13, 04:29 PM

Originally Posted by Packman41

Yes, you have to wonder why they located there.

I believe Gilmore was president of Upjohn and his family owned a department store in either Battle Creek or Kalamazoo. He didn't set out to start a museum he collected cars as a hobby and it just kind of happened. He purchased a farm and started storing his cars in the barns.

I lived about a half an hour or so from the Museum when I was in grade school back in the Mid 70's. My dad actually took me over there a couple of times.

**56packman** · May-20-13, 11:47 AM

The Gilmore museum was indeed funded by the Gilmore family, they were instrumental in Upjohn. If you drive around KZoo there are two names you will see a lot, Gilmore and Upjohn. It has grown into a beautiful complex with many dedicated buildings and an outstanding collection.

Detroit is a tough sell. Richard Kughn tried to get the COD involved in setting up a museum in the Michigan Central depot in the grand concourse areas as a showcase of all Detroit-based auto manufacturers, and offered to organize it, his plan fell on deaf ears. This was in the late 70s when the building was still very much intact. I worked at the Chrysler museum in Auburn Hills, and we had a hard time making numbers there, despite the excellent facility and collection there. The Henry Ford museum is great, they cover a lot of other areas of interest and have managed to make a bunch of old obsolete machines relevant to people's lives in their displays, a must for any museum these days. The days of going to a building, looking at an object and reading a label about it are over.

**DetroitPlanner** · May-20-13, 09:14 PM

Originally Posted by ElbertHanks

I believe Gilmore was president of Upjohn and his family owned a department store in either Battle Creek or Kalamazoo. He didn't set out to start a museum he collected cars as a hobby and it just kind of happened. He purchased a farm and started storing his cars in the barns.

I lived about a half an hour or so from the Museum when I was in grade school back in the Mid 70's. My dad actually took me over there a couple of times.

Gilmore's was in K-zoo. The Gilmores also ran pretty much all of the media in that town as well. A Gilmore married into the Upjohn Family. http://www.kpl.gov/local-history/bus...-brothers.aspx

**poobert** · May-21-13, 09:16 AM

Originally Posted by illwill

People will travel and pay top dollar to see something like this.

No, they won't. That's why it doesn't exist, in part.

I work in Museums. Museums, first off, don't make their money off of admissions, even if people were allegedly going to travel miles to see some old cars. They make their money off of contributed revenue, much of that in the form of grants from folks like the Kresge Foundation, Knight Foundation, Ford Foundation, and also a bunch of old WASPs. They're not interested in funding a big car collection. Programs and exhibits have to be educational and relevant, especially towards school children and their required curriculum. Museums aren't cheap, either, if you want to take proper care of your collection. So already you have an uphill battle convincing rich people that they should give all their money to your car collection for the sake of the children. Why would they do that, when they can give to something sexy like the DIA, or something that tugs on the heartstrings like Forgotten Harvest, or something that bolsters curriculum education with field trips like the Detroit Historical Museum?

So say you somehow turn a bunch of cars into something someone wants to fund, for some reason. Who else is going to visit, to make this place a part of the community? Firstly, we don't have a big built-in tourist base like DC or NYC.

Guys who like cars go to car shows and show off their own cars. They talk to other car guys [[and girls, but we know it is very much male-dominated). It is very much a social event, for those who are even interested. Now that it's 2013, most of us don't give a shit about cars any more than a toilet. It's great to have, but I wouldn't necessarily want to go to a Museum dedicated to it.

Then there's already the Henry Ford, an outstanding, world-class Museum, which already has plenty of cars. Additionally, they focus on American History and a bunch of other good crap like some crazy made-up village you can walk through, giving them a winning formula.

So...good luck with that! Sorry, I gave at the office.

**56packman** · May-21-13, 10:17 AM

Car collectors are also the most difficult to get donations from; the angle on their shoulder is telling them they should contribute $X to this new museum, the devil on their other shoulder is saying "don't do that, for that $X you could have another car"
Poobert -- you speaketh the truth. One thing that is universally true of all nonprofits and fundraising is this: altruism is dead. The big-ticket donors who write your big checks do so for standing and prestige with their peers. There has to be personal glory in it or there generally won't be a check.
Car collectors are also the most difficult to get donations from; the angel on their shoulder is telling them they should contribute $X to this new museum, the devil on their other shoulder is saying "don't do that, for that $X you could have another car"
Poobert -- you speaketh the truth. One thing that is universally true of all nonprofits and fundraising is this: altruism is dead. The big-ticket donors who write your big checks do so for standing and prestige with their peers. There has to be personal glory in it or there generally won't be a check.

**p69rrh51** · May-21-13, 10:42 AM

Poobert and Packman56 are so right. On the other hand the state expects 23 million people to visit Southeast Michigan this year so the numbers are not an issue. Now tying to raise the money to fund such an endeavor in this area would be nearly impossible, to many existing entities already have their hands out. GM does have a couple "company only" collections if you can find an insider they are well worth the visit.

**56packman** · May-21-13, 11:13 AM

The trick is......to get a portion of those 23 million people into your doors and part with cash--mind you the door take+night time rental event is about 30% of your annual budget. Chrysler spent a-plenty on marketing for the Auburn Hills museum and there was a ceiling we could never get over.

**p69rrh51** · May-21-13, 11:19 AM

Originally Posted by 56packman

The trick is......to get a portion of those 23 million people into your doors and part with cash--mind you the door take+night time rental event is about 30% of your annual budget. Chrysler spent a-plenty on marketing for the Auburn Hills museum and there was a ceiling we could never get over.

One would think that a small fraction of that number would be easy to get through the doors but for some reason its not.
On the other hand I visited the Chrysler Museum often and tried to take as many family/friends as possible. I was exceptionally disappointed when the museum was closed.