Wall Street Journal on DIA Proposals

[renf]

Does anyone know the market value of the automobiles owned by the
Detroit Historical Museum? I suspect the other items in the Detroit
Historical Museum and those in the Dossin Museum and the Charles
Wright Museum do not have great value.

If Historic Fort Wayne were located in most any other city, it would have
commercial value to a real estate developer. However, it is in a rather
isolated and not very valuable site in Detroit. If the state of Michigan
will encourage private entrepreneurs to located their businesses on
Belle Isle, the Dossin Museum would be a desirable location for a
restaurant or night club.

[Packman41]

Does anyone know the market value of the automobiles owned by the
Detroit Historical Museum? .......<snip>....

I toured the “cars in a bubble” this past summer and I think they said the DHM controls 90 cars. I say controls, because just as with the DIA, the DHM may not have clear title to them – they are on loan. Not all are located in Detroit. Most are on display around the country in museums that can keep them dry and warm. I would assume that

IMHO, none of the cars I saw were in concours condition. The ones I saw were in used, worn condition and would require significant work to get them running and stopping, let alone looking nice. While some of the cars may be significant or historic the majority were quite average to me.

If I were to guess a value for the 90 cars I would say they MIGHT average $20,000 each or about $1.8 million for all.

So, in the grand scheme of things this would add [[assumptions: number of pensioners = 20,000, average length of pension = 25 years) about $0.30 to each pension check.