List of Automobile / Racing / Car Museums

United States

Alabama

  • Barber Vintage Motorsports Museum – Birmingham, Ala. – www.barbermuseum.org
  • Mercedes-Benz Visitor Center – Tuscaloosa, Ala. – www.mbusi.com/pages/vc_home.asp
  • International Motorsports Hall of Fame – Talladega, Ala. – www.motorsportshalloffame.com

Alaska

  • Fountainhead Antique Auto Museum – Fairbanks, Alaska
    • The Fountainhead Antique Auto Museum in Fairbanks, Alaska, displays more than 70 rare and antique cars, including some that are the sole-survivors of their marques (brands), and the first car ever built in Alaska. The museum’s Alaska Gallery highlights the conditions faced by the state’s motorist, including glacial rivers, far-below-freezing temperatures, avalanches, and driving on and through heavy snow.
    • The Fountainhead Antique Auto Museum displays historic, auto-related photos and vintage clothing alongside its cars. Visitors can choose from a selection of period clothing to wear while posing for a photograph in one old car that sits in front of the museum’s Alaska roadhouse.

Arizona

  • Penske Racing Museum – Phoenix, Ariz. – www.penskeracingmuseum.com

Arkansas
California

  • Petersen Automotive Museum – Los Angeles, CA – www.petersen.org
    • This four-floor museum in the Los Angeles Miracle Mile district celebrates the role of the automobile in American life and culture with exhibits, dioramas and more than 150 rare and classic cars, truck and motorcycles. One floor traces the history of the automobile using car-centric Los Angeles as the backdrop. Another floor hosts changing exhibits featuring modern-day racecars, classic cars, concept cars and cars made famous by celebrities and movies.
    • The Petersen Automotive Museum is open Tuesday through Sunday.
  • The Blackhawk Museum – Danville, CA – blackhawkmuseum.org
    • Rare classics and sports cars are gathered in a breathtaking setting. The three Alfa B.A.T. cars are like sparkling jewelry on black velvet.
  • Mullin Automotive Museum – Oxnard, CA – www.mullinautomotivemuseum.com
    • Opened in April 2010, the Mullin Automotive Museum displays art deco furniture and decorative art along with about 50 historic French classic cars from the 1920s and 30s, including Bugattis, Delages, Delahayes, Hispano Suizas, Talbot-Lagos and Voisins. A highlight of the collection is the unrestored 1925 Bugatti Type 22 Brescia Modifeé, which sat at the bottom of the Swiss end of Lake Maggiore for 73 years.
    • The new Mullin Automotive Museum in Oxnard, Calif., is currently open to the public one Saturday each month, and tickets must be purchased in advance. But don’t be shy – Museum officials say they’re willing to open the museum on other days by appointment.
  • Nethercutt Collection at San Sylmar – Sylmar, CA – www.nethercuttcollection.org
    • The late J. B. Nethercutt amassed a fabulous classic-car collection. The museum is family-operated, and its comprehensive restoration shop (which has had many Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance Best of Show winners) is second to none.
  • Wally Parks NHRA Motorsports Museum – Pomona, CA – www.museum.nhra.com
    • If you’re into racing and hot rodding, you’ll want to visit the National Hot Rod Association Museum, where 28,000 sq. ft. of floor space is dedicated to hot rods, street rods, drag racers, dry-lake racers, Indy cars and more! There’s also memorabilia on display, a gift shop, research library, art gallery and a multi-media classroom.
  • California Route 66 Museum – Victorville, Calif. – www.califrt66museum.org
  • San Diego Automotive Museum – San Diego, Calif. – www.sdautomuseum.org
  • Toyota USA Automobile Museum – Torrance, Calif. – www.toyota50th.com
  • Jay Leno’s Garage – Burbank, Calif. – www.jaylenosgarage.com – Go to the Web site for a peek, then bid at Pebble Beach for a private tour. Proceeds go to charity. — BY INVITATION / APPOINTMENT ONLY.
  • The Mozart Foundation Collection — BY INVITATION / APPOINTMENT ONLY.

Colorado

  • Shelby American Collection – Boulder, Colo. – www.shelbyamericancollection.com

Connecticut
Delaware
Dist. of Columbia
Florida

  • Don Garlits Museum – Ocala, Fla. – www.garlits.com
    • Nearly all of “Big Daddy’s” Swamp Rat dragsters are here, plus a lot of the cars he beat and a few that smoked him.
  • Muscle Car City Museum – Punta Gorda, FL
    • It takes a 99,000-square-foot building once occupied by a Walmart store to display the Muscle Car City Museum’s collection of more than 200 classic cars and hot rods dating from the 1950s to the 70s. Along with automotive memorabilia that includes vintage gas pumps, road signs and traffic signals, the museum display Camaros, Chevelles, El Caminos, Pontiac GTOs, Chevy Corvettes, Oldsmobile Cutlass 442s and other high-horsepower muscle cars — all in pristine running condition.
    • Located midway between Tampa and Naples, Fla., on the southwest Florida Gulf Coast, the Muscle Car City Museum is open Tuesday through Sunday, year-round. A free car show is held on the 3rd Saturday of each month.
  • Collier Collection – Naples, Fla. – www.revsinstitute.org – The museum houses nearly all of Briggs Cunningham’s Cunninghams, significant Porsche racers and important Brass Era competition cars. — BY INVITATION / APPOINTMENT ONLY.

Georgia
Hawaii
Idaho
Illinois

  • Volo Auto Museum – Volo, IL – www.volocars.com
    • Volo Auto Museum’s collection not only includes an impressive array of collector cars for sale, but also showrooms populated by more unusual classics. That includes Duesenbergs, military vehicles, and a Hollywood Collection that features everything from the Batmobile to Mattel’s real-life Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Van. From there, things get even weirder in their appropriately named “Bizarre Car Collection.”

Indiana

  • Indianapolis Motor Speedway Hall of Fame and Museum – Indianapolis, IN – www.indianapolismotorspeedway.com
    • Located on the sprawling grounds of the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, the Indianapolis Motor Speedway Hall of Fame and Museum displays trophies, timing and scoring equipment and vintage motorcycles and cars made in Indiana. On-site, there’s also an old-style garage, a NASCAR exhibit and more than 30 cars that have won the Indy 500, including the Marmon “Wasp”, which won the first Indianapolis 500 race in 1911. Visitors can also get their photos taken behind the wheel of a real racecar.
    • The Indianapolis Motor Speedway Hall of Fame and Museum is open daily and is one of the many transportation-themed stops on the Indiana 500 Tour.
  • Studebaker Museum – South Bend, IN – www.studebakermuseum.org
    • Many of Studebaker’s company-owned vintage vehicles were eventually donated to this museum, which has more than 120 vehicles in its collection, with 70 on display at any given time. It houses many unique vehicles too, like the 1956 Packard Predictor and the 1934 Bendix SWC. You can also visit the museum store or dive into nearly 70 tons of paper documents that include engineering drawings, production records and newspaper articles.
  • Auburn Cord Duesenberg Automobile Museum – Auburn, IN – www.automobilemuseum.org – www.acdmuseum.org
    • The old Auburn Automobile Company factory is home to the world’s largest collection of Auburn, Cord and Duesenberg automobiles. MSNBC News named it one of the “Top Ten Gearhead Destinations in the United States,” and is accredited by the American Alliance of Museums. Plan a visit in August and you can be there for the Auburn Cord Duesenberg Festival.
  • National Automotive and Truck Museum of the United States – Auburn, Ind. – www.natmus.org

Iowa

  • National Sprint Car Hall of Fame and Museum – Knoxville, Iowa – www.sprintcarhof.com

Kansas
Kentucky

  • National Corvette Museum – Bowling Green, KY – www.corvettemuseum.org
    • The National Corvette Museum opened in 1994 and includes automotive memorabilia, the Corvette Café and, of course, plenty of vintage and brand new Corvettes.
    • The National Corvette Museum is just down the road from the General Motors plant that’s been assembling Corvettes since 1981. On display are more than 80 examples of this classic American sports car, including the only 1983 Corvette in existence, race cars, milestone cars (including the 500,000th, one millionth and 1.5 millionth Corvette cars made) and many one-of-a-kind concept vehicles that never reached production.
    • The National Corvette Museum in Bowling Green, Ky., is open daily and includes many interactive exhibits and a Corvette “nursery” where new Corvette owners can arrange delivery of their cars.

Louisiana
Maine

  • Owls Head Transportation Museum – Owls Head, Maine
    • In addition to historic bicycles, motorcycles and aircraft, the Owls Heads Transportation Museum displays 50 antique automobiles dating from 1885 to the 1950s. The wide-ranging collection includes everything from a 1907 Cadillac Runabout and 1914 Rolls Royce limousine to a popcorn wagon from 1923 and a wooden-bodied Ford Station Wagon made in 1940. In addition to its popular winter transportation festival featuring antique snow vehicles, the museum’s other annual events include an aerobatic airshow, a motorcycle meet, an antique motor vehicle rally and rare vehicle demonstrations that often include free Model T-rides.
    • The Owls Head Transportation Museum is on Penobscot Bay in Maine’s Midcoast region. A good time to visit might be in mid-September, when the museum will be hosting a gathering of large construction vehicles at the Earth Movers & Shakers & Antique Aeroplane Show.

Maryland
Massachusetts

  • Larz Anderson Auto Museum – Brookline, Mass. – www.larzanderson.org

Michigan

  • Detroit Public Library, National Automotive History Collection – Detroit, MI – www.detroitpubliclibrary.org/branch/national-automotive-history-collection
    • The NAHC is regarded as the largest public automotive archive collection in North America, and contains over 600,000 processed items that include books, magazines, photographs, manuals and documents detailing all aspects of the automotive world.
  • The Henry Ford – Dearborn, MI – www.thehenryford.org
    • Perhaps the best place to explore the history of cars and their impact on American culture is inside the 10-acre Henry Ford Museum, which currently has more than 140 vehicles on display. Collection highlights include an original Oscar Mayer Wienermobile, Mustang serial number 001 and its prototype, Henry Ford’s Quadricycle (the first automobile he ever built), the 15 millionth Model T, the bus in which Rosa Parks bus refused to give up her seat and the limousine in which President John F. Kennedy was assassinated. Highway billboards, neon signs, a gas station and other artifacts relating to car-culture are here as well. The farmhouse where Henry Ford was born and a replica of the factory where he built his first cars are next door, at Greenfield Village.
    • The Henry Ford in Dearborn, Mich., is open daily. A fun hands-on activity is the museum’s “Build a Model T” program – Visitors can grab a tool and help build a real Model T, which gets completed by the end of the day and disassembled by morning, so visitors can start building it again.
  • Walter P. Chrysler Museum – Auburn Hills, Mich. – www.wpchryslermuseum.org
    • Serious Mopar spoken here. See the ’40s-era Newport and Thunderbolt concept cars, all of the 300s, plus former relatives such as Nash and Hudson.
  • Meadow Brook Hall – Rochester Hills, MI – www.meadowbrookhall.org
    • Though not expressly a classic car museum, Meadow Brook Hall is an example of what the astoundingly successful automobile industry was able to bring to its founders. Matilda Raush Dodge Wilson, widow of John Dodge built what is now one of the finest examples of Tudor-revival architecture in America.
  • Automotive Hall of Fame – Dearborn, Mich. – www.automotivehalloffame.org
  • Gilmore Car Museum – Hickory Corners, Mich. – www.gilmorecarmuseum.org
  • GM Heritage Collection – Warren, Mich. – www.gmheritagecenter.com – This is the General’s attic. Many Firebirds and Motorama cars are here, nicely displayed, along with a great cross-section of other General Motors cars. — BY INVITATION / APPOINTMENT ONLY.

Minnesota
Mississippi

  • Tupelo Automobile Museum – Tupelo, Miss. – www.tupeloautomuseum.com

Missouri
Montana
Nebraska

  • Museum of American Speed – Lincoln, Neb. – www.museumofamericanspeed.com
    • “Speedy” Bill Smith’s lifetime collection of race cars, speed equipment and rare bits, from hopped-up Model Ts to Millers, are on display.
  • Hastings Museum – Hastings, Neb. – www.hastingsmuseum.org

Nevada

  • National Automobile Museum (the Harrah Collection) – Reno, NV – www.automuseum.org
    • Late Reno businessman William F. “Bill” Harrah collected and restored antique, classic and special interest autos at his restoration shop for 40 years. The fruits of his labor were donated to the National Automobile Museum which now has more than 220 creatively displayed vehicles. It features multiple permanent and rotating exhibits in addition to the original Harrah Collection. Highlights of the collection include one of the oldest American-built automobiles, the 1892 Philion steam road carriage, and many other rare and one-of-a-kind automobiles, including cars once owned by Elvis Presley, James Dean, Frank Sinatra and other celebrities. The museum also displays the 1907 Thomas Flyer, the car that won the 22,000-mile New York to Paris race around the world in 1908.
    • The National Automobile Museum is open daily in downtown Reno.
  • The Auto Collections – Las Vegas, NV – www.autocollections.com
    • 250 World Class and a 125,000 sq. ft. showroom makes The Auto Collections in Las Vegas one of the largest collector car museums in the world. They’re also a dealership who say their goal is to “provide for the collector a place to visit in a relaxed atmosphere, to buy, sell or trade some of the most desired vehicles in the world.”

New Hampshire
New Jersey
New Mexico
New York

  • Buffalo Transportation Pierce Arrow Museum – Buffalo, N.Y. – www.pierce-arrow.com
  • Saratoga Automobile Museum – Saratoga Springs, N.Y. – www.saratogaautomuseum.org

North Carolina
North Dakota
Ohio

  • Crawford Auto Aviation Museum – Cleveland, OH – www.wrhs.org/research/crawford
    • Part of the Western Reserve Historical Society in Cleveland, the Crawford Auto Aviation Museum owns 140 cars and 10 airplanes, as well as motorcycles, carriages, bicycles and other transportation-related artifacts. While the collection includes Model T Fords and modern-day Jaguars, there’s a special focus on Cleveland and Northeast Ohio-made cars, including what the museum considers it flagship automobile – the 1932 Peerless Prototype Touring Sedan. This one-of-a-kind luxury car was the last automobile produced by a Cleveland-based auto company and had doors that extended into the roof curve to allow hat-wearing passengers easy entry.
    • The Crawford Aviation Museum in Cleveland is open Tuesday through Saturday. In addition to the car and airplanes in the collection, the museum owns and displays Tinkerbelle, the small, hand-built boat Robert Manry successfully sailed from Falmouth, Maine, to Falmouth, England, in 1965.

Oklahoma
Oregon
Pennsylvania

  • Simeone Foundation Automotive Museum – Philadelphia – http://simeonefoundation.org
    • You’ll see Le Mans and Mille Miglia winners, early American racers, the long-lost Bonneville Cobra Daytona and weekend “start ’em up” demos.
  • The Antique Automobile Club of America (AACA) Museum – Hershey, PA – www.aacamuseum.org
    • The Tour Book for Antique Car Buffs calls the Antique Automobile Club of America Museum “one of the guiding lights in the world of antique automobiles.” Their 70,000 sq. ft. three story museum and 25 acres of surrounding land feature 85-100 classic cars and trucks at any given time, a collection that spans almost a century of American motoring from an 1895 Chicago Motor Benton Harbor to a 1977 Chrysler Cordoba with “fine Corinthian leather.” Settings range from an art deco hotel to a gas service station and a drive-in movie. In addition to 100 vintage cars, the museum displays motorcycles and is home to the Museum of Bus Transportation, which features 12 full-sized buses.
    • The Antique Automobile Club of America Museum is open year-round and houses a model train display and what the museum believes is the only “Alphabet Ford Collection” — Model T’s with letter designations — in existence.
  • Eastern Museum of Motor Racing – York Springs, Pa. – www.emmr.org
  • Mack Trucks Historical Museum – Allentown, Pa. – http://macktrucks.com/default.aspx?pageid=40
  • Rolls-Royce Foundation Library and Museum – Mechanicsburg, Pa. – www.rollsroycefoundation.com

Rhode Island
South Carolina
South Dakota
Tennessee

  • Lane Motor Museum – Nashville, TN
    • Housed in a former Sunbeam Bakery building, the Lane Motor Museum has a collection of more than 300 European vehicles and is the largest such collection in the United States. Among the cars and motorcycles dating from the 1920s to the current decade are amphibious cars, propeller-driven cars, cars that fold in half and the Peel P50 which, at 53 inches long, 39 inches wide and 53 inches tall, is listed by the Guinness World Records as the “Smallest Street-Legal Car.” The museum’s 1952 Citroën Cogolin is made up of two welded-together front sections and, with two engines, can be driven forwards or backwards. It was created by a French fire and rescue team which needed a car that could maneuver easily up and down narrow mountain roads.
    • Nashville’s Lane Motor Museum is open daily and displays about 150 of its more than 300 cars and motorcycles at any one time. Ninety percent of the vehicles run and receive annual tune ups and oil changes.

Texas
Utah
Vermont
Virginia
Washington

  • LeMay–America’s Car Museum – Tacoma, Wash. – www.lemaymuseum.org

West Virginia
Wisconsin

  • Harley-Davidson Museum – Milwaukee, Wis. – www.h-dmuseum.com

Wyoming

Canada

Ontario

Quebec

Europe

Africa

  • Franschhoek Motor Museum – Franschhoek, South Africa – www.fmm.co.za

Asia/Middle East

Australia / NZ

  • National Automobile Museum of Tasmania – Launceston City, Australia – www.namt.com.au
  • Museum of Transportation and Technology – Western Springs, New Zealand – www.motat.org.nz

South America