Drool.
A colonnade of cars – turquoise, candy apple red, cream and gold, Model A’s to big-finned 1950s sedans to luxury touring cars – line the cathedral-like main hall of LeMay – America’s Car Museum, which opened June 2.
In no particular chronological order, they reflect the all-encompassing passion of Tacoma businessman Harold LeMay and his wife Nancy. They amassed the largest privately owned collection of automobiles, motorcycles, trucks, other vehicles and related memorabilia in the world, more than 3,000 items. About 350 items, from the collection and on loan, are on display at the new museum, and they’ll be rotated every four months.
There’s a 1948 Tucker 48 with a submarine hood ornament, aircraft style doors and a rear-mounted Franklin air-cooled helicopter flat-6 engine, painted a metallic “Waltz Blue,” one of only 47 in the world. One of two surviving luxury Simplex Cranes owned by John D. Rockefeller is here, a 1917 Model 5, long and black with polished wooden wheel spokes and bright red leather interior, not even pretending to be anything but rich and ostentatious.
At the top of the colonnade, in the place of honor, backed by huge windows showing the Tacoma skyline, is the museum’s most expensive car: a $1.5 million cherry-red 1930 Duesenberg Model J. If that’s not a work of art, nothing is.
OK, I need to stop drooling and talk about whether this new museum is a good place to take kids. I’d say yes and no.
Yes, if your kid is at all interested in cars and trucks. A 6-year-old I met at the grand opening hadn’t been particularly. “I know about them from a racing game my Dad has,” he told me. But he was soon hooked, pointing out American flags and hood ornaments and grills (kids are interested in details, you know).
Yes, if you’ve got an older kid interested in history and culture, along with cars. On one of the ramps, there’s an explanation of how early vehicles, called “coachbuilt cars,” evolved as horseless carriages. Another ramp displays the long, flashy cars of the 1930s, along with information about rich men who owned them from Rockefeller to silent film star Tom Mix. One ramp is dedicated to the jaw-droppingly beautiful American car collection of European jeweler Nicola Bulgari and another to racing Ferraris (“If it’s not red, it’s not a Ferrari.”)
On the other hand, this is not a good museum for non-car-enthused preschoolers or other children who need a hands-on experience. This is a strictly look-and-don’t-touch museum. There are only three hands-on things to do. One is to bring a marble or ball and roll it down the main gallery on the first floor (as suggested by staff on opening day). The optical illusion of the floor and the ceiling make you certain that it will roll downhill; it’s actually completely flat. The second is to play with the slot cars on the third floor below ground. You can race them around a slanted track with intricate grandstands and little people. The third is to drive the race car simulator – but it costs an extra $8 and you need to be about five feet tall (exact height to be determined later this month, and a measuring bar to be installed).
There are four floors to the museum, connected by ramps, like a parking garage. See if your kids can find these weird and wonderful vehicles:
- 1915 Harley motorcycle with all of its working parts exposed
- 1945 Willys MB Army Jeep
- 1986 Owosso Pulse 3-wheeler coupe, looking like a long, thin bright yellow spaceship
- Tiny one-person 1937 Fiat Tolono and one-seat 1956 Messerschmitt KR 200 Cabin Scooter with Bubble Top, the cutest little cars ever
- 1983 stainless steel DeLoreon DMC 12 (the Back to the Future movie car)
- 1994 Flintmobile George Barris Kustom Car, built for The Flintstones movie
- 1963 Chevrolet Corvette Sting Ray, looking like it’s speeding in place
A fascinating display on one of lower ramps, entitled “Powering the Future” shows electric cars from the 1911 lace-curtained Baker Electric to the 2011 Chevy Volt, along with a steam engine car dubbed “The Flying Teapot” and a 2005 Momentum Solar Car.
For boys (or girls) interested in speed there’s a ramp displaying race cars from 1925 on, accompanied by a quote from Mario Andretti: “If everything seems under control, you’re just not going fast enough.” The British Invasion ramp has gorgeous cars including a 1967 Jaguar E-type (license plate KTY KTY) and a 1960 Austin Healy Bugeye Sprite, along with lots of information about the Beatles and other British musical groups, pop culture and fashion.
However, if you have children who like to feel the shiny chrome and look under the undercarriage and peer into the engine, they’re going to be frustrated by the big beautiful toys behind wire guards that are out of reach.
Wenda Reed is a Seattle-area writer, who, like her father and husband, brakes for old cars.
