Gilmore Car Museum

Friday we went to the Gilmore Car Museum which is located in Hickory Corners, Michigan, which is in the middle of absolutely nothing but corn.  When we arrived to our location, boy were we surprised.

The museum was started by Donald S. Gilmore after his wife gave him an old Pierce Arrow when he retired as President and CEO of Upjohn Pharmaceuticals.  His mother was widowed and 5 years later married a local physician named William Upjohn who was also widowed with children.  Dr. Upjohn started the Upjohn Pharmaceutical Company and Donald Gilmore ended up marrying his step-sister, making Dr. Upjohn both his step father and his father-n-law.  It was Donald Gilmore who grew the company.  Under his leadership, the company developed cortisone and synthetic steroids.  He was personal friends with Walt Disney and, in fact, tried to get Walt Disney to bring his theme park to this area (Grand Rapids area) instead of Orlando.  Mr. Disney declined due to the weather in Michigan.  The museum is the only place which has an actual movie set from a Disney movie.  The set is part of the Gnome movie which is the inside of a car made oversized so the life sized people would look small. 

A sample of 1 of the many buildings showing a
ramp to get cars to the 2nd floor

 

There are so many vehicles on exhibit in the museum.  There are approximately 10 or so buildings meandering over approximately 90 acres of land.  The museums are constructed like large barns and each barn houses genres of vehicles.  We estimate that there are several hundred million dollars worth of vehicles here.  There are so many that it is impossible to even begin to talk about them.  We must, however, point out a few.
 

 

This motorcycle was the one used by Henry Winkler (the Fonz) on Happy Days.  The one below, as we understand it, was used in a

Harry Potter movie.

There are many Pierce Arrow automobiles contained in one building and this one of the many fine examples.



This is a 1938 Mercedes.

This is a 1933 Lincoln Phaeton

This is a 1959 Metropolitan that Van is standing next to.  It just so happens that when Van was in college he had one exactly like this.  Same year and same colors.










We don't remember what kind of vehicle this is but it was manufactured with a wooden frame









This is the famous Tucker automobile.










This is a 1931 Pierce Arrow limousine which is unrestored.  The inside view below shows how fancy the interior was, which included the top hat rack and flower vase.
 
 

The founder of the museum's son inherited enough money where he could have done nothing if he had chosen to but instead his father had instilled in him to work, which he did.  He also fell in love with racing and  became the owner of the Gilmore Racing Team which A.J. Foyt raced with.  The picture shows one of A.J.s cars.



This museum has many cars that we did not talk about including, believed to be, the very first automobile.  The Oldsmobile turbine car, which actually had an airplane jet engine in it.  There was also a 1931 Model A Ford pick up truck which was very similar to the one Van bought right before he went off to college and his grandmother sold while he was away in school.  Also, there was a 1907 electric run about child's toy car, which cost $800, which was $150 more than the popular full sized automobile of that year.  This museum is really a must see if you care anything at all about vehicles.  For me, I know nothing about vehicles  but I do know when something is beautiful.

We are now north of Detroit sightseeing this area until Thursday.  Then we head to Niagara, Canada.  Wifi is "iffy" here so hopefully we can blog again soon.