History Went to the Henry Ford Museum today...

The new chick and I spent Friday and Saturday in Detroit and decided to hit the Henry Ford and Greenfield Village before we left. We'd each been there once when we were little kids so it was pretty cool to see the collection and actually appreciate it. The Cars of the Stars thing was going on so Mike Ness, Billy Gibbons, and some of the guys from Metallica had their cars on display, enjoy.

 

Haven't been there in years but besides the cars, everything else in there is so cool...Truly a history of Americana

 

There were a few hot rods, customs and some really nice stockers...

 

plus some trains and planes...............

 

sorry, hit the wrong ****on Here's the trains and planes. Not exactly HAMB material but I think it's safe to say we all like old mechanical relics no matter what the genre.

 

Here's the last batch. In my job I work with machinery that's so overly guarded, safety-fied, and dumbed down it's actually really difficult to operate. Thus I've developed a love afair with gargantuan mechanical monsters completely indifferent to human life. Enjoy these widow makers...

 

Thanks for posting the photos! Haven't been out there since 1977, nice to see "Old 16" has a nice new home along side other early race cars.

 

Nice pix. One of the most amazing museums I've ever seen. Last time I was there I remember seeing an old Ford moordoor, a banger as I recall, that was driven from the tip of South America back "home" to Detroit. Is it still there? It looked like a cross between a "G****s of Wrath" survival vehicle and a moving parts store. Gary

 

Thanks for sharing the pics. I visited there about 4 years back and was amazed. That is definately a place to go to. I, too, especially liked on the vintage machinery.

Highly recommended

Steve
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make plans to attend

 

Our car club took a road trip there in 2001, we loved it talked about going back, looks like a road trip is needed again. Thanks for the pics.

 

Stole this from the Race Car thread, "Old 16" back in the day.

 

I was there a few weeks ago. Hard to take pix in there but your came out great. I was so stoked to see Kirk Hamett's 36 in person.

 

cool photos looks like a good place to visit

 

Thanks for the pics and commentary. The Henry Ford Museum is a must see. I do however wonder how putting a hemi in a `32 Hiboy, a 265 sbc in a `32 Lowboy and a 350 sbc in a `34 Ford coupe gets you in a museum founded by Henry Ford? Could'nt believe it when I saw it firsthand myself. It would be interesting to see how much promotion the GM and Chrysler museums give to competing manufacturers equipment. I bet not a whole lot. The curator of the HFM is either insane or naieve. But that's just my opinion of course.......

 

thats bad im going to have to make a trip there one day!

 

Great pics, thanks for posting them.

That first picture in the upper left hand corner of your first post is the 999-II car, a Model T that went 107 on ice to set a then new land speed record.

I got to fly in a Ford Tri motor plane about 10 years ago here in so cal. My wife bought me and my son tickets. It was a great flight and I don't even like to fly in small planes, very loud inside. About a year later the guy that owned it crashed on take off at the Fullerton airport, totaled the plane.

Would love to go to that museum someday.

 

Step back, take a breath, and realise that it is not a museum about Ford. It's a museum about American life, the transportation part of it has some Ford's in it, but life is more than Ford (and so is the world of hot rods!)

 

when i moved to michigan in 98, i was running demo jobs,,one of my favorite projects was designing and installing the shoreing for the demo to attach the I-Max to the the museum...had many a meetings with the curato's...the side we had to cut out top to bottom was adjacent to the china and teacup displays,,,,great group of men and woman in charge of that place...

i asked about the sbc powered fords, and the reply was "it is historical fords that we display here..and many others...the fact that it has a sbc is, well, historical due to the fact that when the sbc came to be, it was faster then what Henry was building"......i worked there for 8 1/2 months, 5 days a week...must have walked thru there at least 100 times and every time i realeasied i missed somehting...

coolest ford i saw there was the proto type stang...looked like a cross between a vette nose, XP898 vega proto type ****pit and the original batmoble ****pit....after seeing it, i always wondered how they came up with the production stang?????they are totally 2 different cars...

 

wow, i'm gonna have to check that out some day.

 

they had a bluegr*** festival there in the early 80s, and the band i played in got to play there, the curator wouldnt allow anything newer than 1948 on the grounds, so we had to park in the lot and were shuttled back and forth in un restored vintage fords!

 

Somehow I think the "crackpot" that made the decision to display the ******* Fords could have with just a wee wee bit of effort could have come come up with a few Ford hot rods with Ford power. How about the cars of Doane Spencer, Ed Iskenderian, Kenz and Leslie to name a few. Don't think that in a venue built by a fiercely proud man that you have to jack slap him after he's dead just to present a facet of so called "transportation" history that I'm sure he'd be pissed about.

Now don't think that I'm against other makes being in the museum. I think that the museum is incredible. I get that it is an "American life" presentation. I just think it could have been one last bastion (considering where it came from), one place where we don't have to be reminded of what ****s about what happened to hot rodding.

 

Actually there's an entire GM display where they show an early Chevy wooden skeleton to contrast the Ford's steel construction. The lone engine is a 1913 Cadillac. There's an early GM ch***is on display as well hanging right above that 32 cabriolet. There's even a VW and dare I say a Toyota at the end of the display along with a 1959 issue of Time or Life that told of the comming foreign invasion and the domestic challenges, 1959!!! I thought that junk started in the 70's

 

I lived in Dearborn for many years and can remember the time that a young part-time worker lost an arm moving one of those Big Mother's in the machinery display area.

The museum was well-known then for their shoddy and cheap ways of doing things. Just the opposite of Ol Henry, back in his days.

 

Thanks for the photos.

What in the world is that airplane with the "2" on it?

 

Google is your friend
http://www.thehenryford.org/exhibits/heroes/recordbreakers/daytonwright.asp

 

Got to go there several times. Pretty incredible collection, found almost everything of interest. Did find it a little disturbing that the chair Abe Lincoln was shot in was displayed right next to the damn Weinermobile. Hope they moved it to a more appropriate spot.

 

the zztop eliminator coupe is still bad *** 25 years later. Anyone seen the chick posed with it in the new issue of Garage Mag?

 

I have had my father in law bring me there TWICE while visiting him in Trenton, MI,,,,,

I COULD spend DAYS in that place, they only let me stay for hours and then they have to pry me out.

For a person like me it is way better than Disney world, the beach, and even room service....

 

That is cool, would love to make it there

 

Gotta love the gothic walking beam steam engine. I've been there a long ago, need to go again soon.