I want to Thank Rolf from the HAMB for writing this article about Lemay's collection in Washington State...!!! CHECK THIS OUT...! http://www.classicroad.com/lemay/index.htm I FOUND the 1962 magazine with the article of the Jet powered 32 Roadster (Deuce With Hot Breath) that Lemay bought and drove around...!!!
I've heard/read of that place before. Sure is amazing. Kinda like the Garlits Museum, so much cool stuff but all jammed in real tight so you can't get a decent pic. I hate that, but maybe they do it on purpose so that people actually get off their arses and get out there. Just out of curiousity, you say they have a 'vert and hardtop of every Chevy. When did they start and stop. I assume they don't buy late model stuff?
I have been to all his little museums that are spread out all over the place, in Aug they close down and redo everything and I got to volunteer,which anyone can, and get to touch everything...hahahaha...they have there own inhouse restoration shop also that is nice with lots of junk everywhere. Highly recomemded
I hate seeing stuff like that... I mean I like seeing it, but hate the fact that they don't get driven and shown off.
thanks for that, Its good to know that some people are making sure that these cars dont fade into history... what was the most impressive one you saw?
I went to their "Open House" day in '94 - absolutely amazing! Here's the link to the Museum they're working on... http://www.lemaymuseum.org/
I've been to the "open house" too; it's the only time the public can come in. However you can volunteer to wax and polish the cars; usually on a Tuesday. I'd love to get a job with them someday; especially when they build the permanent museum. Occasionally you'll see an antique car on the streets around here; chances are it's from the LeMay collection because they take some of them out for exercise. The LeMay museum once hosted the local Alfa Romeo owners club. One of the members discovered the '34 Ford coupe hot rod that he once owned and came to Washington in. LeMay made his fortune in trash hauling!
I had a customer several years ago who usually had 50 or 60 cars in his "collection" at one time...he really wasn't a collector but a speculator...his stuff was just an investment and he bought and sold and really had no favorites. But , at one time, he was the largest collector of M/B 300 SL's in the world...18 Gullwing coupes and another dozen or so roadsters at one time! The coupes were valued at anywhere from $300K to a million each! He owned serial # 2 AND #4...tried to buy #3 from a Jap owner but the guy wouldn't sell. The roadsters were worth about $200K and up each at that time...late 80's...
The LeMay Automobile Collection is quite impressive. They are in the process of raising 100 million dollars to build a top notch museum here in Tacoma,Washington next to the Tacoma Dome. Architects are designing at this time. I have no idea when it will be open. Will be a major tourist trap.
I've heard about the collection but neve got to see it, I guess there is bib bucks in others trash. Looks like he could give Clive Custler a run for his money in the collecting departement. Custler drives his though.
thats kool, boy could i have fun in there , lets see shave the handles put em in the weeds!!! oh yeah, jay leno sucks!!
I went to an open house in about 1978-80. It was impressive, but obviously not as large as it is now. The thing I remember too, was the hospitality that was shown visitors. The family lived on the property in a large unpretentious old house, and the wife and kids served cookies and lemonade on the porch while Harold talked to visitors!
It was July '62 Hot Rod. I'll e-mail the story to you if you want it. Car was built by Leonard Williams, an engineer with Boeing. I can post the story if enough people are interested in it. Mutt
Oh yes.. Harold LeMay did drive his cars around. His wife still does actually. With that many cars you don't drive all of them often but he did drive them. My wife ran into him unknowingly at a car show. He was very polite and let her sit behind the wheel of car and stuff. He was a very nice guy and a complete car nut. His efforts to bring a world class car museum to Tacoma should be applauded. He wants future generation to be able to understand the importance of the automobile. Harold LeMay is one guy I don't mind having a huge collection. It actually serves a useful purpose. Not so much an ego thing. They are making the musuem interactive and such. They will have crank start car displays and such so kids can see what it was like for their great great grandparents to start the car in the morning for work. And that Rocket deuce actually set a speed record in the 50's. The engine in it also hold an altitude record from it's days in an airplane.
Knowing that a Jet Turbine powered car was built in 1949 kind of puts a new spin on the term "Period Correct".
Thanks to Max Gearhead who sent me the 1962 Magazine with the Jet powered deuce Roadster http://www.lemaymuseum.org/news.php?cidx=187&aidx=1 This sucker is COOL...! Not bad for a Garbage man starting up a little Garbage hauling company by the name of United Waste...!!! Just wanted to see if anyone on the HAMB will be going to the open house this year...?
Sorry, not impressed. I remember reading an artice about LeMay's collection in R&C back in the '90s. Just "owning" a bunch of cars most of which will never get driven is my idea of the ultimate Gold Chain activity. I wonder how many of those cars are actually runnable. Jan
I'm impressed... its nice to know those cars are out of circulation... take a look at the cars in cuba- if we kept driving the cars, all of our cars all the time there wouldnt be any left to look at- Tuck-
I was there in '98 during the Great Race. It was really cool to see. The guy not only had a huge collection, but they were actively restoring cars at all times. I don't think it's a shame to have that many cars, since they're all done and stored properly. A yard full of cars sitting outside getting rusty would bother me, but honestly, you can only drive one at a time anyway.
Harold LeMay has cars (and parts)stashed everywhere! He was a garbage man who loved cars and didn't like to see 'em go to waste, so he would buy up anything he liked, regardless of condition, and 'save' it from being crushed. Has an auction every year during the open house, selling off mostly parts cars, raising $$$ for the museum. ALOT of good projects. My father-in-law works for LeMay, has for 20? years......I usually get a heads up when a parts sale goes down........
gosh, i wonder if i told them i was a distant cousin that they would will one to me? i would even take the worse of the lot.
I think the word we need to use is car museum! Not car collection. I have seen plans fr the new building, exciting! The LeMay name is still going strong, It should be open in the next 5 years!
There is a fellow up here who made it big in the oil industry, that started to collect ALL kinds of cars, trucks and motorcycles. (he would find them in the fields where they were drilling for oil) He started to restore them, and at last count had OVER 400 fully restored, driveable machines. (he loves Indian and Victory bikes) He even has a couple of flat head powered early dragsters. (which is how I got to know him; swapping parts) He has 4 full time staff that do nothing but restore/work on his "gems." During a visit, I asked how many of them he took for a "spin." He replied, "Well considering I'm only here in town about 100 days a year; I wouldn't be able to drive more than five or six of them a DAY!" "BUT! they all run!" He also took a Cadillac Convertible in the '98 Great Race. ('47 if I remember)
yeah, I'll never understand why guys badmouth this guy or Jay Leno or any other real collector. These guys are preserving history, restoring history, sharing history, and we'd probably do the same thing if we had the resources. Jealousy is an ugly thing. I know of at least five collections right here in Indianapolis that exceed 100 cars each (several of them are new car dealers) but they've each restored about 100 cars that wouldn't have gotten done otherwise. Look how much crap is still out there rotting with guy sayinig "yeah, I'll get to those twenty cars someday" while they sit outside and rot. These guys are building them, and keeping them nice. As a car guy, I think they rock. Plus, it's fairly reknowned that Jay is a good person and it sounds like this fella is too. Can't wait to see the museum. I'd buy a ticket.
Unfortunately, Harold LeMay passed away a few years ago...... The museum is going to kick ass once (if?) it gets built.....I plan on applying.....
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