Sorry if this is OT - I am not sure. So, I am from Michigan - born and raised. Here and there I have heard rumors of "secret" GM Museum(s) in the greater Detroit area, that no one openly talks about or seems to know about. Non descript warehouse(s) that have things like prototype engines, one-off cars, "design exercises", and unofficial racing projects going back into the 50s (at least). I gather from listening and paying attention that most at GM do not even know it exists, and it takes pretty high level GM exec to get access. I gather it was all very unofficial and very much not on anyone's books. Since there are a lot of places you could literally park a freight train indoors and "lose it" in Detroit - places that no one seems to occupy - or even know who owns them for that matter - it does not seem at all unlikely to me that such a place exists. Truth or Urban legend? Anyone heard of such a place? Or maybe even been there???
Have heard of one such storage area located in Pontiac near the GM Tech Center from a former Pontiac executive but can't confirm it.
It's called the GM Hertiage Center, located in Warren, and it is not open to the public. You have to get a group together and make an appointment. We (HAMB members) have gone many, many times in the past. AWESOME place Some of my photos from one of my visits are here http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=191457&highlight=gm+heritage&showall=1
Yes, it's very real. I've been there often. Here's the story with a big photo gallery. Inside GM's Private Car Museum | MCG .
I dunno, ask the homeless guy. that stays there on weekends. I know something that is so secrete that no one knows about it but I have heard of it, I wish I knew what it was. If it is so secrete that no one knows about it except very high on the ladder GM execs why would you even bother asking about it here.
Isnt there a place in Arizona with a bunch of GM prototype cars. Seems like I remember someone talking about it.
The Heritage Center website has a wealth of info on old GM cars. Free downloads. http://www.gmheritagecenter.com/gm-heritage-archive/vehicle-information-kits.html
The Heritage Center is a great place to spend time but I think they house around 200 cars in that facility at any one time. As I understand they have around 700 or 800 vehicles total in their collection which they house in other warehouses; it only makes sense. Not sure if that is what you are referring to. A few years back my wife and I were given a private tour of all of the cars, most which are under covers. I uncovered a few such as the mid 80s GTP car and some other low slung cars and some of the brass cars. They also have a restoration area which we saw. Pretty neat stuff. They kind of told me to forget where the warehouses were, but to date I have not been successful. I learned a long time ago that it pays to keep your mouth shut or you may be considered persona non grata.-Jim
Oh goody, another Area 51 style secret conspiracy theory. I just love those. We've been to Roswell and I don't remember being abducted by aliens for any probing or anything. I wonder if all the government bail-outs were able to save GM's secret heritage from being sold to pay for the debt? Where do I plug into the GPS to find it?
There's a lot of knowledge and broad base of experience here. I know there are more than a few "classic top fuel" guys on here, and would not be at all surprised if maybe the guy who posted last week about a Model T build from Warren, just might have been a GM exec 20 years ago... The place has been around for almost 3 of my lifetimes. I won't even go into how many of my present and past heroes are on here or have been in the past. I would not be at all surprised if Gene Winfield, Chip Foose, Jimmy Shine, Alex Xydias, or other guys of their caliber have had a chance to view the merchandise while they've been in town. Shoot - Dave Crane - or at least some of his friends I have had the good fortune to know are on here and have been to his place. His place is kind of in the same realm - just speed equipment and drag racing instead of engineering and production stuff. Unfortunatley I passed on an invite there a couple years ago thinking I'd do it later, but his ill health and some guys with sticky fingers a few years ago have pretty much ruined that it sounds like, as he has not had his annual deal for a couple years now. "Never underestimate the power of the HAMB"
The heritage center is no secrete and the fact that they warehouse cars is no secrete either. I don't doubt that in a place in the United states where someone may want to get in and steal a rare car (that would be any place) you don't want to throw out the welcome mat. But from the way you describe it you don't have to be a top GM exec to know about it or get in there, that is uless you just happen to be the president and CEO of the company, in which case I think you and I need to talk. There are some things that could be done differently that would make me happy as a duck in mud. bluthndr, None of this is said out of meaness, I just have serious doubts about what you think is a top secrete place that only execs know about and the fact that if they are the only one's who know about it that you would find out about it here. Think about what you are saying here for a bit, it makes you sound like you may be a little closer to the edge than I am and I am pretty damned close.
It is not as secret as some may think. There are a few drivers in the big orange trucks that know the warehouses quite well. When I was there I saw a few of the trucks being offloaded and others being loaded. Why would anyone advertise where a virtual fortune in collector cars are stored? How does that benefit GM? To think that GM does not house 600 extra cars in areas off limits is just not using common sense, If you care to know when GM restored their 1903 Cadillac which is reputed to be the #1 car,. Dick Balsley invited me to view the car and took me on a tour of all the cars. When they restored their Cadillac I made my original 1903 Cadillac available to them so they could see how the car was originally. Their body had been heavily altered. My body is an original Wilson body which is what their body should be. Their car is allegedly the #1 car and mine is the #2 car. Is that simple enough for you?-Jim
No worries dude. Perhaps "top secret" is too strong a term, or there is another place similar to it. I always just thought it weird that "this place" seems like "invite only" and so few people I know have even been there. My dad, grandfather, and cousin were GM engineers, and my younger brother works there now in some higher level position, as did my college room mate and best friend. No one seemed to know much about it. I am the "car guy" in the family, and more enthusiastic about the stuff I guess. Anyways, it just got me going I guess because no one seems to know - or at least talk about - specifics, and having been in the car scene since about 14 years old (I'm 37 now), I only know 2 guys who have ever been to the place - ever. True, I am not from nor live near Detroit, but it just stuck me as a pretty unusual, exclusive, "secretive" car guy experience whose details are very gray. Other, similar things about GM, it's quasi holdings in the detroit area, unofficial storage and supplier arrangments I know to be true, and things owned in the past by friends and acquantances that technically can't be owned by anyone, made me aware that a "secret museum" is totally possible, "secret" being a relative term - I figured no matter how secret - if it was cool car stuff, some HAMBer has seen it. Maybe they are just talking about the heritage center? Hopefully I can tag along on the next HAMB trip, or sooner, and see for myself.
Yes but the question becomes are you a GM exec and are you the only one who knows about it? This is where it all becomes flakey, no one is refuteing the fact that GM stores old cars, but it is no big secrete. It isn't something that only GM execs know about or get to see you have proven that. I am glad that you own the #2 caddy by the way. But now your secrete is out as well. Hell my garage is invite only and I don't have anything of value at all. I used to work for the local news paper and the dead news paper room was not a secrete but it was pretty much off limits to about everyone that worked there and outsiders never got in there. When the new mayor took a tour of the plant they showed her the door where the old news papers were, she didn't go past the door. Maybe you'll get a tour of the place someday, I hope you do. It wll be something that even if you can't prove it to anyone you will have that memory for ever.
Okay. To be specific, no one I know from GM knew much or anything of it, no one had much of a description of it who had heard of it, other than unmarked brick buildings/warehouses, that are not marked as anything that house cool GM stuff, and that you have to know someone to get you in which apparently engineering team leaders, and level 8 guys were not included in, or did not care enough to know about it. Thanks to everyone who clued me in. That is all. Posted from the TJJ App for iPhone & iPad
Here's a link to an early July thread with few views and a couple of replies. If you click on the "Tunnel of Love" link on the first post and watch the beginning of the clip you can see where the "top secret" implication may have gotten its start. http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=713519&highlight=gm+heritage+center
That's pretty funny I have seen magazine coverage that mantioned the warehouses in the last couple of years. Sounds like your high level execs are just pushin' your leg, or maybe they just don't get out much.
Anymore my brother is the only guy there I know - everyone else I know jumped ship or retired before 2008. Honestly it's been 5-6 years since I thought about "the museum" at all, but was talking to my brother about things to do next time he's back, he said, "sounds like the heritage center but I don't know for sure", so I thought, "I'll just post on the HAMB and see". That'll teach me. No matter what we end up doing, I can asure you I will not have gone there, nor seen any cool GM related stuff (wink, wink) hahaha
In 2002 there was at least one storage/shop facility (not the Heritage Center) in the Detroit area. I visited there to photograph a concept vehicle and had a chance to look around a little. I didn't save the address and am not too familiar with the Detroit area so I couldn't find its location now, if it even still exists. At the time, a '49-'50 Olds 88 was being restored there and they had a Porsche 959. I saw a Cadillac-based Popemobile go by.
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