Had some friends come and visit and they wanted to go to the Henry Ford Museum at Greenfield Village its a place taken for granted by most of us here in the detroit area because its in our own back yard as most museums are treated by others in their home towns lost count on how many times I went there as a kid or with the kids on school field trips but it was nice to be able to show frinds from out of town one of the real cool things we have here in detroit as most museums go every once in a while things change I was suprised to see that one of the presidental limos they have ( they have all of the retired limos) was on loan to the Buckingham Palace for the Queens 75th Jubilee seems she used it a couple of times and cars in the museum come and go the chrysler turbine car was missing but they have added several new cars here are some pics who can tell more about this belly tank? and I loved the Unser car and its high dollar tow rig
Ft. Myers FL has Henry's estate and grounds as well as Edisons home and laboratory,(across the street), turned into a nice museum. Not as big as the one in MI. but still nice. Some vehicles, inventions, their houses, and so on. I gots to git to the one in Michigan.
The tank is the Tom Beatie lakester, built in the early 50's. Tom ran various engines over the years, most success was with various size blown Olds engines. Fastest record was a bit over 240. Tom was an early proponent of GMC blowers, along with Barney Navarro. He manufactured multi V belt drives for various applications. I've wondered where Tom's tank wound up. Kind of surprising to see it in a museum so far away from it's So Cal origins.
We should get together for breakfast at BiG Boy's on a Sunday morning and then head to the museum... Who want's in on this???...
I do ! It's been many years since we went to the museum last. Oh wait, it's too far for a day trip! If anyone is near and never been there, just do it! Like I should talk. Still haven't been to those museums in south Florida.
The Chrysler Museum is great too....haven't been to Ford or GM (other than Henry Ford at Greenfield Village)
You are correct derbydad,an incredible place right in our own backyard! I work across the street from it,and spend many of my lunch hours there.If any of you folks are thinking of going soon,I'd suggest the weekend of sept.8-9th.The old car fest is the feature in the village.So for the same price of admission,you get to see one hell of a show! http://www.thehenryford.org/events/oldCarFestival.aspx Here are a few pics I have of the bellytanker exposed....a few years ago,the museum did a feature with all the cars motors exposed in the museum.I'll try and post more that I have later.... Myron_
Nope! It's open... They're now featuring the Titanic artifacts collection... That should be cool also....
A trip to The Ford Museum was my High Scool graduation present back in 1968. Some things have been auctioned off since then, but I bet it is still a great place to visit. Glad they stepped up and saved "Old 16" the Locomobile Vanderbilt Cup winner in 1908. Bob
Amazing history at both Green Field and Henry Ford. I have been twice in a week when I visited this past spring. Poor Boy Matt gave me a tour, and then I returned to get some more, because it is that large and interesting. I will go again I am sure.
Thanks for the pictures. I hope you will post some more pictures. A lot of people do not go to local attractions. We just had a museum open this summer and I have not been there. We use to have a lot of relatives visit during the summer and they would visit all of the tourist traps and take me and my brothers along. They were usually my parents uncles, aunts and cousins. They have all died or are too old to travel.
The Automotive Hall of Fame is right next to the Henry Ford and well worth visiting. We went to both when we were in Detroit this summer. The Chrysler museum is pretty nice. The GM Heritage Center has some interesting cars and trucks in a warehouse like building (we visited last year during the Chevrolet Centennial events that were in Flint). We also visited the Piquette Ave. Ford factory where they built the first Model Ts. Well worth visiting.
I heard that Oakman BLVD (down the road from me) was once an airfield for Henry's Tri-motor planes... Not sure if it's true er not...
BTW they have opened the diner in the museum for lunch. We ate there and food was good and not overpriced.
I'd like to know the history, time to install etc of to oak flooring in the place. You can always ID a Ford collection vehicle buy the flooring it sits on. Bob
A few years back, we got to fly on one of the Tri-Motors down here in Fla. They let us bring the rod for a pic with it the next day
I was told Old Henry bought every piece of teak wood he could get his hands on for the floor. He wanted something that would last forever, and the cross pattern helps. I was also told the figure to do it today would be in the millions to repalce. Me and my family are members and use it all the time. I make it well known to anyone that works there that I want a job 2 weeks after I retire from my current job! There are times when you need to get grounded and when you walk around there it helps you realize we made some cool shit in this country at one time!
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