Saturday, July 14, 2012

RonnieAdventure #0011 - National Auomobile Museum, Reno, Nevada

So what is the number one destination for every car enthusiasts place to visit before they kick the bucket? The National Automobile Museum in Reno! I had a few hours to spend in Reno before I had to catch a plane home, so I decided it was time for a RonnieAdventure!

The National Automobile Museum contains over 200 vehicles and other automobile related memorabilia from the first self-powered vehicles to futuristic concept cars. I can still remember the first time that I saw the collection, which was a long time ago, and at that time the collection was still owned by casino magnate William F. Harrah; thus, the collection is often still called The Harrah Collection.

The current museum is spread over four galleries, with the first three galleries divided by vehicle age and the fourth gallery includes race cars, the Off-Road Motorsports Hall of Fame, and other famous vehicles. Celebrity owned cars includes Elvis Presley’s 1973 Cadillac Eldorado and John Wayne’s 1953 Chevrolet Corvette. Movie cars include James Dean’s 1949 Mercury (Rebel Without a Cause) and the 1912 Rambler from the movie Titanic. Examples from other marques include Auburns, Bugattis, Cords, Duesenbergs, Ferraris, Pierce-Arrows, Rolls-Royces, etc. There is even a gold-plated DeLorean DMC-12, a Jeep Wagoneer fitted with a Ferrari V-12 engine that was used for winter driving by William F. Harrah, and the only surviving prototype of Buckminster Fuller’s Dymaxion car.

The only problem with the visit was that I ran out of time before I ran out of museum. This adventure is obviously on my list for a repeat visit the next time I am in Reno with more time to spend.

 1899 Locomobile

1938 Phantom Corsair

 1961 Roth Beatnik Bandit

Burning Man Transportation

DeLorean

Ferrari

Lincoln

No comments:

Post a Comment